Lost and alone, disheartened by failure and wanting only to go home, Thomas Gown and his companions face the darkest hour of their lives when they stumble across a remnant of the once mighty Agglemonian Empire. There they make a stunning discovery t...
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After their light lunch, Lord Basil and a couple of burly soldiers caught them as they were coming out of their room.
“Well, and have you settled in yet?” asked the nobleman gleefully, grinning like a cat that was about to eat the canary. “Do you feel completely at home here now?”
“Oh, completely,” replied Thomas bitterly. “I feel like I’ve lived here all my life.”
“Good, good,” said the nobleman, ignoring the sarcasm in his voice. “As far as you’re concerned, you have lived here all your life, and you’ll spend the rest of your lives here as well. This is your home now, and I want you to feel that you’re full members of the Konnen household.”
“What about my brothers?” demanded Diana angrily. “Are they full members of the Konnen household as well?”
Lord Basil’s face darkened with anger, but he controlled it with an effort. “You will come with me to the infirmary,” he said. “I have injured men requiring your attention. The rest of you will go with my men to join the war. The front line is some distance from the mansion, and the opportunity to escape may well present itself, but I don’t need to tell you what will happen if you don’t come back, do I?”
“No,” said Thomas, lowering his eyes in anger and frustration.
“No what?” demanded the nobleman, his face turning crimson with anger.
“No, your Lordship,” said Thomas, clenching his fists tightly.
“Good,” said Lord Basil, smiling again. “Show the proper obedience and respect and your stay here could be quite pleasant, and once I’ve taken my rightful place as Emperor of humanity, you, as my most valuable retainers, will find yourselves in positions of considerable prestige and power. You may be a little resentful now, but the day will come when you’ll drop to your knees and thank the Gods that fate brought you to me.”
For a moment, Thomas was afraid that Diana would cry out in outrage, bringing who knows what reaction from the nobleman, but with a great effort the cleric remained silent, although her hand flew to her silver caroli flower and clutched it so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
“Well, I’d love to stay and chat all day,” said Lord Basil when it became evident that no reply would be forthcoming, “but our enemies will not wait and so neither must we. Come, my dear." He took hold of Diana’s elbow to steer her away.
The cleric tensed up as she resisted the impulse to tear herself away. The knowledge that this man had complete power of life and death over her brothers burned in her mind as if branded there by a hot iron. “I’ll see you later,” she called back to the wizards. “Take care of yourselves.”
“And you,” replied Lirenna. Her eyes glowed with sympathy and compassion as they met those of the cleric, then narrowed with anger as they fixed on the nobleman's hand, still rightly grasping Diana's arm.
