Read Online Torment and Terror by Craig Halloran - Free Book Online Page B

illuminated by the soft blue glow of the underlight.
    Master Sidebor, glad to be in a decent set of robes and shoes, followed behind her. No one else was with them. Not even the Vicious, to his surprise. And they were far, far away from Sinway castle.
    “At some point are you going to tell me where we are going?” He didn’t want to admit that he didn’t know where he was, not that it mattered. The Underland wasn’t a place where underlings ever got lost. The caves and caverns were endless, however.
    “Feeling anxious?” She had a sultry sway to her walk. Graceful. Erotic. Dangerous. Though it covered her body in dark leather and underling chain, the ensemble only enhanced her perfect features. Two fine blades hung on her hips. Throwing knives were strapped crisscross over her back. And her boots had a narrow heel on them. “I think you are. Maybe it’s because you are so old?”
    “Ancient is more like it.” Sidebor didn’t like walking, but Elypsa had insisted he do it so that they didn’t draw attention to themselves. “My older body was bigger and better, but this one seems to be doing fine.”
    “Yes.” She came to a stop and faced him. She put her hands on his neck. “I want to know more about that. Master Sinway has told me very little.” She played with his ear. “Tell me.”
    Sidebor’s black blood stirred. He placed his hands on her splendid hips and gently pulled her into him. With a dry throat, he said, “It’s hardly uncommon that underlings change bodies. At least in my day it wasn’t.”
    She pushed her perfect breasts into him and smiled into his eyes. “I know there’s more to it than that. I want to know everything.”
    “Then you’ll have to keep working at it.” He didn’t know if she knew anything about Scorch or not, but he suspected she knew something. Sinway had tipped her off, and it was eating at her. He slid his hand over her rump. “But you look like a good worker.”
    “Oh, I’m a wondrous worker.” She clutched a handful of his hair and squeezed it tight. “My hard work always gets me what I want.”
    His good eye bore into hers. “And what exactly do you want?”
    She pushed him away and started walking again.
    Sidebor played along. “So you don’t want to tell me what you want. I see.”
    “Well, what do you want?” she asked.
    “At some point, you,” he said, pushing his long black hair back. “Other than that, well, I’m not so sure how to talk about it. Sometimes ambitions can change.”
    “We are conquering the outlands. The City of Bone is ours. Does that not excite you?”
    Sidebor rubbed his chin. In centuries past there’d been nothing else that he lived for. He had been there, in Bone, when he was young. The underlings had controlled it once that he knew of. He always wanted it back. But now all of that had changed. His encounter with Scorch had changed his thoughts. Scorch the meddler had exposed him to a power he never dreamed of. He’d slipped into the meddler’s mind. His discovery, almost accidental, had unleashed a secret. A mind that could build entire worlds. Now, everything he’d ever wanted seemed so small. “Seeing you is all the excitement I need.”
    “Hah. A flatterer. That’s so atypical of a Master Underling and well beneath a Lord.” She stopped in her tracks, turned, and drew her swords. “I suspect that your life might not be worth keeping around after all.”

 
     
    CHAPTER 17
     
     
    Wracked with pain, Trinos fought to keep it together. Scorch was killing her, blow after blow. That devastating stab wound to her belly had almost done her in. She’d never felt anything like that before. Whenever he twisted the knife, the excruciating pain made her want to escape life into death.
    Somehow she still held up. Something inside her wouldn’t give in. She still wanted to fight. Not just for herself but for everyone on Bish.
    I will not falter!
    She ripped the knife from her belly and drew back to strike.
    That was