The War Hound and the World's Pain Read Online Free Page B

one. I grinned this time.
    “Then you’ll guest with me?” she said.
    “On one condition,” said I.
    “Sir?”
    “That you promise to explain some of the mysteries of your castle and its surrounds.”
    She raised her brows. “It is an ordinary castle. In ordinary grounds.”
    “You know that it is not.”
    She answered my grin with a smile. “Very well,” she said. “I promise that you shall understand everything very soon.”
    “I note your promise,” said I.
    I sheathed my pistol and turned my horse towards the castle.
    I had taken my first decisive step towards Hell.

Chapter II

    I GAVE THE lady my arm and escorted her through her courtyard, up the steps and into her castle, while her horrid servants took horse and coach to the stables. Curiosity had me trapped.
    Lust, half-appreciated as yet, also had me trapped.
    I thought to myself with a certain relish that I was, all in all, thoroughly snared. And at that moment I did not care.
    “I am Ulrich von Bek, son of the Graf von Bek,” I told her. “I am a Captain of Infantry in the present struggle.”
    Her perfume was as warm and lulling as summer roses. “On whose side?” she asked.
    I shrugged. “Whichever is the better organized and less divided.”
    “You have no strong religious beliefs, then?”
    “None.”
    I added: “Is that unusual for men of my kind in times like these?”
    “Not at all. Not at all.” She seemed quietly amused.
    She took off her own cloak. She was almost as tall as I and wonderfully formed. For all that she gave the impression of possessing a strong and perhaps even eccentric will, there was yet a softness about her now which suggested to me that she was presently defeated by her circumstances.
    “I am Sabrina,” she said, and gave no title or family name.
    “This is your castle, Lady Sabrina?”
    “I often reside here.” She was noncommittal.
    It could be that she was reluctant to discuss her family. Or perhaps she was the mistress of the powerful prince I had originally guessed as owner. Perhaps she had been exiled here for some appalling crime. Perhaps she had been sent here by her husband or some other relative to avoid the vicissitudes either of love or of war. From tact I could ask her no other questions on the matter.
    She laid a fair hand upon my arm. “You will eat with me, Captain von Bek?”
    “I do not relish eating in the presence of your servants, madam.”
    “No need. I’ll prepare the food myself later. They are not permitted to enter these quarters. They have their own barracks in the far tower.”
    I had seen the barracks. They did not seem large enough for so many.
    “How long have you been here?” She glanced about the hall as we entered it.
    “A week or two.”
    “You kept it in good order.”
    “It was not my intention to loot the place, Lady Sabrina, but to use it as a temporary refuge. How long has your home been empty?”
    She waved a vague hand. “Oh, some little while. Why do you ask?”
    “Everything was so well-preserved. So free of vermin. Of dust, even.”
    “Ah. We do not have much trouble of that kind.”
    “No damp. No rot.”
    “None visible,” she said. She seemed to become impatient with my remarks.
    “I remain grateful for the shelter,” I said, to end this theme.
    “You are welcome.” Her voice became a little distant. She frowned. “The soldiers delayed us.”
    “How so?”
    “On the road.” She gestured. “Back there.”
    “You were attacked?”
    “Pursued for a while. Chased.” Her finger sought dust on a chest and found none. She seemed to be considering my recent remarks. “They fear us, of course. But there were so many of them.” She smiled, displaying white, even teeth. She spoke as if I would understand and sympathize. As if I were a comrade.
    All I could do was nod.
    “I cannot blame them,” she continued. “I cannot blame any of them.” She sighed. Her dark eyes clouded, became in-turned, dreamy. “But you are here. And that is