Dragons of Spring Dawning - Margaret Weis [170]
“Yes,” said Kitiara without interest. Drawing her sword from its scabbard, she began to wipe off the blood with the hem of her cloak.
“Shall I go after them?” Soth asked.
“No. We have more important matters to attend to now,” Kitiara replied. Glancing up at him, she smiled her crooked smile. “The elfwoman would never be yours anyway, not even in death. The gods protect her.”
Soth’s flickering gaze turned to Kitiara. The pale lips curled in derision. “The half-elven man remains your master still.”
“No, I think not,” Kitiara replied. Turning, she looked after Tanis as the door shut behind him. “Sometimes, in the still watches of the night, when he lies in bed beside her, Tanis will find himself thinking of me. He will remember my last words, he will be touched by them. I have given them their happiness. And she must live with the knowledge that I will live always in Tanis’s heart. What love they might find together, I have poisoned. My revenge upon them both is complete. Now, have you brought what I sent you for?”
“I have, Dark Lady,” Lord Soth replied. With a spoken word of magic, he brought forth an object and held it out to her in his skeletal hand. Reverently, he set it at her feet.
Kitiara caught her breath, her eyes gleamed in the darkness nearly as bright as Lord Soth’s. “Excellent! Return to Dargaard Keep. Gather the troops. We will take control of the flying citadel Ariakas sent to Kalaman. Then we will fall back, regroup, and wait.”
The hideous visage of Lord Soth smiled as he gestured to the object that glittered in his fleshless hand. “This is now rightfully yours. Those who opposed you are either dead, as you commanded, or fled before I could reach them.”
“Their doom is simply postponed,” Kitiara said, sheathing her sword. “You have served me well, Lord Soth, and you will be rewarded. There will always be elfmaidens in this world, I suppose.”
“Those you command to die shall die. Those you allow to live”—Soth’s glance flickered to the door—“shall live. Remember this, of all who serve you, Dark Lady, I alone can offer you undying loyalty. This I do now, gladly. My warriors and I will return to Dargaard Keep as you ask. There we will await our summons.”
Bowing to her, he took her hand in his skeletal grasp. “Farewell, Kitiara,” he said, then paused. “How does it feel, my dear, to know that you have brought pleasure to the damned? You have made my dreary realm of death interesting. Would that I had known you as a living man!” The pallid visage smiled. “But, my time is eternal. Perhaps I will wait for one who can share my throne—”
Cold fingers caressed Kitiara’s flesh. She shuddered convulsively, seeing unending, sleepless nights yawn chasmlike before her. So vivid and terrifying was the image that Kitiara’s soul shriveled in fear as Lord Soth vanished into the darkness.
She was by herself in the darkness and for a moment she was terrified. The Temple shuddered around her. Kitiara shrank back against the wall, frightened and alone. So alone! Then her foot touched something on the floor of the Temple. Reaching down, her fingers closed around it thankfully. She lifted it in her hands.
This was reality, hard and solid, she thought, breathing in relief.
No torchlight glittered on its golden surface or flared from its red-hued jewels. Kitiara did not need the flare of torches to admire what she held.
For long moments she stood in the crumbling hallway, her fingers running over the rough metal edges of the bloodstained Crown.
Tanis and Laurana ran down the spiral stone stairs to the dungeons below. Pausing beside the jailor’s desk, Tanis glanced at the body of the hobgoblin.
Laurana stared at him. “Come on,” she urged, pointing to the east. Seeing him hesitate, looking north, she shuddered. “You don’t want to go down there! That is where they … took me—” She turned away quickly, her face growing pale as she heard cries and shouts coming from the prison cells.
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