Days of High Adventure Read Online Free Page A

skill, yet they somehow have the look of...commonality. You lack adornment or treasure. You are neither lords nor priests of any god, are you?”
    “No, sir,” Eric shook his head. “We, um...we come from a wealthy country, but we ourselves aren’t rich or anything.”
    Bel-Danab nodded. “And your flesh reveals weakness. Sloth. Soft hands, unmarked skin. You don’t miss out on meals, either of you, so you likely aren’t slaves.” Amanda bit her lip as the women laughed. She was getting a little tired of people commenting on her weight. “I see little to look forward to in mankind’s future but weakness and degeneration.”
    He rose from his throne, striding forward for a closer look. Standing just behind them were Bel-Danab’s two apprentices, Randast and Yaol. The latter was still gleeful over his success in bridging the language barrier. The former maintained a stoic expression, seeming indifferent to the whole situation.
    “And what of Set?” asked the lord of the tower. “What of the gods? Whom do you worship in your Seattle? What do you know of Set?”
    Eric and Amanda glanced to one another nervously. He clearly wouldn’t like the answer at all. Neither of them felt good about their chances in lying to him, though. “Set’s the god of death in a culture that isn’t really around anymore,” Eric answered. “He hasn’t been worshipped in, uh...gosh...around two thousand years, I guess? Maybe a little less than that, but I don’t think anyone really practices that religion anymore.”
    “I’m sure you could find a few,” Amanda offered hopefully. “Seattle’s a very open-minded place, there’s gotta be, um...a couple...maybe,” she mumbled, her voice faltering under Bel-Danab’s gaze. She looked away from his cold green eyes.
    “Neither lords nor wizards,” Bel-Danab frowned. “I reach across a world and untold millennia, costing me not only a prize captive but also a captain of my guards as sacrifices, only to retrieve weak, babbling peasants. Set teaches us humility.”
    “Perhaps their ignorance of the god goes some way to explain their condition,” suggested Randast.
    “Perhaps. Regardless. I had expected that a call such as hers would require some arcane feat, yet there is no magic within either of them. Given the wantonness of her tone, I had thought at the very least to enjoy a pleasant dalliance. Instead I find...this,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “Healthy, perhaps serviceable, but hardly the sort to make a worthy concubine.”
    Embarrassment died and was quickly forgotten. If that was all he had to say on the subject, Amanda was perfectly happy to let it go. The more this douchebag talked, the happier she was that he found her unattractive. The only worry was over what else might happen to her and Eric.
    “She is a virgin, my lord,” piped up Yaol.
    Bel-Danab’s eyebrows lifted slightly, yet no light came to his eyes. “Well. That will at least partly make up for the loss of our barbarian northerner, hm? Not remotely the same value, but virgin adults can be hard to find in this land. Yaol, see what labor you can get from her until then. I leave her to you. Do not allow her to be harmed or defiled.”
    “And of the other?” Randast asked as Yaol grinned and nodded.
    Indifferent to the wide-eyed panic plain on the two young faces before him, Bel-Danab merely shrugged. “As I say, they look healthy. There are always the mines,” he suggested as he turned back to his throne.
    “No!” Amanda objected. There were already guards at their sides once more. “Listen, you don’t need to send him away! We’ll do whatever you—!”
    “Shut up, girl,” grunted a guard, clamping his hand over her mouth.
    Eric was already being hauled away. “Hey, get your hands off—!” He, too, was cut off, but much more roughly. The last Amanda saw of her friend was his head rocking back from the punches that came across his jaw.
    Unkind hands dragged her down dark hallways