Read Online The Destroyer Goddess by Laura Resnick - Free Book Online

still throbbing, feet.
    She started speaking to him. When he didn't understand, she made an obvious effort to switch to common Silerian, though her speech was still liberally sprinkled with shallah words.
    "A Sister could heal you more quickly, toren ," she explained, having guessed his rank. "But I can't leave Sanctuary to find one for you elsewhere. Besides, you shouldn't be left alone. Don't worry, though. I have enough experience to help you. I'm just not..." She shrugged. "I don't know the arts of the Sisterhood. Just practical things."
    He nodded his understanding.
    "Your arm is broken, and your ribs are damaged—but not badly, I think." 
      "They feel bad," he said, his voice weak and cracked.
    She shook her head. "No. It's nothing."
    Shallaheen. Yes, he had no doubt that to them his injuries seemed like nothing. He, however, was trying hard not to cry like a baby in front of this woman.
    Not that he had any tears to spare. "Water," he croaked, nearly maddened with thirst.
    "Of course." She lifted his head and gave him a little at a time, showing more patience than he would have had in her position.
    The water revived him enough to answer her questions about what had happened to him. "I was attacked last night," he said. "By bandits. While on my way here to seek shelter for the night." He sighed, drank a little more water, then continued, almost shuddering at the horrifying memories, "One pretended to be a pilgrim, and when I stopped to speak to him, two others jumped me. They were armed with yahr and Valdani swords."
     He had never before been hit with a yahr , and he had never guessed how much it hurt . Darfire, it was painful!
    "They took everything," he continued. "My money, my boots, the horse, my few possessions... Then they beat me unconscious."
    "Why?" she wondered. "They had no need t—"
    "Because I was rude."
    "Rude?" she repeated.
    "I said, er, vulgar things to them."
    "That was... not wise, toren ."
    "I was very drunk," he admitted. "As usual. And good judgment is always the first thing to desert me."
    Ronall had awoken at dawn—badly injured, terribly hung over, and already dying of thirst—and decided his only hope was to try to reach the Sanctuary he had been seeking. His pampered feet suffered terribly, and the merciless heat of the dry season came close to killing him.
    "But you're safe now," the woman assured him. "You'll be well again in no time."
    "I've never been well," he muttered.
    " Toren ?"
    "Never mind." 
    He looked at her with clearer vision now. She was a lovely woman, in that harsh way of Sileria's mountain peasants. Earthy, strong, her modest clothing somehow emphasizing rather than concealing her sexuality. Her black hair gleamed cleanly, and she smelled... good. She looked about Ronall's age, but he knew that shallaheen often aged fast, so he figured she was probably a few years younger. And he, he knew, looked a little older than he was, thanks to years of self-indulgence.
    "Thank you," he said. "I think you've saved my life."
    She smiled. "I am glad I was here to help, toren ." She sighed. "It's the first time I've ever been glad I was here."
    "You don't like it here?" he asked, watching the way the sunlight, shifting through the windows, played across her high cheekbones and dark skin.
    "It's very dull here. And I'm not used to being alone like this. I miss my husband. I miss my friends and family. I miss..." She suddenly looked very sad. "I miss the way it used to be."
    "How did it used to be?" he asked, hoping but doubting that her conversation could keep his mind off his throbbing feet, aching ribs, painful face, and agonizing arm.
    She shook her head. "It can never be that way again, toren, so why dwell on it now? So many are dead. So much is lost."
    "Is your husband dead then?"
    "No," she said quietly. "Not yet." Something bitter passed across her expression. "But he is trying hard."
    Ronall wished the poor bastard luck. Dying wasn't turning out to be as easy as he