A Glimmer on the Blade by Rachel E. Baddorf

Author:Rachel E. Baddorf [Baddorf, Rachel E.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Pro Se Productions
Published: 2018-06-25T16:00:00+00:00

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Imperial Palace

Ildiko

Hot tears slipped down Ildiko’s face as she stared down at the battlefield. The marble was scorched black, what was left of the marines lay in piles, and the font was a pool of slag. Where the bodies of the clergy had been only a fine silver sand remained.

The pain throbbing down her thigh brought her back to herself. She sat back trying to catch her breath and looked around her with new sinking dread. The prince and she were in what was called a light well. It was a five-foot square piece of roof with the skylight in the center. On all four sides, smooth-stone towers climbed hundreds of feet into the sky. There were no windows for six stories above her, and even then, they were small. No one wanted a view of a light well. It was also the place where rainwater gathered, flowing down a long slot of a drain into one of the cisterns in the palace. There were hundreds of light wells in heights of the palace; they were just an architectural feature to allow a room in the depths of the palace to get some natural light. This one was even without maintenance hatches to keep people from knowing it led to the Ordeal Chamber. There was no way out except back down through the skylight.

Ildiko felt an emptiness where her terror used to be. It was used up.

Scion? What should I do? she asked.

There was no reply. She was alone, her only company a thigh wound and a comatose prince wearing nothing but a red silk sheet. The marines would come. They would find the light well, and she and the prince could not escape a second time.

Ildiko dragged herself back to the edge of the window and hauled up the remains of the rope. It had been burned half way up by the wave of silver light. It was the last clue to where the prince and the last survivor of the temple had gone.

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