Dragons of the Hundred Worlds Omnibus by Robert Stanek

Author:Robert Stanek [Stanek, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reagent Press

3

Stutk and Rwenwik found the Drakón lord just as Nük T'nyr said they would. Nük T'nyr prepared for their return by cleansing himself of blood and sweat and donning his ceremonial armor. They came for him in the middle tolls of the night.

"He waits for you," Stutk said. "You should have been the one to take him. The honor and glory should have been yours."

"Such was not mine to take," Nük T'nyr managed as he stood. "Not just for the one, for the many, for all Jurin."

Nük T'nyr raised his glass to Kha'el D'erth. Kha'el D'erth stood and raised his glass in return. "Strength and resolve."

"Indeed," Nük T'nyr said, emptying his glass. He took his sword from the smith who had cleansed and oiled it, then dismissed those attending him. "Her ladyship?"

"Dead, by his hand I'd expect."

"I'd expect so too."

He left his pavilion with his Slaedwa commanders on either side and Praefect Kurl'k a step behind. He crossed the distance to the inner keep quickly, almost methodically. It was a path he had not forgotten in a thousand cycles. He walked it with his head held high, a sword in his belt and a crown on his head. It was a stark contrast to how he had walked it before at his father's side.

He climbed the bloody steps, entered the keep. Inside his people were making way for him. Having cleaned up the worst of it, they pulled away carcasses to be hacked and hewn. He felt the power in the halls, so much so it was as if they were bathed in magic and not in blood.

Nük T'nyr felt victory in his heart, and knew it was not just a whispered thought when they came to the great hall and saw the great one lying prone on the floor. He was free now no matter what happened from this day forward.

Though he had not spoken, the dragon lord must have sensed his presence. In the hall was writhing and screaming like to wake all the gods. But the sounds did not come from the great one--they came from his sequestered servants.

Nük T'nyr could have brought silence with steel, but instead used words. "Your power is broken, your army is scattered, and your great city is in ruins. I offer exile in place of death."

The Drakón lord fought to a sitting position despite his captors' efforts to keep him prone. He spoke words like a viper swooping in on its prey. The sound that catches you unaware just before deadly jaws snap and venom pumps. "I offer you the chance to be raised anew," he said, "A choice for life instead of death."

Nük T'nyr threw back his head and laughed. His laughter echoed throughout the whole of the great hall and beyond. "I am amused at your impudence. At my gesture, you are dead. I will think of you no more than you've ever thought of me or mine."

"Oh, you'll think of me. You'll think of me and you'll curse this day to the end of yours.

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