294 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
294 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
Archive-name: Bondage/angel2.txt
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Archive-author: Michael Raleigh
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Archive-title: Angel 2
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This one is of the Dark Lord's twin sister. It takes place
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just before he leaves on the Elven campaign. Sorry for
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the delay folks. Things have been real hectic with me.
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No, Alex still isn't here.
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Angel
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******
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Copyright 1989, Michael Raleigh.
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******
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"As you bind me with this symbol, so shall you be bound to me by
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it," he says, tracing a pentagram on her wrist. He releases her.
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Her name appears on the pact in her blood.
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Vendan the Destroyer looks at the woman kneeling before him.
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Reaching out again, he touches her temple with a hand that is icy
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fire. "You are mine now, body and soul. Farewell for a while,
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Zara beht Llewella." Then, the Demon-God vanishes, leaving behind
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only a small scar, shaped like a pentagram and a blaze of white in
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her coal black hair. Exhausted in body and spirit, Zara sinks to
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the cold stone floor and sleeps.
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The oblivion of exhaustion faded into the realization that she was
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awake. The pentagram was still on her wrist but it was old now.
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She had worn it for many months. She was relieved that it had only
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been a dream, but wished she could rid herself of it. The living
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had been bad enough.
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She opened her eyes and stifled a scream.
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"Greetings, Zara." The voice was deep and mellifluous, a
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beautiful, soothing voice. Coming as it did from the being that
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stood in the center of the inlaid pentagram, it generated an
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intense horror. The creature was a foul glob of shapelessness,
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forming and reforming; a hand here, an eye there, an internal organ
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in other places.
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"Master?" she whispered, unsure.
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"I have come to claim that for which you contracted."
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"Yes, Lord. As you wish." She stood and with an effort of will,
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removed the sleeping robe.
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"I have expended much energy to enter your plane. I require
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nourishment."
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"Yes, master of my soul." She pulled the bell-cord near her bed
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and picked up a knife. It had amused Ternec to assign his mistress
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as his wife's maidservant. Even after moving, she had kept Rosella
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with her for just such an event. Now the final score with her late
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husband could be settled. Rosella appeared, yawning, wondering why
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she was wanted at such an hour.
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Zara clamped one hand over the girl's mouth and held the knife at
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her throat. Forcing her to her knees before the thing in the ward,
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Zara cut the servant's throat without a qualm. The red geyser
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burst over Vendan the Destroyer and he changed.
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Absorbing the blood, he took form and solidified. Zara set the
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knife away from her and handed the girl's corpse to the being
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before her. She knelt in the presence of her god.
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Her face averted, she never learned what he did with the body, but
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soon she felt a touch on her temple. The white streak he had
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marked her with was still there. She looked up at him.
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"This shouldn't be too unpleasant for you," he commented. "Or
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perhaps I can make it even less so." He began to change, the lines
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of his face altering into a face she knew as well as her own.
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"No!" she shrieked. It was what she had wanted all these years.
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This was the reason she had been married to Lord Fremde so soon
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after her fourteenth birthday. This was the reason her brother had
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been sent to school at the Vanadan monastery, where he developed
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his hatred of priests. Now the Destroyer's black eyes laughed at
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her from behind the mask of her twin's face. "Please, no. Do not
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grant me what I want with one hand and hold it out of my reach with
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the other," she whispered. "I prefer your form."
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Vendan laughed. "It was a test, most honored of my slaves. I had
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to know. Stand." He helped her to her feet and led her to her
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bed. His hands were icy cold.
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He lowered her to the black sheets and kissed her. The taste of
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Rosella's blood was still fresh on his mouth. "You are not
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unattractive. This could be pleasant for both of us."
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Zara said nothing, but lay on the bed and readied herself. She was
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frightened, although she did not think he could be much worse than
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Ternec. She had not lied about her barrenness, but he had not
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asked about her frigidity. The touch of the icy hands drifted over
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her body. She shivered a bit.
