Chapter nineSand gritted under my feet. The late afternoon heat from the twin suns smote down.
The cloying scents of the bathing pool vanished. The icy grip of the radiant blue portal sent by the Star Lords fell away and as I rushed forward with poised sword there was just time for one single scarlet thought of regret for Queen Leone.
Now she had used up one more of the hundred lifetimes she had been condemned to spend in this sinful world before she might pass into the heavenly paradise of Gilium.
Thoughts of the queen and of being condemned to life as a punishment were swept away by the young people’s peril. The lad stood bravely enough as I knew he would. I saw that I would not reach him across the sand before the first assassin chopped him down with ruthless efficiency.
The hilt of
