Schism: The Battle for Darracia (Book 1) by Michael Phillip Cash Page A

He was bleeding over his dark brow, and a tic pulsed under his eye. He scanned the room and located his older son just off to the side in an anteroom with his niece. He bore into his son’s gaze with a wealth of meaning, hoping Zayden would understand what he wanted him to do. He needed him not to react but to keep a clear head. Staring at him hard, he moved his eyes to the back exit; his meaning couldn’t have been plainer.
    Zayden steamed. He wants me to run? he thought with rage, his hand on the hilt of his sword, his intent written in his hostile stance.
    Drakko then looked at Hilde, his niece, and held his breath for a second, wondering which side had her loyalty. Good girl , he thought, watching her turn to whisper to his son, barely hiding his satisfaction as they slipped out the back door. Their exit was missed, as everyone in the Ambros room was riveted to the confrontation between Reminda and Staf.
    “ What is the meaning of this?” Reminda demanded.
    “ We will not stand for the peace accords!” Grabbing her by her thin arm, Staf pushed her out of the way. “We will not change our ways. Drakko’s reign is over.”
    “ Don’t touch my wife!” the king sneered.
    Staf laughed . “Why, brother? What will you do about it? It’s time to put this Planta in her place.” Ruthlessly he tossed Reminda to the center of the room, where she fell hard onto the floor. Staf walked toward her, putting his booted foot on her hip, his eyes never leaving his brother’s furious face. He grinned as the king stiffened. “What’s the matter, brother? You are not laughing at me. Do you not find me amusing now?”
    “ I will kill you,” Drakko shouted.
    “ I sincerely doubt that, Your Majesty,” Staf said with a snicker.
    “ Long live the house of Nuen,” Countess Beatha said in a spidery whisper as she entered the room and circled her husband.
    “ Pacuto has killed V’sair. He is the new crown prince. Your days of lording over me and mine are over.” She walked closer to Reminda, her eyes venomous black pits of hatred. “Kill them, Your Highness! Kill them now!” she commanded her husband.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 15
 
    “ Help me with his feet!” Bobbien demanded of her granddaughter. “Tulani,” she urged, “he is bleeding to death!”
    The fires lit Bobbien’s face, and Tulani stared back in shock. Her grandmother had appeared out of nowhere, lobbing the percussive zandy grenades. They were small and homemade but packed a powerful punch.
    “ Tulani!” she shouted again, as she bent down to examine the prone prince.
    Pacuto’s Fireblade pinned his shoulder, and he bled from a dozen wounds. Reaching into a pouch tied to her waist, Bobbien sorted through herbs and twine to subdue some of the bleeding.
    Tulani knelt, her head bowed. “Tell me what to do.”
    Bobbien motioned to Mori, whose body hung upside down near the burning hut. “Untie him, and throw him into the house. Let the fire do its work. He is beyond help. Drag your mother in there too.” The older woman tied a cloth around V’sair’s shoulder as tears dripped down her wrinkled cheeks. “I don’t want animals to get her. Let the house be their pyre.”
    Tulani bent low and caressed her mother’s torn flesh. Closing the eyes, she let her fingers linger on her wide cheek bones. She whispered the pray of her people hoping her mother’s soul had fled before she was tormented by these villians. Holding back her grief, she looked to the stars, wondering the reason for this destruction. Her mother’s body made a slight imprint as she pulled her towards the burning hut. The same light footprint she made in Tulani’s life.
    Using a small knife she cut her father down, and pulled him by his lame foot into the burning hut that would become his grave. Her heart beat wildly in her chest with sorrow for losing parents that she never had a chance to really know.
    B y the time she