Read Online The Gift of Battle by Morgan Rice - Free Book Online Page B

They were
encircling her slowly, gathering millions from all corners of the Empire, all
preparing to invade. To crush her.
    She welcomed the
confrontation. She did not need the Volks, she knew. She did not need any of
her men. She could kill them on her own. She was, after all, a goddess. She had
left the realm of mortals long ago, and now she was a legend, a legend that no
one, and no army, in the world could stop. She would greet them on her own, and
she would kill them all, for all time.
    Then, finally,
there would be no one left to confront her. Then, her powers would be supreme.
    Volusia heard a
rustling behind her and out of the corner of her eye, she detected motion. She
saw Brin rise from bed, casting off his sheets and beginning to dress. She saw
him slinking around, careful to be quiet, and she realized he meant to slip out
from the room before she saw him—so that he would never have to look upon her
face again. It added insult to injury.
    “Oh, Commander,”
she called out casually.
    She saw him
freeze in his tracks in fear; he turned and looked over at her reluctantly, and
as he did, she smiled back, torturing him with the grotesqueness of her melted
lips.
    “Come here,
Commander,” she said. “Before you leave, there is something I want to show
you.”
    He slowly turned
and walked, crossing the room until he reached her side, and he stood there,
looking out, looking anywhere but at her face.
    “Have you not
one sweet parting kiss for your Goddess?” she asked.
    She could see
him flinch ever so slightly, and she felt fresh anger burning within her.
    “Never mind,”
she added, her expression darkening. “But there is, at least, something I want
to show you. Have a look. Do you see out there, on the horizon? Look closely.
Tell me what you see down there.”
    He stepped
forward and she laid a hand on his shoulder. He leaned forward and examined the
skyline, and as he did, she watched his brow furrow in confusion.
    “I see nothing,
Goddess. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
    Volusia smiled
wide, feeling the old sense of vindictiveness rise up within her, feeling the
old need for violence, for cruelty.
    “Look more
closely, Commander,” she said.
    He leaned
forward, just a bit more, and in one quick motion, Volusia grabbed his shirt from
behind, and with all her might, threw him face first out the window.
    Brin shrieked as
he flailed and flew through the air, dropping down all the way, a hundred feet,
until finally he landed face first, instantly dead, on the streets below. The
thud reverberated in the otherwise quiet streets.
    Volusia smiled
wide, examining his body, finally feeling a sense of vengeance.
    “It is yourself
you see,” she replied. “Who is the less grotesque of us now?”

CHAPTER TWELVE
     
     
    Gwendolyn walked
through the dim corridors of the tower of the Light Seekers, Krohn at her side,
walking slowly up the circular ramp along the sides of the building. The path
was lined with torches and cult worshipers, standing silently at attention,
hands hidden in their robes, and Gwen’s curiosity deepened as she continued to
ascend one level after another. The King’s son, Kristof, had led her halfway up
after their meeting, then had turned and descended, instructing her that she
would have to complete the journey alone to see Eldof, that she alone could
face him. The way they all spoke about him, it was as if he were a god.
    Soft chanting
filled the air heavy with incense, as Gwen walked up the very gradual ramp, and
wondered: What secret was Eldof guarding? Would he give her the knowledge she
needed to save the King and save the Ridge? Would she ever be able to retrieve
the King’s family from this place?
    As Gwen turned a
corner, the tower suddenly opened up, and she gasped at the sight. She entered
a soaring chamber with a hundred-foot ceiling, its walls lined with floor to
ceiling stained glass windows. A muted light flooded through, filled with
scarlets, purples, and pinks, lending