In Her Name: The First Empress: Book 01 - From Chaos Born by Michael R. Hicks Read Free Book Online

shown you mercy.”
    “I could not. She would have known.”
    Ayan-Dar shook his head slowly. “I do not understand, child.”
    The girl’s eyes had a haunted look. “I am bound to the Dark Queen.” She held up her remaining hand, and Ayan-Dar saw a deep, ugly scar across the palm.  
    He narrowed his eyes in shock and anger. The Desh-Ka and the other orders had an ancient ritual. It was known as drakash in his own sect, and by different names among the others. It was the blood bond, when an acolyte was accepted into the priesthood. Blood was shared through cut and bound palms of master or mistress and acolyte in a very sacred ceremony. It was the ultimate act of acceptance. Part of its purpose was also to bridge the void between the seven major bloodlines, for none of the orders demanded that acolytes be from their particular bloodline, but any member of the priesthood must be able to sense those of their own order.
    It was a way of accepting a new priest or priestess into the body of the priesthood, but there were also ways it could also be used to bind a servant to a master. Those ways were beneath the contempt of the ancient orders, but there had always been those rogues beyond the temples who would use it to their own ends. Once such a bond had been made, the Dark Queen could not see the greater bloodline, but would be able to sense the feelings of those who were bound to her in such a manner.  
    It was the ultimate act of control.
    This young female who lay dying could not have let him go, even had she wanted to, for the Dark Queen would have known. From what he had heard, Syr-Nagath would not have turned a blind eye to such a transgression.  
    Far more troubling was that these brigands served her at all. The queen should have been hunting down such bands, not employing them for her own unfathomable purposes.  
    The dying girl answered his unspoken question. She raised her hand to his chest, brushing her talons over the gleaming rune of the Desh-Ka. “This is what she seeks.”
    Before Ayan-Dar could ask her any more questions, her eyes closed and her hand fell to her side. He felt her spirit pass from her body, and whispered a prayer of mercy, that she might find peace in the Afterlife.
    For a long time afterward, he sat next to the child’s lifeless body, staring into the glowing embers of the dying fire and wondering at the meaning of her words.
    This is what she seeks…

CHAPTER THREE

    Syr-Nagath, the Dark Queen, brooded in the great pavilion that served as her home while on campaign. The enormous white stretch of canvas of her palace sat on a hill overlooking the battlefield, and the city of Taliah-Ma’i beyond. She was covered in blood, for she always fought at the head of the growing horde of her army, to satisfy her own bloodlust as much as to inspire fear in those who served her. Crimson spatters and streaks covered her face and armor, and dripped from her talons to the floor. She breathed in the heady scent, the fire in her blood momentarily rekindling as her right hand strayed to the hilt of her sheathed sword.
    The army defending Taliah-Ma’i had fought bravely, but had fallen in a day. After a brief but brutal fight, she had offered the right of Challenge to the master of the city, to allow him to die with honor and spare the destruction of his lands and people, who would then be honor-bound to serve her.  
    Luckily for them, he had accepted. But he had not died quickly. Few of the many who had been forced to face her in the arena did. It was his blood that stained the animal pelts at her feet. Every Challenge she fought was yet another example to instill fear in those bound to her. For fear was one of the few emotions that she truly understood.
    She turned, taking in the panorama of her army. Over thirty thousand were encamped here, with another four hundred thousand arrayed to the north and south as her warriors swept across T’lar-Gol toward the great Eastern Sea. And every city and