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"Are you cold?" he asked.
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"No, my lord, you are," she said, noticing the line of goose-flesh
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where he had touched her. Was his realm hot or cold, she wondered.
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"My realm is hot, Zara. Hotter than the center of the sun. It is
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comfortable there with my low body temperature. Relax, mother of
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my heir. You do not need to be frightened."
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"I can not help but be frightened, Lord. This is too great an
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honor for a mortal woman. I am not worthy to be loved by a god."
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"No woman is. I have chosen you as the best. Now relax and be
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silent."
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Zara calmed herself with a mental exercise her first tutor had
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taught her when she was five. Vendan noticed the change and smiled
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at her.
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"Are you ready to accept me?" he asked, sliding one icy hand
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between her legs. "No, you are not," he said sadly. The cold hand
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penetrated deep into her, burning cold. She gasped softly and
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tried not to cry out. "Now you are ready," he commented.
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Zara screamed as the unlight faded from around him and she saw what
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she would be accepting into her most private recesses. She felt
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the cold metal rend her as he entered, both of the overly large
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shafts tearing into her softness. The freezing cold of him burned
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and would not numb. She screamed, knowing that no help would come.
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She screamed from the pain and impossibility of it. After a
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tortured eternity, he finished and left a residue like molten lead
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deep inside her. She felt it burn its way up into her womb.
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Her senses heightened by the Power and the nearness of her god, she
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looked down at her belly and gasped. Looking through the wall of
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flesh, she watched in horror as the inhuman seed joined with her
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all-too-fertile egg. She sobbed one last time and was still.
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"Lovely Zara, most accursed of women, you have watched the
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conception. Now carry my child to term and bear. When your time
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is come, I shall send midwives to you. No one must know whose
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child it is. Tell them it is your brother's. I will see you twice
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more in your life: once after he is born, and I will be with you
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when you die. Farewell for a time, Zara." Wrapping himself in the
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unlight, Vendan vanished.
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Zara rang the bell cord that led to her brother's chambers. She
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rang, too, for the eunuch in charge of the harem. There had to be
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a way to avoid her fate and she would find it.
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The Dark Lord, startled to hear Zara's bell, debated going to her.
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She knew it was only for emergencies, and should have no cause to
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use it. Since she had used it, he reasoned, there must be an
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emergency. He stepped into his slippers as he passed them on the
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way to the door.
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Lem had arrived in the sorceress's chambers first and was examining
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Zara. At the Dark Lord's arrival, he lowered the hem of her robe
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and prepared his report. Zara was sobbing, a fact that
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disconcerted the Dark Lord. The last time he had seen his sister
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cry was at their mother's funeral, when they were seventeen. Tears
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seemed inappropriate to the most powerful mage in his empire.
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"Master, I think you had best see this for yourself. I cannot
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describe it," Lem said.
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He lifted Zara's robe and spread her thighs gently, wiping away
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what blood he could. The double metal shafts had torn her, but as
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the two men watched, the wounds began to close. In a matter of
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moments the rents were gone, and they watched in horror as the
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normal opening began to close.
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"But, Master," Zara shrieked, feeling what was happening, "I cannot
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bear if I am closed." There was silence for a moment as the two
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men pondered her words. Then, as if having received an answer, she
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said, "Yes, Lord, I understand." Becoming aware of her brother's
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presence for the first time, she drew the sleeping robe around her.
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"Zara, what is going on? Why did you summon me?" What is the
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emergency?" the Dark Lord demanded.
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"I've never seen anything like that. What happened?" Lem added.
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Zara wiped away the last remaining tears on her face and looked at
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them. "I can only say this once. I am pregnant. Lem, can you do
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something about that?"
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"Yes, Lady, easily. If I may go, I can return in half an hour with
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the remedy. How far are you?"
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"About an hour. This can still be changed." The eunuch bowed and
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left the twins alone.
