New Dawn (Divine War Book 1) Read Online Free

gritted against the pain in her arms.
    “Ah, my princess, straight down to business. I like that. Very well. I need your aid in a few matters.”
    “Never,” said Ausanne.
    Lord Hansola smiled. “I think that you and I need to speak in private.”
    With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the two Black Knights. Even as the Magi Lord began speaking, the Sanosis was sinking, travelling deeper and deeper, down into the black abyss. And as fire caught hold of the ship's engines, one final, huge explosion created a shockwave that pushed the small, damaged escape capsule further away, closer and closer to safety.
    *
    The dead body of the young girl lay on the floor. The masked man carefully wiped his letter opener on a corner of his yellow silk gown and smiled as he looked down at the spy in her white naval uniform.
    “Thank you, my dear,” he said, still smiling, “for finally bringing the last phase of my plan into action.”
    And then the Supreme Emperor laughed, a bitter chuckle.

Chapter Two
    M aicee pushed a little harder, and his scalpel slid through the wall of the abdominal cavity, crimson blood splattering against his gloved fingers. The lights of the theatre were hot, and he felt sweat beading on his brow as he bit his lip in concentration. Why me? he thought. Of all the damned cases, why me? A damn liver laceration.
    “Suction,” he said, hoping that his voice didn't betray his fear.
    As the blood was sucked away, he could barely see what he was doing, but his hand wasn't trembling. Not yet, at least.
    “Monitor vitals; transfuse another pint of blood. Warm four more pints for standby.”
    “Yes, doctor,” said a sweet, soft voice.
    Falorni was the newest scrub nurse on staff, and Maicee was glad that it was she who had been scheduled to assist him in his final surgical examination. She calmed him, and the Gods knew he needed calming right now.
    He placed a retractor, giving him a better view of the patient's liver, and used a piece of saline-infused gauze to explore the cavity he'd created. And then he smiled to himself under his face screen. Easy. A simple anterior laceration of the left lobe. Grade three. He might actually get out of this with a decent passing mark.
    Working methodically, he controlled the haemorrhaging and reached for fibrin glue to try to close the gaping incision. He frowned as he saw that the glue wasn't taking, blood leaking through the seal. Dammit. He was going to have to suture.
    “Suture,” he snapped at Falorni, not meaning to be rude but intent on his work.
    He could feel the muscles in his back begin to spasm as he bent lower towards his patient, pulling the suture needle in and out, piercing the organ and closing the wound in one continuous row of stitches. There. Not bad. He hunched his shoulders forwards and then stretched them backwards, relieving his aching muscles. Falorni handed him scissors, and he was about to cut the excess thread from the stitches when it happened.
    “Help me... please help me.”
    The voice was faint, the high pitch trailing off towards the end. What the hell? Where had that come from? His concentration shattered, Maicee felt rather than saw what happened next, the solid bite of the scissors as they cut through the liver rather than thread. Gods. Foul-smelling brown matter splashed onto Maicee's face screen. The smell told him what had gone wrong immediately. He'd cut into the patient's colon. Cursing whoever had prepped the patient for not making him undergo the full internal cleansing procedure, Maicee was shaking. He took a deep breath. He could not panic. The lights of the theatre sparkled off metal instruments, and he surveyed the damage. Okay. First he cut the stitch as he'd intended to do. Then he took a step back.
    “Clamp the transverse colon and wash out the cavity,” he said briefly to Falorni. “I need to change gloves and mask.”
    The stench was about to make him retch. Falorni moved into position, hands performing her job