Slave Pits of the Tyrannical God (Path of Transcendence Book 2) by Brian McGoldrick Page A

millennia in the past, A DokkAlfar male stood near one of the bull orcs.
    Jerking around in shock, the bull orc growled at the tall lean DokkAlfar, until the DokkAlfar turned a cold stare on it. In a few seconds, the bull orc went from angry hostility to cowering and pissing down its own leg.
    The DokkAlfar female named Aluras'bektsh'tar, was the Clan Mistress of Clan Vardne'tar. She turned to look at the DokkAlfar male, with a slight hint of a frown on her lips.
    “That orc will now be useless for a practice dummy.”
    “Apologies, Mistress.” The DokkAlfar male half-bowed to Aluras'bektsh'tar.
    Aluras'bektsh'tar's slight frown turned to a slight smile, and the power of her psi uncoiled from within her mental shields. *Canth, you need not apologize. I understand how difficult it is for you to suppress your bloodlust, and you are the only retainer I can ever trust implicitly.*
    *Thank you, Mistress.*
    The cold touch of Canth's psi had once chilled Aluras'bektsh'tar to her very soul, but long centuries of association had numbed her to the killing intensity of the male's mind. In all the Atran'ler Empire there are few as deadly as Canth. I still do not understand his fanatical loyalty to my Line of Provenance, but without it, I could never have risen so high as to reclaim control of Clan Vardne'tar for the Bektsh'tar provenance. Even if I am now the last of the Provenance, with the threat that Canth embodies, I can easily retain control of the clan.
    The delicate platinum bracelet on Aluras'bektsh'tar left wrist was dimensional storage device, and the spear in her hand disappeared into it, to be replaced with a scabbarded short sword. After she fastened the short sword to her belt, Aluras'bektsh'tar negligently waved her hand in the direction of the orcs.
    “Put the animals back in their cages! Canth, accompany me!”
    “Yes, Mistress.”
    As Aluras'bektsh'tar and Canth left the room, over twenty DokkAlfar guards stepped out of hidden recesses in the walls of the practice hall, and began to herd the orcs out though a different door.
    Stalking through the near-silent halls of the Vardne'tar Manor, Aluras'bektsh'tar used secondary halls to reach the salon. Only a few slaves of the clan witnessed her passage, and she reached out with her powerful mind, destroying their memories.
    The door to the salon that Aluras'bektsh'tar silently opened was a servant's entry. From her position at the back of the room, she had a clear view of the five people waiting for her. Even though there were chairs in the salon, all of the waiting supplicants were standing. They all had their attention fixed on the main door to the room, and their conversation was being conducted non-verbally. With the nature of the spell construct they were using, Aluras'bektsh'tar could listen in on their words without alerting them to her presence.
    *The sigils developed by these Possessed animals to make up for their lack of psi are very interesting.*
    *They are poorly designed, Mistress. The holes in the spell webs leave the animals excessively vulnerable to a number of psi assaults that their minds should be better protected against naturally.* Canth's disdain was clearly projected in the tenor of his thought.
    *True, but for animals like them, it is still amazing they even developed something with this level of efficacy. I will have to probe their memories and understand what led these Possessed to think of such interesting spell constructs.*
    Canth's lack of a reply did not surprise Aluras'bektsh'tar. She often used the near silent male as a sounding board for her thoughts, and he would only give voice a reply, when he found fault with something she stated.
    Aluras'bektsh'tar turned her gaze toward Canth, considering his elegant profile. The Clan Elders are making too much noise about continuing my Line of Provenance. They fear that it will extinguished should I meet with an accident. I do not understand, how the pathetic fools think I would allow one of the