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"Who hurt you like that?" the Dark Lord asked. The entire
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conversation had baffled him, but he would learn what he needed to
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know.
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"The Destroyer," Zara answered quietly, turning her wrist to show
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the scar.
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"Vendan the Destroyer? I thought you served him."
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"Yes. It was part of my bargain. A part I had no choice but to
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keep." An ironic smile twisted her face. "You look upon a woman
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who has loved a god and lived to tell of it. Rejoice with me in my
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blessing." The bitterness left her. She looked very small and
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very young. "I'm frightened," she said quietly.
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Forcibly reminded of their younger days, he sat down beside her and
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stroked her hair. "Are you certain it wasn't just a nightmare?" he
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asked, not believing he was saying such a thing.
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"A nightmare? You saw the blood. You watched him heal me and then
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seal me up that no other may take me until I bear his son. You ask
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if it was a nightmare? You have no idea of..." Her voice was
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reaching a hysterical pitch when he cut her off.
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"Quiet. I know it was no nightmare. Rest until Lem returns, and
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then destroy the foul creature inside of you. His remedy rarely
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fails. I'll have him give you a sleeping potion. I expect you in
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the throne room at the hour after the zenith as usual."
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"Yes, my lord," she said. He stood up and looked at her. With the
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white blaze concealed, she looked much as she had long ago when she
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had loved him and no other. He put the thought from his mind,
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reminding himself that she was his advisor first, his sister
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second.
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"Sleep, Zara," he told her as he left. He passed Lem on the steps
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as he left her tower. Stopping the eunuch, he commanded, "If you
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fail this assignment, I'll have your nose join the other missing
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parts of you. If she dies, so do you. If you succeed and mention
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this to anyone, you lose your ears as well as your nose.
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Understood?"
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"Yes, Master. I will not fail. The lady is overwrought, and I
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have added a calmative to the abortifacient. She will be fine."
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"See that she is," he snapped, leaving Lem to his work.
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Lem entered the tower cautiously; wizards always made him nervous.
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he steeled himself with the thought that right now, she was just a
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woman and unlikely to blast him for trying to help her.
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"Lady Zara?" he asked softly, holding the cup in one hand.
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"Yes, Lem. Step on in. I promise you won't be hurt."
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The eunuch entered the room carefully. Zara was seated at the
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desk, writing and waiting for him. He clucked disapprovingly.
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"You should be in bed. After a shock like that one, you are
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confined to bed for two days," he said sharply. She smiled tiredly
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at him and returned to bed. "That's better. Now drink this and it
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should work. I don't want you out of bed until Starday,
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understand?"
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Zara carefully hid a smile and said, "I understand. You are the
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healer." She took the cup eagerly and drained it at a gulp.
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Suddenly, she gasped and reached for the chamberpot. The potion
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came back up as quickly as it had gone down. She knew that Vendan
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would not let her break her word.
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Lem looked at her terrified. "I'll try another recipe," he said
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frantically, dashing for the door.
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"It won't do any good. Do you think your concoction can affect a
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god? He won't let me absorb it." The eunuch's panicked look
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startled Zara and she asked, "What is the matter?"
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"If I fail, I lose my nose. He said so."
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"Lem, let me intercede for you there. I know the situation better
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than my brother. We won't tell him that I couldn't keep it down.
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He leaves in three days for the battle. By the time he returns, we
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will have worked something out. You won't lose your nose." She
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smiled comfortingly, and Lem half-wished that she was one of his
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regular girls. He bowed and left.
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Zara rolled over and tried to sleep. Slowly she drifted off, the
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feel of the comfortable bed easing her path. It began as it always
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did.
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"What is it, Mistress?" asks the slave. She frees him from the
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chains and has him lie on a worktable. The flash of a silver
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dagger and his blood drains into a golden bowl as she chants
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softly.
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The Protection of the Summoner is chanted as she draws the last
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line of the pentagram and takes a sip of the blood. Slowly she
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begins to strip...
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--
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