The Devil Incarnate (The Devil of Ponong series #2) Read Online Free Page A

been in Levapur when that
had happened, but QuiTai’s description of the carnage had been enough. And he
knew how casually she reacted to death, how ruthless she could be, and how much
she hated Thampurian rule of her home.
    “You should have let me throw her into that cell with the werewolves
when I had the chance,” Voorus said.
    He was surprised no one had demanded an explanation about
that from him yet. At least he’d had time to work on a good excuse. “She alone knew
where to find the Ravidians. I needed her alive.”
    Voorus nodded. “Well, obviously. I didn’t think you’d let
her go without a damned good reason.”
    Hopefully, if anyone
else asked, they’d accept his explanation as easily as Voorus had.
    Voorus grasped Kyam’s sleeve tighter and pulled him back out
onto the road. People picked their way across puddles in the street. The
Ponongese boys toting their packages waded right through the muck.
    Voorus seemed headed somewhere in particular, but if he
wanted to go to the fortress, they’d turned the wrong way. “It would have been
better if my men had killed them all – the slaves and her. Then we
wouldn’t be in this mess. The slaves aren’t the problem. They let themselves be
put in chains, after all. No leadership there. No spirit. Typical Ponongese.
But her... She’s dangerous. You can see that crafty native cunning in her
shifty eyes. Thankfully, Petrof is still out there, waiting for his chance. Once
he kills her, we’re safe.”
      Now Kyam really
wished he could talk to QuiTai, but he wasn’t helpless on his own. He was a
spy, a colonel in the Intelligence community. Some people whispered that he’d
risen to his rank through connection, but he knew how hard he’d worked to earn
his position. He could figure this out without QuiTai. He was smart. He knew
how to investigate. If only he were as quick to see the bigger picture as
QuiTai was. He had a bad feeling that lag might be the difference between
weathering the coming storm and falling victim to it.
    His mouth was dry as
he asked the terrible question that hovered over the moment. “What makes you
think Petrof hasn’t killed her already?”
    “He would have collected his reward by now. They haven’t
said anything about that.”
    Someone paid Petrof to kill QuiTai? He realized he was just
seeing the clouds when the typhoon was almost on them. “Who are ‘they’?” Kyam
asked.
    Voorus stopped at a yellow apartment building on the edge of
the Thampurian neighborhood. It was in much better repair than the one Kyam
lived in. “Like I said, slavery is wrong, and no amount of justification from
my superiors will make me betray the basic tenants of Thampurian law, but I’ll
be damned if I’ll stand by and let these snakes slaughter every last Thampurian
on this island. I guess it’s a good thing that troop of soldiers came from
Thampur on your grandfather’s boat. We’re going to need their numbers.” He searched
through his pockets. “If I were you, Zul, I’d sleep armed, and I’d move out of
that apartment of yours. That place is crawling with snakes. Meanwhile, the Zul
compound across town sits empty.” He found his key in the breast pocket of his
uniform jacket. “I never could figure your motive; unless you’re collecting
intelligence on them. But do you have to live among them to do that? Hell, I’d
move back into the barracks if those new soldiers hadn’t taken over every spare
bed in the fortress. It might be damp and the cots are lumpy, but at least I’d
have a couple feet of stone between me and the snakes when the slaughter
begins.”

Chapter 3: Dreamers

 
 
    QuiTai
resisted licking her cracked lips as long as she could. When her skin
didn’t burn, chills wracked her body, but she didn’t have time to be ill. There
were no rumors yet that the soldiers who had chased her and the escaped slaves
from Cay Rhi had returned to Levapur, but they could at any moment, and then
the hunt for her and the