Read Online Savage Games of Lord Zarak by Gilbert L. Morris - Free Book Online

anything to eat today. Maybe tomorrow you’ll get something.”
    â€œCan we have some water?” Roland asked.
    The jailer grumbled but did bring them a single small pail and a single cup. “There. I don’t want to hear anything else out of you. Don’t worry about escaping. Nobody ever has.”
    The door clanged shut, and they all drank thirstily.
    â€œBetter not drink it all,” Josh said. “We don’t know when we’ll get more.”
    Sarah slumped down on some dirty straw and murmured, “I feel like I could sleep forever.”
    Roland glanced at her, frowning. Then he went to the door and peered through the grate. He saw that guards were on duty in the dimly lit passage. He pulled at the bars on the door, shook his head in despair, and slumped down himself, his back against the cell wall.
    Josh seemed totally exhausted. He lay down and appeared to go to sleep at once.
    Roland watched them for a while. He had fought hard with the guards, and they had beaten him so that he was black and blue. He was sore in almost every joint. And now as he sat there in the gloomy dungeon with no light except for what came through the grate, he knew fear for the first time in his life. It seemed to grip him like a cold hand.
    He stood again and pressed his face against the bars. The fear was almost a physical thing. Suddenly Roland Winters felt completely helpless and alone.
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    â€œI hear you made a capture, Lord Zarak.”
    King Falmor was seated at a massive table. At his right hand sat a young woman, and across from him sat Zarak.
    â€œYes, my lord,” Zarak said. “Three captives, as a matter of fact.”
    â€œWho are they?”
    Zarak looked at the girl. Lady Lara, princess of Falmor, was eighteen. With black hair and dark blue eyes she resembled her father very much. The emerald-green gown she wore today was trimmed with fur. There was a sparkling ring on her finger, and aroundher neck was a rope of precious stones that glittered and flashed as she moved.
    â€œMore peasants, I suppose,” she said carelessly.
    The wizard shook his head. He took a sip of wine from a golden cup and shrugged. “Not peasants. They were foreigners, strangers. Spies, no doubt. They’ll make good sport at the next Hunt.”
    â€œI would like to see them,” Lady Lara said. “See them, my lady?” Lord Zarak lifted his brows in surprise. “Whatever for?” “I’m just curious. I never see anyone from the other parts of the world. Have them brought in.”
    â€œBut, my lady—”
    â€œDid you not hear me, Lord Zarak? Are you having trouble with your hearing?”
    Zarak swallowed hard. This young girl had often driven him nearly to distraction. Everyone in the kingdom obeyed him and feared him except Lady Lara. But since he hoped to one day marry her and thus gain the kingdom for himself, he forced himself to smile pleasantly. “Of course. Of course. It just never occurred to me that you would be interested, my lady.” He raised his voice, saying, “Guard, have the three new prisoners brought in.”
    Twenty minutes later the door opened, and guards led in the captives.
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    The guards roughly pushed Sarah and the boys into a room where three people sat at a large table.
    She knew at once that the man seated beside the young woman was the king. He had been described by Bentain very accurately. And surely, she guessed, the beautifully dressed girl who looked so much like him was his daughter, the Lady Lara.
    â€œThat’s close enough. They’re dirty,” the girl said. She sat staring at the three of them, and her eyes narrowed. “They are not like our people. Where are you from?” she demanded.
    Sarah’s lips were dry. They had finished off their scanty supply of water and had not been given more. She waited for someone else to answer.
    Josh tried to speak for them, but talking seemed difficult for him