King of the Bastards Read Online Free PDF Page A

flames licked at the
fluttering sails. Billowing smoke filled the air. Several crewmen struggled to
extinguish the fires. They scaled the burning mast and were shot down with
arrows from the bowmen aboard the Pryten mothership.
    Rogan slipped in a steaming pile of intestines loosed from the
belly of another pirate, parrying a sword blow as he collapsed to one knee.
Face to face with black legs, he hacked the ankles from his target in a clean
swipe. The man toppled over.
    With one vicious thrust, Harkon impaled two of the savages as
they rushed him. He smashed a third man’s face with his shield, watching the
pirate’s nose burst like ripe fruit, before retrieving his sword.
    “My brother will meet you on the other side, dog.” Harkon
skewered the man with his blade.
    Javan felt a kick from behind as he slashed a throat. His
opponent’s jugular vein sprayed blood. Falling to his knees, Javan turned and
drove his blade into the groin of the second warrior. The man collapsed to the
slick deck, a small whine escaping from his frothing lips. Javan yanked his
weapon free and the wounded savage curled into a ball, hands cradling his
flayed manhood.
    As the mothership turned sideways in front of the bireme, Captain
Huxira shouted more commands. He aimed the listing bireme at the long ship, even
as he took an arrow in the shoulder. Grimacing, he snapped the shaft, spat
another wad of chewing leaf, and continued his efforts.
    Another corsair, so dark that the sunlight seemed to reflect off
his skin, and taller than even Rogan, stood in the long aisle between the
terrified rowing slaves. He laughed, tossing his beaded locks of hair as a
second Pryten reaver crashed into the bireme, depositing a dozen more warriors.
This time, they didn’t attack the sailors, but swung weapons at the chains
imprisoning the rowers.
    In moments, a dozen slaves were free. The pirates boarding the
bireme handed them small dirks, and encouraged them to join in the fight
against their oppressors. The slaves clambered to their feet, cheering their
newfound saviors.
    Rogan stepped forward.
    “Back, you worthless fools,” he shouted in Albion, decapitating
two of his own slaves in the hope of quelling the rebellion before it began.
    The Pryten savage with the long, beaded hair laughed at him.
    “Laugh now, mutt.” Rogan pointed his blade at the pirate. “For
soon, you’ll only shriek.”
    Rogan, Javan, Harkon, and two of Huxira’s sailors waded into the
corsairs, slicing and stabbing, swinging and cutting for all they were worth.
Huxira’s men were slashed to ribbons. Harkon and Javan leapt over their
corpses. Consumed with fury, Rogan tried to reach the giant Pryten leader, who
freed more slaves. Bodies fell into the ocean and more shark fins appeared as
if by magic. The churning water turned red. The roar of warfare, the clash of
steel, and the cries for freedom from the slaves rang in the air.
    A rock-hard fist struck Javan in the temple, the blow knocking
him to his knees again. The boy’s ears rang. The battle’s din became a slight
buzz. He shook his head, trying to clear it, as a pirate hovered over him. The
attacker raised his sword and brought it sweeping down, but Harkon parried the
deathblow with a stolen spear. The bodyguard ripped the corsair’s sword from
his hands and then thrust it back into the man’s belly. The pirate tottered backward
in surprise, clutching the hilt. One of the bireme’s crewmen cleaved the
wounded Pryten savage in half. Harkon nodded at the sailor. The sailor nodded
back. Then Harkon helped Javan to his feet and danced away, consumed once more
with bloodlust.
    The fires continued devouring the masts. The sails were
fluttering sheets of flame. Only the main mast, with the crow’s nest at its
top, remained unscathed. Despite the smoke and fire, Captain Huxira’s crew
managed to fend off the pirates’ and slaves’ combined onslaught and stood their
ground. Just as they thought the worst neared an end, the