Read Online Forged In Death, Book 1 of The Death Wizard Chronicles by Jim Melvin - Free Book Online
Authors: Jim Melvin
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one more thing to Torg: “ Bhayatupa amarattam tanhiiyati . (Bhayatupa craves eternal existence).”
So it was Bhayatupa.
Sōbhana was so amazed, she failed to hear if Torg said anything more.
2
In order to enter the southern gates of Avici, Sōbhana was forced to kill again. When a lone soldier wandered too near her hiding place in the copse, she sprang out and drove her Tugarian dagger beneath the back of his helm into the gristle at the base of his neck. He collapsed without making a sound. With so much excitement surrounding Torg, no one seemed to notice this silent death.
Sōbhana dragged the soldier into the thick shrubs and took a long time stripping off his golden suit of armor, which was nearly perfect for her height but overlarge for her girth. She retained the arming cap but tossed aside the interior doublet and hose, parts of which had become soaked with his blood. Then she meticulously put on the armor, which was difficult but not impossible to perform without assistance. First she slid on the steel-hinged shoes, followed by the greaves, knee-cops, and cuisses. The breast, shoulder and back plates were cleverly blended into one piece that she was able to drop over her head, and she attached the brassards and elbow-cops to the shoulder plates with hinge pins. Finally she donned the single-visor helm, which had narrow eye slits with two dozen breath holes.
The soldier had carried a long sword with a straight blade. Her curved uttara would not fit properly into his scabbard, which created a new problem. Up to this moment, she had been able to conceal her sword and dagger beneath the loose-fitting kirtle she had stolen in Senasana. She would not part with her sword, no matter the circumstances, but she could not hide her uttara inside armor and also could not use her own scabbard because of its mismatched appearance. The sword had been awarded to her on the day she had become an Asēkha, and she would rather be exposed as an intruder than discard it. Despite all this, Sōbhana wasn’t overly concerned. Her weapon was similar enough in appearance to avoid detection, as long as she held it next to the soldier’s scabbard and covered most of the ornamented handle with her gauntleted hand.
Even without the padded undergarments, the metallic armor felt more comfortable than Sōbhana had expected, as if it were designed to meld with flesh. She knew little about how it was made, but whoever constructed it must have used magic to enhance its effectiveness. It felt stronger than iron, yet surprisingly pliable and light, the entire suit weighing less than two stones. Nothing worn by the Jivitan riders or Nissayan knights could match its quality; theirs was either much heavier or less protective. This added to her growing sense of hopelessness. Invictus seemed able to do no wrong.
She joined the tail end of the brigade as it entered the gates. Amid the cheering and commotion, Sōbhana’s sudden appearance went unnoticed, even by the officers. Soon she was inside.
Avici turned out to be everything Anna was not.
The Golden City swarmed with hundreds of thousands of people. The Tent City in the heart of the Great Desert housed fewer than twenty thousand Tugars and about five thousand others.
Avici appeared before Sōbhana as a maze of ponderous stone buildings and temples, interconnected by wide roadways. Its sheer mass astounded her, especially considering it had been little more than a village less than a hundred years before. Anna was a nomadic kingdom, able to pick up and relocate across the sands of Tējo. It was far older than Avici, but it contained no structures too large to transport by hand.
The citizens of Avici were servants of Invictus, subject to his orders and whims. Despite this, some of the community appeared to enjoy great wealth.
The inhabitants of Anna were free to come and go as they pleased. They worked hard and lived simply—depending on hidden oases for sustenance.
True to her warrior
So it was Bhayatupa.
Sōbhana was so amazed, she failed to hear if Torg said anything more.
2
In order to enter the southern gates of Avici, Sōbhana was forced to kill again. When a lone soldier wandered too near her hiding place in the copse, she sprang out and drove her Tugarian dagger beneath the back of his helm into the gristle at the base of his neck. He collapsed without making a sound. With so much excitement surrounding Torg, no one seemed to notice this silent death.
Sōbhana dragged the soldier into the thick shrubs and took a long time stripping off his golden suit of armor, which was nearly perfect for her height but overlarge for her girth. She retained the arming cap but tossed aside the interior doublet and hose, parts of which had become soaked with his blood. Then she meticulously put on the armor, which was difficult but not impossible to perform without assistance. First she slid on the steel-hinged shoes, followed by the greaves, knee-cops, and cuisses. The breast, shoulder and back plates were cleverly blended into one piece that she was able to drop over her head, and she attached the brassards and elbow-cops to the shoulder plates with hinge pins. Finally she donned the single-visor helm, which had narrow eye slits with two dozen breath holes.
The soldier had carried a long sword with a straight blade. Her curved uttara would not fit properly into his scabbard, which created a new problem. Up to this moment, she had been able to conceal her sword and dagger beneath the loose-fitting kirtle she had stolen in Senasana. She would not part with her sword, no matter the circumstances, but she could not hide her uttara inside armor and also could not use her own scabbard because of its mismatched appearance. The sword had been awarded to her on the day she had become an Asēkha, and she would rather be exposed as an intruder than discard it. Despite all this, Sōbhana wasn’t overly concerned. Her weapon was similar enough in appearance to avoid detection, as long as she held it next to the soldier’s scabbard and covered most of the ornamented handle with her gauntleted hand.
Even without the padded undergarments, the metallic armor felt more comfortable than Sōbhana had expected, as if it were designed to meld with flesh. She knew little about how it was made, but whoever constructed it must have used magic to enhance its effectiveness. It felt stronger than iron, yet surprisingly pliable and light, the entire suit weighing less than two stones. Nothing worn by the Jivitan riders or Nissayan knights could match its quality; theirs was either much heavier or less protective. This added to her growing sense of hopelessness. Invictus seemed able to do no wrong.
She joined the tail end of the brigade as it entered the gates. Amid the cheering and commotion, Sōbhana’s sudden appearance went unnoticed, even by the officers. Soon she was inside.
Avici turned out to be everything Anna was not.
The Golden City swarmed with hundreds of thousands of people. The Tent City in the heart of the Great Desert housed fewer than twenty thousand Tugars and about five thousand others.
Avici appeared before Sōbhana as a maze of ponderous stone buildings and temples, interconnected by wide roadways. Its sheer mass astounded her, especially considering it had been little more than a village less than a hundred years before. Anna was a nomadic kingdom, able to pick up and relocate across the sands of Tējo. It was far older than Avici, but it contained no structures too large to transport by hand.
The citizens of Avici were servants of Invictus, subject to his orders and whims. Despite this, some of the community appeared to enjoy great wealth.
The inhabitants of Anna were free to come and go as they pleased. They worked hard and lived simply—depending on hidden oases for sustenance.
True to her warrior
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