Wrath of the White Tigress by David Alastair Hayden Read Free Book Online Page B

ancient ruins and modern citadels. Olive orchards and grape vineyards dominated by tile-roofed villas stood interspersed among the grain fields. Throughout the land, farmhouses and granaries clustered together into neat villages, each built around a central green and a communal well.
    Zyrella soared above Arga, a village on the southern coast. Her heart warmed to see the familiar, quaint homes, the vineyards and fields, a score of modest fishing vessels, and herds of sheep trailed by young men with staves and dogs. On the tallest hill, the ruins of an Eirsendan shrine lay beneath a grove of sprawling oaks. There, among the vine-wrapped marble pillars and moss-covered flagstones, Zyrella's grandmother had instructed her in the arts of being a priestess to the White Tigress. They had used the shrine with the blessing and support of the local priestesses of Yaraya, a wolf goddess also mothered to divinity by Kashomae. Yaraya had taken pity on the White Tigress' refugees, and her magics had protected Zyrella from Salahn's scrying as long as she remained in Arga.  
    Studying in Arga, Zyrella mastered before the age of twenty many sorceries a normal priestess might never know. When her grandmother passed away, Zyrella joined Ohzikar and the other templars in fighting with the resistance movement in Hareez. That was when the Grandmaster had noted the power she wielded and divined who she was. After the palymfar and Hmyr Karphon's army defeated the resistance, they returned to Arga, minus five of their brothers.
    A whisper rushed across the fields, bending grain stalks and rustling grapevines and olive leaves. The whisper grew harsh and scoured the fields. Sheep fell as if slaughtered. Vines wilted, the sea withdrew, and oaks withered. Desert sands massed on the horizon, then the scrub of Hareez swallowed Epros.
    An instant before she could scream, Zyrella woke. Yet the hellish whisper remained.
    "Priestess, can you hear me?"
    She scrambled to Jaska's side. "Yes. I'm awake now."  
    "Where are we?"
    "Hidden in a cave, twenty leagues east of the shrine."
    "How did I get here? How did you find me?" He swept his gaze around the cave. "Where is the merchant, his daughters?" He struggled to sit up. "I blacked out and--"
    "They're fine, back on their way to Epros. I arrived soon after you collapsed and they helped me take care of you the first few days."  
    While she untied his hands and feet, she explained everything that had happened.
    "Why are you helping me? You have every right to kill me."
    "I must see the efforts of the White Tigress completed."
    Jaska arched his back up from the ground and grimaced with pain. "I'm thoroughly corrupt. I don't deserve life."
    "You did evil, that's true, but you weren't in control of your actions, were you?"
    He shook his head. "I should have been."  
    Jaska began to convulse with dry coughs. Zyrella brought him water. He rose on his elbows and Zyrella held the bowl to his lips. He drank then lay back down.
    "I don't want to live."
    "Then why have you fought so hard these last few days?"
    He shrugged. "I've never given up before. I don't know how."
    "Then don't make this time a first. Salahn grows in power. Help me stop him. I have no hope without you."
    "What can I do? He will exert his control over me again. I am weak against him. Through my dreams he calls to me."
    "Your nightmares and urges are resonances caused by an addiction to Salahn's dark powers. And your body grew accustomed to sating many lusts that no longer have an outlet. But you can conquer all of that. The bindings you must fear are in your qavra."
    He winced and cringed away from her. "Tell me it is lost, for I must have it."
    Ohzikar emerged from the shadows. He knelt beside her and lifted the qavra, dangling it just out of Jaska's reach. "Here it is, palymfar. Your legacy and power, the collar given you by your master. Come for it anytime you wish. I'll give it to you willingly."
    Zyrella shoved him, though his bulk showed no