Asgoleth the Warrior

chapter ELEVEN

Demos watched Asgoleth vanish into the blackness of the passage and smiled coldly as General Valshin, the commander of his personal guard said,

‘Do you think he will succeed, my lord? Can we trust him?’

‘Oh we can trust him to try, Valshin. He desires the freedom of his princess and he believes that this is the way to obtain it. It matters little though whether he succeeds or not. I have plenty of men and one of them will succeed if he fails.’

Valshin looked at Demos in fear. He himself was a hard and cruel man but his cruelty was as nothing compared to the wickedness he felt emanating from his master. He knew that Demos would think nothing of sacrificing thousands of lives to attain his ends. He fell silent and they both watched the entranceway in silence.

After a time, Demos grew bored and turned back towards his tent.

‘Inform me at once should the barbarian reappear, Valshin. If he has not done so by noon then you must select another to go in.’

Valshin bowed and replied,

‘It shall be done, my lord.’

Demos nodded and turned away and as he did so his eye fell upon the princess Amira and he grinned. He had some time to kill and she would provide some delightful entertainment while he waited for the Calthian to return. Soon now her usefulness would be at an end and he would have to destroy her. He knew that back in Torr there were still some who believed that they could rise up again to destroy him and replace their royal family upon the throne. They would find that a little difficult to do when he had Amira, the last of the line of Aractus, publicly executed as a sacrifice to Balzar. But that was the future; the present was what interested him now.

He laughed as he caught her eye. She knew what he intended to do and a moan of horror escaped her lips but that was her only sign of defiance against him. Helplessly she followed him inside the tent and General Valshin shuddered and moved away as the sobbing screams began once more