An Emperor For The Legions by Harry Turtledove
Author:Harry Turtledove [Turtledove, Harry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: #noisbn
ISBN: 9780345330680
Publisher: Gateway
Published: 1987-01-02T00:00:00+00:00
An Emperor For The Legions
Harry Turtledove 1 83
that marked the impact of Avshar’s hand. A thin trickle of blood ran from his left nostril into his beard. His pearl-be- decked Sevastos’ coronet sat awry on his head—for the dandy Sphrantzes was, a telling sign of disintegration. His eyes were wide and staring, trapped eyes.
“Let her go,” Marcus repeated softly. “She won’t buy your escape—you know that.” The Sevastos shook his head, but the dagger fell—not much, but an inch or two.
Avshar chuckled, his mirth more terrible than a shriek of hate. “Aye, let her go, Vardanes,” he said. “Let her go, just as you let Videssos go when it was in your hands. You took your pleasure from it as from her, and then watched with drool dribbling down your chin as it slipped through your fingers. Of course, let her go. What better way to end your bungling life? Even as a puppet you were worthless.”
Marcus never knew whether Avshar’s contempt was more than the Sevastos could endure or whether, in some last calcu- lation of his own, Vardanes decided—and perhaps rightly— the wizard-prince’s death might be the one coin to buy his safety from Thorisin Gavras. Whatever his reasons, he sud- denly shoved Alypia forward, sending her stumbling into the tribune’s arms, then whirled and drove his dagger into Av- shar’s armored breast.
The thin steel needle was the perfect weapon to pierce a cuirass, and Sphrantzes’ desperate stab was backed by all the power his well-fed frame could give. Scaurus had always thought there was muscle under that fat. Now he knew it, for when Vardanes’ hand came away, the stiletto was driven home hilt-deep.
But Avshar did not crumple. “Ah, Vardanes,” he said, laughing a laugh jagged as broken glass. “Futile to the very end. My magics proofed you against cold iron’s bite. Did you think they would do less for me, their maker? See now, it should be done this way.”
Swift as a serpent’s strike, he seized the Sevastos, lifted him off his feet, and flung him against the wall. Marcus heard his skull shatter—the exact sound, he thought, of a dropped crock of porridge. Blood sprayed over the painted waves; Var- danes was dead before he slid to the floor.
Avshar drew the dagger from his chest, tucked it into his belt. “A very good day to you all,” he said with a last mock- ing bow, and darted into the farther chamber.
184 AN EMPEROR FOR THE LEGION
His flight freed the Romans from the paralysis with which they had watched the past minutes’ drama. They rushed to the door; but though the locks were on the outside, they would not open. The Romans attacked the door with swords and their armored shoulders, but the apartment over the throne room was, among other things, a redoubt, and the portal did not
yield.
Through the noise of their pounding came Avshar’s voice, loudly chanting in some harsh tongue that was not Videssian. More magic, Marcus thought with a twist of fear in his guts.
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