Lament (Scars of the Sundering Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

we’re
all going. We’re sticking together until we leave this city.” She eyed Edric
and then Delilah. “Right?”
    “Yes.” Delilah located her staff.
She tapped the butt on the floor. “We all go, or none of us do.”
    Lady Milena bowed her head. “As
you wish.” She gestured to the hallway. “If you please?”
    The hallway outside their
chambers was open to the palace courtyard on one side. From three floors up,
one could look out over the city. The fresh, white blanket of snow covering
Almeria reflected the sun’s light, nearly blinding Delilah as she emerged
through the doors. A gust of wind slammed one of the doors shut behind them,
and she closed the other one.
    Delilah ignored Edric’s grumbles
about how underground folk should stay underground when the weather turned bad.
Her thoughts turned toward Pancras and how he bled out with his head in her
lap. When they left Drak-Anor, she thought their excursion would be a fun trip
to the far south and then back home. Instead, she ended up involved in a slave
revolt and witnessed the only wizard in Drak-Anor murdered by a petty tyrant.
    Lady Milena led the draks and the
dwarf through the main hall, down the hallway to the undercroft, and through
the dusty, cobweb-filled halls to stairs that spiraled down.
    Delilah pondered why the knight
led them into the bowels of the palace, but all thoughts of betrayal fled when
she saw Pancras seated upright on the edge of the marble slab, chatting with
Princess Valene.
    As Delilah stood frozen, her
mouth agape, Kale ran past her and jumped up on the slab to hug Pancras. “I
knew you’d find a way to beat them!”
    Kali and Edric stared. Edric spat
on the floor and stepped backward. “What foul sorcery is this?”
    Delilah held up her hand to
silence the dwarf. “Not every magical thing you don’t understand is ‘foul
sorcery’!”
    She stepped around the slab,
touching Pancras as she circled him. Delilah wasn’t as confident as her
brother, and she viewed Pancras through narrowed eyes. “How did you come back?
There was a lot of blood. Are you undead?”
    He shifted and covered up his
right arm. “I feel alive.” Pancras rubbed his arm through the sheet. “Mostly.”
    The drak sorceress examined him.
“No cravings for flesh or blood or anything like that?”
    Pancras rested his hand on his
stomach. “I am a bit hungry now that you mention it, but I think bread and wine
would do nicely for a first course. Perhaps some fruit?”
    “Sounds like he’s okay to me,
Deli.” Kale released his grip on Pancras long enough to turn and face his
sister.
    “Indeed.” Princess Valene nodded
in agreement. “I’ve never heard of the dead feasting on bread and wine. Lady
Milena and I will leave you to your reunion. A guard will be just outside in
case you need assistance returning to your chambers.”
    Delilah tilted her head in
acknowledgement. After the two humans departed, Kali and Edric moved into the
room and closed the door behind them. The drak sorceress spun on Pancras.
“Okay, spill it! How did you do it? You died in our arms.”
    She joined with her brother in
standing before Pancras, stared up at him, and awaited an answer.
    “I do not know.” The minotaur
sighed and shook his head. Pancras uncovered his withered arm and flexed his
fingers. His friends gasped as the skin cracked and creaked like old, dry
leather. “It was not without a cost, it seems.”
    “Is that… are ya diseased?” Edric
backpedaled at the sight of Pancras’s arm.
    “I’m not certain. I suspect
whatever force is responsible for my revivification exacted this”—He waved his
withered hand—“perhaps as a reminder?” He slid off the slab, knees buckling as
his hooves touched the floor.
    Clutching the top of the slab to
remain upright, Pancras chuckled. “Looks like I might need some help to our
chambers.”
     
    * * *
     
    Pancras regained his strength in
only a few days, but additional snowstorms further delayed their