Amber and Iron - Margaret Weis [116]
Krell kicked the door shut. He drew his sword from its scabbard and walked toward her.
Mina drew herself up, faced him with scorn. “My lord will not let you touch me!”
“Your lord doesn’t give a rat’s ass about you,” Krell sneered. “Go ahead. Call out to him. See if he answers.”
Mina remembered the look of hatred Chemosh had given her, remembered he had banished her from his sight, refused to even listen to her. She imagined herself calling to him for help, and she heard in her heart the echoing silence of his refusal.
She could not bear that.
Krell had threatened her before now, but his threats had been all bluster and bravado. He had not dared harm her while Chemosh protected her. This was Krell’s chance. She was alone and helpless. She had no weapons. Not even prayer, for Chemosh had turned his back on her.
Mina searched the room for something, anything, she could use in her defense. Not that it would make a difference. The sharpest sword ever crafted could not so much as dent the death knight’s armor.
She did not mean to die without a fight, however. Her soul would go proudly to the Hall of Souls Passing. Chemosh would not be ashamed of her.
Krell was looking about the room as well, though not for the same reason.
“Where is that strange light coming from?” he demanded. “Have you set something on fire?”
A candlestick stood on a table. The candlestick was made of twisted iron, with a clawed foot and three claw-like hands that held the candles. It was big and it was heavy. The trouble was, it was several paces from her.
“Yes,” said Mina. “I summoned a fire wight.”
She pointed to a part of the room opposite the candlestick.
“A fire wight!” Only Krell would have fallen for that one. His head pivoted.
Mina sprang at the table and lunged for the candlestick. She clasped her hands around the base and grabbed it up and, swinging as she turned, she struck with all her strength at Krell’s helm.
The last time she had fought Krell in Storm’s Keep, she had swept his head from his shoulders. That time, Chemosh had been with her.
No god sided with her this time. No god fought for her.
The iron candlestick crashed against Krell’s helm, but the blow did nothing to him. He might not have even felt it. The shock of the blow and the fell touch of the death knight jarred Mina’s arms from wrist to shoulder, momentarily paralyzing her. The candlestick slipped from her hands that had gone suddenly numb.
Krell turned back to her. He seized her arm, twisted it, and flung her against the wall. She gasped with the pain but did not cry out. He penned her in with his arms, so she could not escape. He shoved his helmed head close to her. She could see the emptiness within and smell the foul stench of corruption and death.
“I wish I were a living man,” he said, gloating over her. “I would have some fun with you before I killed you, just like the old days. I liked seeing the fear in their eyes. They knew what I was going to do to them, and they’d squeal and beg and plead for their miserable lives, and I’d tell them if they were good little girls and let me have my fun with them I’d let them live. I lied, of course. When I was done, I’d wrap my hands around their necks—soft, slender necks, like yours—and choke the life out of them.”
He began to fondle her neck with bruising force.
“I guess I’ll just have to settle for choking you.”
His fingers clasped around her neck and started to squeeze.
Rage—hot and molten and bitter tasting—boiled deep within Mina. Amber light blazed in her eyes. Amber light shot from her fingertips. She grasped Krell’s wrists, yanked his hands from her neck, and flung him off her.
“Living man!” she cried, and her fury shook the castle walls. “You want to be a living man! I grant your wish!”
She pointed at Krell, and amber light suffused him. He screamed and began to writhe inside his armor, and suddenly the armor burst asunder and vanished.
Ausric Krell stood before her, his naked flesh quivering, his naked body shivering. His small piggy eyes were blood-shot, white-rimmed, and staring at her in horrified