Sword of Darkness by Kinley MacGregor

don’t get lazy or you’ll get nothing from me.”
    Kerrigan had tried to return to work, but as the baker peeled off the bad leaves of the cabbage he was cooking for his midmorning meal, he’d been so hungry that he feared he’d be ill where he stood. He could barely stand the pain of it.
    It’d been two days since he’d last eaten…
    The baker had tossed the discarded leaves into the refuse bin. Kerrigan had stared at them while he tried to sweep. Those wilted leaves hadn’t been worth eating and yet he could already taste them. Imagine them as he chewed and swallowed until it eased the ache inside him.
    When it became obvious that the baker was through with the cabbage—that he had no intention of doing anything but tossing it out, Kerrigan had reached to take a leaf.
    The man had instantly backhanded him. His lips had burned like fire as he tasted his own blood from the blow.
    “You thief!” the baker had growled in anger. “Worthless son of a whore. Get out!”
    Kerrigan had gone, but not before he’d shovedthe man back and stolen an entire loaf of bread. He’d downed most of it before he’d been arrested, beaten, and thrown into the stocks.
    His three days of humiliation had been worth the taste of the warm, sweet bread that had melted so deliciously in his mouth. The momentary satisfaction of a full stomach.
    Was Seren’s cloth so precious to her that she would risk her life for it?
    Aye, most likely. Even unconscious, she had clasped it to her bosom with the grip of a lioness as if daring anyone to try and take it from her.
    For the first time in a lifetime of cruelty, betrayal, and brutality, Kerrigan felt an odd stirring of compassion. Like him before he’d joined Morgen’s army, Seren had nothing in this world to call her own. Nothing but a bit of worthless cloth.
    Sighing, he closed his eyes and mentally summoned Blaise to him.
    “You have need of me, my king?”
    Kerrigan stepped down from his perch in the window so that the mandrake wasn’t at his back. “Aye. Watch the wench for a bit. I have something I need to do.”
    Blaise frowned. “You’re leaving?”
    “I’ll return.”
    The mandrake arched a brow at that. “Why do I have a feeling that you are about to do something stupid?”
    “Most likely because I am about to do something stupid.”
    “And is there a particular reason for this act of stupidity?”
    “Not really.”
    Blaise’s violet eyes danced with humor even though Kerrigan knew the mandrake could see nothing more than a shadowy outline of his body. “Well in that case, I shall guard her zealously rather than join you in said stupidity, as I try my best to always avoid such moments.”
    “Good.” Kerrigan stepped back as he summoned his powers to dissolve his form from this realm and take him back to Camelot.
    It was always a bit disconcerting to travel this way. There was a small electrical shock that went through him, then a moment or two of nausea before everything righted itself. But even so, he much preferred it to the normal mode of traveling. It was much quicker and easier.
    He shimmered himself into the tower room he had given to Seren and was prepared for an ambush. It would be like Morgen to have such a thing planned. Yet there was nothing there. The room was just as she’d left it.
    Eerily so.
    Kerrigan glanced about, making sure he was undetected before he saw the red cloth on her black bed. Rolling his eyes at the worthlessness of it, he grabbed it.
    Something moved from the corner.
    Kerrigan jerked his head to catch sight of a quick, shadowy movement. He felt his eyes grow red as his temper surged. “Pax?”
    The shadow vanished.
    Kerrigan hissed as he fought himself not to pursue the cursed sharoc who was no doubt heading straight for Morgen. It wouldn’t do him any good to pursue Pax. He had to get back to Seren before Morgen used her magic to locate them.
    He would need to put a barrier up over Joyous Gard to keep her away. If she were to find