The White Towers by Andy Remic Read Free Book Online Page A

maggot-infested bastard, Yoon.”
    “Well. I’m sure he had his reasons.”
    “Had his what? Have you gone fucking insane?”
    “Kiki, calm down. I said he had his reasons, not that I agreed with them. I like my neck unbroken, thanks very much, although I’ve got to admit, I’m a hard man to kill. It’d have to be a very strong rope.” He thought about it. “And a very long drop.”
    Kiki stared, and coughed. “Well it was both of those; I think the fall from the walls of Desekra is big enough to crack even your unfaltering warrior’s ego. The problem here is what kind of liability Yoon is going to prove. He’s been nothing but a scourge against the people of Vagandrak.”
    “You should talk to him. When we stop,” said Dek. He smiled amiably. “If you’ll let us stop. He may yet be a man who surprises you.”
    Kiki nodded, but found a rage boiling inside herself, bubbling dangerously. She did not dare speak to Yoon. Yet. She knew she would lose her temper – and the last time that happened, she awoke a demon in her soul; she awoke the Shamathe and collapsed the battleground before the Desekra Fortress into a thousand caverns and ancient mines deep below the ground, sucking down thousands of warring, battling mud-orcs; sucking down Orlana, the Changer – otherwise known as the Horse Lady – down to her Eternal Doom.
    Kiki took a deep breath and tried not to think about what nestled inside her. Tried not to think of her past. Her childhood. Of the Seed. And her sister, oh, her terrible, brooding, dark sister.
    Well, I won’t allow it , came the slithering voice of Suza, her tomb-demon, her eternal tormentor, sliding sideways into the charnel house of Kiki’s skull and bringing flashing images of maggot-infested corpses, of dead babies in coffins, of priests staked out to die, of death and putrefaction and a certainty of every single mortal man’s own imminent useless stinking death.
    You cannot stop me , thought Kiki, gritting her teeth so hard there came a crack.
    You did well, back there. Very clever. Very noble. Honourable Kiki! Saving the people of Vagandrak from the slavering, terrible, unholy mud-orcs ; God bless her little golden glowing soul. You fucking idiot. Where did it get you? Yoon turned on you. Stabbed you in the back. Ripped your heart from your chest and your womb from your abdomen. You think that maniac wanted his people saving? He was giving them over to Orlana; sacrificing you all to the Horse Lady.
    But… why? Why would a king do that to his people?
    Why not? cackled Suza . Like you really care, bitch. Like you really give a bejewelled fuck.
    “Kiki!” rumbled Narnok, from the back, where he’d looped some rope around Yoon’s neck and was dragging the bound king along like a dog. The King’s eyes were wide and mad, his mouth muttering curses in a language Kiki had never before heard as spit drooled down the rich embroidery of his silk and cotton robe. “If my memory serves, there’s an old storeroom up ahead. One of Dalgoran’s little stashes for the Old Raids.”
    Kiki nodded, and she noted the sudden gleam in Narnok’s single eye amidst the writhing mess of his razor-scarred face. “Go on. Ask the question.”
    Narnok’s voice dropped to a hiss, like the fevered insistence of an insane zealot. “The curse, Kiki! You promised us; said Dalgoran told us how to lift the curse !”
    “And I shall,” she said, uneasily, remembering Dalgoran’s words – shortly before the old, noble general died by his own hand. Deep below Desekra Fortress, beneath Zula, the keep, there is a chamber. Inside it there is a chest. Everything you need to lift the curse is inside that chest… This key unlocks both the chamber and the chest. You will understand, when you see it. He’d given her a bronze key which she wore on a loop of leather against her breast even as they spoke. Involuntarily, her hand came up, feeling the solidity of the bronze key through the soft cotton of her shirt.