The Serpentwar Saga: The Complete 4-Book Collection. Raymond E. Feist

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ ‘Gods and demons, Culli, you killed her, you fool!’

      ‘She was biting, so I covered her mouth.’

      ‘You smothered her, you idiot!’

      ‘She’s not more than a minute or two dead, Sajer. Go ahead; she’s still warm.’

      Erik saw the body and felt his heart lurch. The corpse was Embrisa. Something strangely familiar struck him, and for an instant he saw Rosalyn in a similar position, her clothing torn away. Without thought he rose up and moved toward the nearest men. One was watching the argument between his companions, but the other started to rise. He was halfway off the log where he had sat when he died: with a single sweeping motion Erik cleaved his head completely from his shoulders.

      Erik’s companions charged and shouted, and the four remaining men scrambled to defend themselves. Erik crossed to where the man named Sajer stood, while the one called Culli dashed to where his sword and shield lay. Sajer pulled his only weapon, a dagger at his belt, and Erik advanced upon him like death come into human form.

      Fear crossed the man’s face as Erik bore down on him, and he made ready to defend himself as best he could. He lunged in feint with his dagger, but Erik only stepped forward, bashing with his shield, knocking him to the ground. He raised his sword above his head, then brought it down with a thundering blow, cutting completely through Sajer’s upraised forearm, slicing him from shoulder to belly.

      Erik had to put his foot on the man’s chest to pull free his sword, and when he did he turned to see that the remaining three men had taken off their helms and thrown weapons to the ground, the sign among mercenaries of surrender. Erik’s eyes were wild and wide as he looked at the man named Culli. He walked purposefully toward him.

      De Loungville stepped before Erik and, using all his strength, pushed him backwards. It was like trying to move a tree, but he did slow Erik’s forward advance. ‘Get a hold of yourself, von Darkmoor!’ he commanded.

      Erik paused at the sound of his name. He looked to where the two women lay. Finia had all her clothing torn from her, and lay motionless in the grass, the only sign she was still alive being the slow rise and fall of her small breasts. Embrisa lay a short distance away, also nude, but bloody from belly to knee. Erik turned to stare at the man named Culli. ‘He dies. Now. Slowly.’

      De Loungville said, ‘Did you know her?’

      ‘Yes,’ answered Erik, part of his mind being surprised de Loungville didn’t. ‘She was fourteen.’

      One of the captives said, ‘They was villagers! We didn’t know they belonged to anyone.’

      Erik advanced, and this time de Loungville threw his shoulder into him, knocking him back a step. ‘You stand fast when I tell you!’ he shouted at Erik.

      Turning to face the three men, he said, ‘What company?’

      The man named Culli said, ‘Well, Captain, we’ve been sort of looking out for ourselves lately.’

      ‘Did you hit that caravan a half day’s ride north of here?’

      A grin of broken and blackened teeth greeted the question. ‘Well now, it wouldn’t be the truth if we took credit for it all by ourselves. There were another six or seven boys in on that one. But they joined up with some men who wanted to raid that fort at the village. Fat man, rode a big roan horse, he took them all together.’

      ‘Zila,’ said de Loungville. ‘I’ll settle up with him someday.’

      Culli continued, ‘We was watching from the woods and got in to grab what we would when they started to leave. We saw these two women getting out of a burning house, so we decided to have some fun.’ He nodded at the still-living but stunned Finia and the dead Embrisa. ‘We didn’t mean to be so rough, but these was the only two we could find, and there’s five of us. We’ll pay you gold if they was yours, Captain, to make up for it, you see. We won’t even say nothing about the two boys you already killed. We only killed the one. Two for one seems more than fair. Give the other a couple of hours to rest and, why, she could service all six of you and a couple of us in the bargain.’

      ‘On your knees,’ commanded De Loungville. Biggo, Natombi, and Luis forced the three men to their knees, holding them fast.

      ‘I want that one,’ said Erik, pointing at Culli. ‘I’m going to stake him out facedown over an anthill and watch him die screaming.’

      De Loungville turned and struck Erik as hard across the face as he could. Erik staggered, fell to his knees, and could barely retain consciousness from the unexpected blow.

      When his vision cleared, he saw de Loungville come up behind the first man. With an economy of motion he pulled his dagger, grabbed the man’s hair, and pulled back his head, cutting his throat with a single slice.

      The other two tried to rise, but Biggo and Luis kept them under control. Before Erik could regain his feet, the other two men had been executed. Erik took one staggering step, then shook his head to clear it. He came to stand over the body of Culli and looked at de Loungville, who said, ‘See to the woman.’ When Erik hesitated, he shouted, ‘Now!’

      Erik and Roo moved to where Finia lay, eyes staring vacantly at the sky. When they knelt over her, her eyes seemed to focus for the first time. Recognizing Erik and Roo, she said in a whisper, ‘Is it over?’

      Erik nodded, and Roo took off his cloak and used it to cover her. Erik helped the woman get to her feet, and she wobbled as she rose. Roo put his arm around her, to steady her, and she looked over at Embrisa. ‘I told her to do as they said. She scratched and bit them. She was screaming and crying, and her nose stuffed up; when they covered her mouth, she couldn’t breathe.’

      Erik inclined his head to Roo to take her to where the horses were. He took off his own cloak and wrapped Embrisa in it. Lifting her, he carried her as if she were asleep. Softly he said, ‘Now you’ll never find that rich husband.’

      Erik was the last to reach the horses, and found de Loungville holding his reins. He handed the girl’s body to the sergeant, mounted, then took the corpse as de Loungville handed her up to him. After the sergeant had mounted his own horse, Erik said, ‘You let them off easy.’

      De Loungville said, ‘I know.’

      ‘They should have died over a slow fire.’

      ‘They deserved to suffer, but I’ll not visit that on any man.’

      ‘Why? Why do you care what happens to scum like them?’

      De Loungville moved his horse alongside Erik’s, so he was almost nose-to-nose with Erik when he answered. ‘I don’t care what happens to scum like them. You could cut off a piece at a time over a week and I wouldn’t give a whore’s promise for what it would do to them. But I do care what it would do to you, Erik.’

      Without waiting for an answer, de Loungville moved away and shouted, ‘Let’s get back to the village. We’ve got a hell of a ride before we catch up with the Captain.’

      Erik rode after him, not sure what de Loungville had meant, but feeling troubled by what he had said.

      They reached Calis’s camp an hour after dark. As before, he had ordered a complete fortification dug, and as de Loungville and the others approached, a guard challenged them.

      ‘Well СКАЧАТЬ