Chapter List

hideous darkness fell over the dock as Reina’s robes and face faded to a savage, deathly black. The temperature plummeted. Sheets of painful frost instantly formed over Kenesh’s jerkin, boots and gloves. Sharp splinters of ice began to form in the air and float to the ground. He felt his spine freeze as the Vicereine’s narrow eyes became visible from under her cowl, slowly brightening to the enraged color of glowing blood.

Kenesh saw fangs emerge as she began to speak. The words seemed to be alternately miles away and right next to Kenesh’s ears. Her many voices formed an ocean of shadows beneath them and the edges of the warehouse and wooden platform began to warp and shift.

Whispers slithered into his mind. They spoke of cold and friendless places. A sound like a faraway fight between vicious dogs infiltrated his hearing and pain began to thrum down his neck like a spiderweb of tiny rivers. Voices pried into his consciousness muttering foulness he could have scarcely imagined in his most craven avarice. His throat tightened and he scrambled to escape, but his body refused to obey.

Hidden corners of his being began to drip with shadow. Something alarmingly tall and gangling loomed over the Vicereine. Then it moved. It’s unnatural gaze reached into Kenesh’s throat and began to drain the light from his vision. He turned to run. Raw, desperate, clawing fear locked his joints and the last gulp of air drained from his lungs.

The sound of an open grave groaned through the frosty air as Kenesh Drun scrambled back up the dock. He felt and heard the thumps of huge footsteps. From the deepest pit of his subconscious animal mind, cold claws reached for him. His frozen blood slowed his weakening legs. He couldn’t escape. His life force began to drain through his eyes. He could feel it strengthening the Arcanist. He could feel her satisfaction as she reached deeper, slashing at his thoughts and feeding on the fear that bled from his injured mind. His hair turned white and instantly rotted, falling from his head and taking the skin off his skull with it. He put his hands up to his face and screamed forever.

Nako wheezed and reached up with both hands to pull at Reina’s grip as she lifted him off the ground by the throat. His face bulged with the pain of strangulation. Reina held Shadebane to one side and whispered words of such power that each syllable threatened to weaken the supports of the dock. The skin of Nako’s arms and face began to darken and still the Vicereine tightened her grip. Her voice lowered to a hiss as Nako’s eyes fell back into his rotting head and his hands fell limply to his sides.

Reina flung the skeletal remains of Kenesh’s defeated henchman against the dingy wooden wall, shattering his brittle bones into dozens of pieces, each of which continued to decay as she turned back to Kenesh. He lay on the dock, his body tense with the primal throes of escape, staring directly into the sky. His ghostly face remained frozen as the screams continued to echo through his rapidly deteriorating mind.

Kenesh seemed to notice Reina suddenly and scrabbled backwards. He was unarmed and there was nowhere to run. Reina picked up the broken blade of Kenesh’s knife from the dock, then continued approaching him, robes dragging, as she examined it. Kenesh pushed back, his shoulders scraping the warehouse door as he got to his feet. The dull numbing ache of the bitter air grew with each of her approaching steps.

Reina stopped inches away. Her hands were covered in the poison from the blade. Kenesh watched by the scarce light of the flickering overhead lamp. Her slender, pale hands seemed to heal themselves just as quickly as the poison ate through the skin.

Continue to Chapter Ten