Shadows of Sacrifice by Scott Wasilewski

Author:Scott Wasilewski [Scott Wasilewski]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent Publishing Network
Published: 2023-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

Odila IV

Princess Odila kept one eye on him – the misogynist more powerful and influential than any other. King Kiln Rathmore. The Peligonian ruler sat directly opposite her on the rounded table within the great hall of his castle. He said little, and his stony stare flicked from one person to the next – first, his sister, Queen Charlayne Lounsbury of Ambrite, pouring copious amounts of red wine down her spindly throat and laughing merrily. Then his wife, Queen Roslyn, her face hiding behind curly black hair, quietly sipping the drink. Then to King Winston Lounsbury of Ambrite, who nodded at anything Kiln uttered, before sheepishly turning red and looking away. Finally, King Kiln’s glare reached Odila. His green eyes were like that of a snake, empty and cold, and sending a shiver up her spine. She had been greeted at the gates of Peligonia by a corpse’s hollow caverns where its eyes used to be. She preferred that to this.

Kiln turned back to King Winston. “Dear brother-in-law. I hope you can understand why I had to send my own scouts into Knightsdale Forest too?” His words slithered out of pale lips, but they subdued the drunken giggles of his sister.

“Of course, Kiln, yes.” Winston quickly sipped from a chalice half the size of what the Rathmore siblings used. Velvet brown breeches and a honey-coloured tunic matched the copper hair of the Ambritian king.

“I simply must be seen to be enforcing a strong stance against the sea sinners, after everything my father did for this city.”

“Knightsdale Forest?” Odila asked. “What has occurred?” One of Roslyn’s glassy eyes peered at the princess through her curls.

Kiln looked at Odila. Slimy black hair slicked over his head. Tattoos of diamonds and bears filled his neck. He leaned forward, the sleeves of his black and crimson tunic rising slightly. Tattooed bones of a skeleton crawled down both arms and extended onto his hands and fingers. Odila instinctively supped her wine. Only a little, she reminded herself. It prickled her throat, but she held her expression firm. “Princess,” Kiln said. “Winston and my sister’s forces discovered sea sinners robbing their amberium supplies. We believe they were of the Knightsdale Forest tribe. I do not need to tell you that amberium would be a strong material in the construction of ships. Thus, both Winston and I have ordered scouts into the forest.”

Odila’s throat tightened. Perhaps it was the wine’s bitterness. The eyeless corpse at the city gates had a placard reading ‘sea sinner’ hung around its neck. The graffiti she witnessed on her journey to the castle was worse than she remembered from previous trips. ‘Sinners’ and ‘desecrators’ scrawled across every other building, but also ‘Realists’ and ‘deludeds’ scribbled on the others, explaining why every citizen she saw, if not clustered within a gang, was hushed and isolated.

Queen Charlayne hiccupped, then blurted out, “We should raid that forest and drag every sea sinner out to face The Maker’s justice.” The hooped crown on her head slanted

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