Her eyes rolled, blinking dazedly. Unknown filth covered her face and breasts in crusted lines. Her hair stuck out in wild tangles. Madness and recognition battled for dominance in her stare, but it was Nesaea. By Ahnok, what has he done to you?
All the fear and hopelessness that had fallen on Rathe at hearing Sanouk’s vile conjuring became as oil-soaked tinder. Nesaea reaching out to him with trembling fingers served as the spark that ignited a murderous conflagration in his heart.
“Blessed be the Reaper of Sorrows,” Sanouk howled, “accept this offering from the hands of your imperfect servant!”
Rathe stood up behind the greenstone altar as Sanouk turned. He gaped at the man’s nakedness, wondering fleetingly what manner of madness had taken the Lord of Hilan. Before Sanouk could react, Rathe threw himself headlong over the altar and slammed into him, driving him hard against a wall. To one side the god boiled, a black and shapeless thing shot-through with agitated webs of crackling energy. The hair on Rathe’s head stood up when the creature loomed nearer.
Desperate to get clear, Rathe smashed a fist against Sanouk’s mouth and spun away, his feet tangling in the lord’s clothing folded on the ground. Next to the robes waited a scabbarded sword. Without pause, Rathe caught up the blade and slung the elaborate leather scabbard away. Naked and gasping, Rathe danced back, weapon at the ready.
Sanouk grinned, lips spilt and bloody. He spoke to his god. “Master, though he was meant for an offering, I beg your leave to destroy this wretched man.”
“A sacrifice must be prepared according to my precepts,” the god rumbled. “Thus far, human, you have only begun the rites. Finish your preparations, or it is your soul which is forfeit, not this other’s.”
“As you command,” Sanouk said, sounding none too happy.
Rathe wasted no time with honor or fair play. He slammed the sword past the lord’s ribs, skewering his heart, and leaped back, tearing the blade free, his mind already turning to dealing with the fiendish god.
Sanouk’s laughter arrested his attention. Instead of dying, he strode forward, no evidence of a wound upon his breast. Rathe stared, shaken. Before debilitating confusion could sweep over him, he attacked again. The unhindered blade hewed through Sanouk’s neck, the steel cleaving flesh and crushing bone. It flashed clear … leaving Sanouk unblemished. He did not slow his advance.
Were it not for the presence of the deity, Rathe’s mind would have unraveled. He had never had any dealings with dark gods or those who summoned them, but tales spoke of their powers, and the unholy gifts they granted their servants. Doubtless, Sanouk had been given immunity to death-at least by way of edged steel. But there are many ways a man might die, Rathe thought.
When Sanouk came close enough, Rathe dropped the sword and wrapped his fingers around the man’s throat, his thumbs pressing hard against Sanouk’s windpipe. The lord rammed his head against Rathe’s nose, bringing a gout of blood.
Rathe retreated, eyes watering, face throbbing. As he moved, his gaze flickered over the eyeless man behind the wall of blood, the woman straining to tear the rope from her neck, the burning girl, and finally Nesaea. Others suffered, all subjected to various forms of punishment.
Not punishment … death. Understanding flared in Rathe’s racing mind. Lord Sanouk’s resistance must be linked to the entombed! So, what if they are freed?
Rathe darted around a smoldering brazier with a flask nestled within its glowing embers, and slammed the heel of his palm against Nesaea’s prison. It was akin to striking a block of unyielding ice. She stared out, eyes forlorn, pleading.
“There is nothing you can do to release them,” Sanouk laughed, as Rathe picked up an ewer near the alter and bashed it against the greenish barrier. The earthenware jar fragmented, spilling a flood of fragrant oil.
“What do you want?” Rathe shouted, backing out of Sanouk’s reach.
“To drown you in boiling oil. You see, Scorpion, your flesh must suffer, so that mine will-”
Rathe struck with his fist, rending the skin over Sanouk’s cheekbone, then rammed the other fist into his naked belly. Where nothing else had served to harm Sanouk, Rathe’s fists did. For the barest moment Sanouk appeared shaken, then he pounced. Outcast prince or not, he was no weakling, and not inexperienced to the ways of using fists and feet as weapons.
A flashing series of blows to Rathe’s ribs, chest, and jaw left him gasping through a mouth pouring blood. A solid kick to his groin doubled him over.
Rathe crabbed back, groaning. Sanouk closed in, cautious, but with confidence burning in his eyes. He reared back to drive a fist against the back of his opponent’s neck, and Rathe dove under the strike, slamming the top of his skull against the middle of Sanouk’s chest, driving out his last breath.
They fell into a writhing heap, bloodied knuckles lashing out, elbows and knees battering vulnerable muscles and joints. Dust flew around them, and the swirling god grew more agitated, its flesh changing.
Rathe heaved to one side, rolling atop Sanouk, and set to pummeling the lord’s face. Sanouk flailed about and inadvertently jammed a thumb in his eye. Rathe floundered back, and Sanouk threw him wide.
Half-blind, Rathe somersaulted unsteadily to his feet. Covered in smears of bloodied dirt, Sanouk came up with his sword in hand, the point aimed at Rathe’s heart.
Rathe chuckled wetly and spat. “A pity you cannot kill me. Unless, of course, you have another offering hidden near to hand?”
Lord Sanouk halted, a measure of his fury dwindling from his gaze. A moment more, he bared his teeth. “I cannot kill you … but there is nothing stopping me from hacking off your limbs.”
With that warning alone, Rathe threw himself backward as the sword split the air, narrowly missing his legs. He toppled to the ground and rolled clear. When he came to rest, he felt baking heat near his face. An inch more, and the brazier would have seared his cheek. With a clear if desperate strategy in his mind, he clambered to his knees, grasped the brazier’s wire handle, and flung the brazier and its smoldering contents into Sanouk’s face. Even as the flying embers struck, Rathe thought of the burning girl, and his heart sank.
The brazier bounced off Sanouk and struck the chamber’s floor with a dull clang. Then Sanouk was screaming, scrambling away, an oily sheen spreading over his reddening torso and groin. Where he had begun his retreat lay the broken flask that had been nestled within the brazier’s coals, the last of its steaming contents soaking into the dust.
“… to drown you in boiling oil,” Sanouk’s voice whispered in Rathe’s memory. By all the gods, he meant it!
Rathe went after the howling sadist. Grappling him to the ground, ignoring the searing heat of the oil, he twined his fingers through Sanouk’s hair, and began pounding the back of his head against the floor. The lord fought back, clawing and punching, but his efforts weakened quickly.
In the back of Rathe’s mind, he was grateful for the man’s pride and shortsightedness. Sanouk had never bargained with the god to gain protection from someone trying to beat him to death, for highborn did not oft suffer such base abuses. But you will this day … milord.
As that derisive thought flickered though his mind, a rasping hiss alerted Rathe to a newcomer.
“Whoreson!” Treon shouted, slamming his boot against Rathe’s chin, knocking him off Sanouk. He tumbled, the chamber a flickering kaleidoscope of flaring lights and blurred images swimming before his eyes. He fetched up against the bloody man’s upright tomb and lay gasping.