Severed Souls(162)

When they reached the end of the corridor before the intersection, Richard squatted down with the other two. When he gave her the signal, Cassia lay down on her belly and carefully crawled to the corner. She stretched her neck so that she was just able to peek around the edge.

She pulled back and held up two fingers.

Richard let out a sigh of relief. That made it easier for Nicci to do the first part. Once they started, they needed to be quick. Nicci set down what she had been carrying.

Cassia backed away from the corner and stood. She unfastened buttons and the black leather straps, turned away from Richard, and then pulled the top of her outfit down to her waist. She looked over her bare shoulder and gave him a nod that she was ready.

With two fingers, Richard signaled for her to go.

Cassia boldly walked around the corner and off toward the bedroom. All the guards knew the three Mord-Sith, and knew that they frequently went to Ludwig Dreier’s bedroom to be with him. She walked deliberately, as if she had been summoned.

When Richard and Nicci heard Cassia tell the guards “Lord Dreier sent for me,” Nicci stepped around the corner.

Without pause, the sorceress thrust both arms out, palms facing outward.

When Richard heard the two thumps, he knew that Nicci had stopped their hearts and both men were dead. Death was so swift they hadn’t cried out. They probably hadn’t even seen Nicci.

Richard handed her what she had brought. Nicci leaned out around the corner again and with her gift sent it silently floating down the hall, the way Richard had seen Zedd float rocks through the air. He hoped she would have enough control to keep it from hitting a wall, to say nothing of holding it stationary for a time and then at last hitting the target. Nicci had acted like it was a foolish question, but he didn’t know how to use his gift to do such a thing so he would have no way of judging the difficulty.

He had to trust that Nicci knew what she was talking about.

Richard heard Cassia knock on the bedroom door.

The corridor remained silent. Richard took a quick peek. The two soldiers were slumped dead on the floor to either side of the white, double door. A number of reflector lamps lit the rotunda. Cassia stood facing the door, her breasts exposed to get Dreier’s immediate attention, as they had the guards’. They needed him to keep his eyes on Cassia, and not look to the side.

Cassia knocked again.

Richard heard the door open.

“What is it?” It was Dreier’s voice. “Oh…”

Nicci immediately sent the stone block sailing in at him.

The instant Richard heard the sound of stone hitting the man’s skull, he was around the corner, racing the rest of the distance.

As he ran in at full speed, sword in one hand, collar in the other, Richard kicked the round table in the middle of the room aside. The table crashed against the wall and shattered.

Dreier was on his knees, bent forward, his head almost touching the floor. He was naked. Both hands clutched his bloody head as he moaned, sounding dazed and confused. The heavy stone block Nicci had sent flying in at him lay off to the side.

Richard slid to a stop on his knees just as Cassia threw a leg around Dreier to straddle his back. She grabbed his thick hair in a fist and pulled up on his head. His hands fell to his sides. Blood pouring from a long gash back across his scalp ran down the side of his head, turning an ear and his neck red.

As soon as Cassia had pulled Dreier’s head up, Richard pushed the collar around his neck and slammed it closed. It made a clang that echoed through the hall.

Dreier was so groggy from the blow to his head that he didn’t even know what had happened. He was like a rag doll, and offered no resistance.

The other two Mord-Sith, having heard the sound of the stone hitting the man’s skull and the clang of the metal collar locking closed, came around the corner at a dead run.

Erika, also naked but for the Agiel in her fist, ran out toward the hall and skidded to a halt before she ran into Dreier, still slumped on the floor, now holding the loose flap of scalp up onto his head to cover the wound.

Sword in hand, Richard stood. Erika smiled at him over the top of her stricken master. Richard knew that she expected him to try to use the sword against her and then she could capture him by capturing its magic.

Richard instead slid the sword back in its sheath. “Sorry, but I’ve done that dance before. I’m not going to do it again.”

Vale and Laurin came up on either side of her. They had their Agiel in their fists as well.

“Your choice,” Richard said. “Surrender, or tangle with my Mord-Sith.”

Her brow twitched. “Your Mord-Sith? Who do you think—”

Laurin jabbed her Agiel into Erika’s kidney. The woman cried out as she dropped to a knee.