The Blind King's Wrath by Ashok K. Banker

Author:Ashok K. Banker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

Ladislew

DHURYO KRUSHAN SMILED AT Krushni as a jaguar might seem to smile at its prey. Except, the jaguar’s smile was no smile at all: it was a promise of deadly intimacy. Whatever spark of lust had appeared in Dhuryo’s eyes at the prospect of possessing the princess of Gwannland had just been doused. In its place was hot fury.

“I have changed my mind. I would not want you in my bed for even one night. You are not deserving of the privilege. Instead, I shall put you in my House of Truth.”

Ladislew caught her breath. The legendary House of Truth was a feature of Krushan “civilization.” There was one in every Krushan-governed city across the expanse of the Burnt Empire.

Most legendary of them all was the progenitor, the original House of Truth in the capital city of Hastinaga. Rumored to be a vast underground labyrinth of perpetually dark chambers, where unknown terrors roamed and did what they pleased to the incarcerated occupants. Whatever they did left no permanent mark on the unfortunates condemned down there, but damaged them deeply enough to scar their souls and minds forever. When they emerged, if they ever did, it was as things bereft of any trace of human empathy or other emotions. They spoke only the truth, naked and raw, and obeyed the will of their Krushan overlords unquestioningly, even to the point of death. In short, they became mentally enslaved for the rest of their miserable mortal lives.

As if to mock the truth of this house of horrors, the structure that rested atop this nightmare warren was a hideously beautiful monstrosity, an insanely fascinating architectural marvel that both attracted the eye and repelled the senses. The rumors also claimed that the structure itself was constructed out of the bodies and bones of those who had once been incarcerated below. When their masters no longer had use for their services, they ordered the brainwashed mindservants to return home to the House of Truth: a command that had only one meaning.

Those thus instructed returned to the building that had stolen their souls and humanity, and ended their lives upon it. Some impaled themselves on its jagged points, others crushed their limbs and skulls into crevices and crannies, many chose to simply lie on the vaulting roof until they died of exposure and starvation. None actually entered the building itself again, or ventured belowground to the catacombs that had been the cause of their loss.

It was said tens of thousands had been thus condemned, most of them vanquished enemies of the Burnt Empire—kings, queens, princes, princesses, nobles, generals, champions—but many were people who had once served the Krushan loyally as maids, servants, personal guards, lovers, spies, or merely the bastard offspring produced by the more flagrantly lustful members of the dynasty. If there was a literal definition of a fate worse than death, the House of Truth was it.

When Dhuryo Krushan said the words, it was evident he meant them. That promise would have made any foe’s blood turn to ice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.