The Lord Of Lightning (Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

The Lord Of Lightning (Book 3)
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tune.
    "No, no!" Zik exclaimed. "Faster, faster, this is a party, not a funeral. At least I hope it's not," the last under his breathe.
    "Dance, dance!" Zik called. The princesses looked to their fathers, who nodded to proceed.
    Zik leapt among the nobles and ladies. He swung his arms and spun in a riotous dance, elbowing ladies and pushing the lords.
    "Everybody dance!" Zik yelled. "Is this a feast or a religious service!?"
    The lords and ladies began to join in the dance as Zik pranced and swung various nobles about to heighten the party.
    "Dance! Dance!" Zik shouted as the music rose in tempo and joyfulness.
    As the crush of royals began to gyrate and laugh, Zik grabbed Arnwylf and swung him about with a merry jig. Zik tossed Arnwylf back and forth through the crush of nobles, bringing not outrage, but merriment to the growing, happy agitation of the increasing cavorting of the giddy crowd.
    "Dance this way," Zik said out of the side of his mouth to Arnwylf.
    Zik swung Arnwylf into the crush of wildly dancing lords and ladies, whose laughter seemed on the verge of hysterics. Then, Zik pulled Arnwylf down low, so they couldn't be seen, and crawled through the gamboling party, trying their best to keep from being stepped on.
    King Otodyo and King Hathabanya both scanned the capering mob of royals for Arnwylf, both momentarily flustered. The princesses danced their hearts out.
    Zik pulled Arnwylf to the back of the hall, and a large window that was ajar to ventilate the stuffy room. The window led to the back of the palace, but it was as good an escape route as any.
    "Out you go," Zik said, as he pushed Arnwylf out the window. Zik rolled out the window right behind Arnwylf.
    Arnwylf landed with a grunt in a royal bush of the King's Garden. Laughing he pulled Zik to his feet. But, Zik was paralyzed looking just behind Arnwylf.
    Arnwylf could feel a hot, fetid breath on his neck, and then he heard the low guttural growl of an animal. He slowly turned to find himself nose to nose with a huge feline animal with extremely long fangs.
    The beast was a huge predatory cat, but twice the size of a lion. Its coat was a mottled pattern like a leopard, but it had a short, squat muscular body like a hyena. Its snout was short, and it opened its mouth wide without a sound. The fangs, the length of Arnwylf's forearm, glistened with saliva in the moonlight.
    Without thinking, Arnwylf dropped and rolled under the beast.
    The animal bent its head down to follow Arnwylf, as Zik whipped out his sword, in one motion, hitting the beast on the head as hard as he could with the pommel of the sword.
    This gave Arnwylf time to get his sword out and plunge it into the side of the beast. As Arnwylf desperately twisted his sword into the creature's heart, he noticed a chain around its neck. This was one of the King's prized garden pets.
    Zik stabbed the beast again and again, as the animal writhed in pain, not knowing which assailant to attack.
    "Arnwylf!" Zik urgently whispered. "Do you live!?"
    Arnwylf pushed himself out from under the saber-toothed cat.
    "I live," he said with a frown. "But we have killed a pet of the King."
    "All the more reason to get away from here as quickly as possible," Zik said with a stone face. He looked down at the beautiful slain beast with regret. "There is no way I can pay for this animal."
    From the window, the distressed calls for Arnwylf could be heard as his disappearance had finally been noticed. The agitation and calls from one Kingsman to another echoed amongst the growing cacophony of the outraged gathering of lords and ladies.
    Zik grabbed Arnwylf and pulled him through the garden, as the two made their escape.
     
    Out of the palace, and through the streets of Attubyamba, the two ran through the night, slipping as quickly as they could through the busy streets.
    "Where can we go?" Arnwylf breathlessly asked.
    "I think it's definitely time for you to go home, young wealder," Zik said with a smile that flashed in
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