The Blood Empress Read Online Free PDF Page A

hundred and sixty degree field of view.
    Both heads had drop hinged mouths packed with tiny daggers for teeth. If you managed to evade their razor sharp claws they could easily swallow a Votainion head in one bite. The Benzotii didn't wear much in the way of clothes, at least not in combat. Their warriors preferred sharp edged weapons when in close, but they primarily used large caliber projectiles to take you out from a distance.
    The Benzotti had been a space faring race for thousands of years before the Votainions encroached in their home lands. At first the Votainions thought they were just particularly viscous animals native to the only Class M planet in the system. But they soon discovered otherwise and in one bloody battle after another they learned the true power of kinetic weapons in space.
    For this test, the warriors faced anywhere from ten to two Benzotii prisoners who were given their own weapons to defend themselves. To make things interesting, the Benzotii were promised their freedom if they killed any of the contestants. It would be a fight to the death for all involved.
    Due to the dangerous nature of this test, it was conducted on a barren steppe of the northern hinterlands. The Benzotii were told to defend long abandoned earthen hovels into which were placed the objects that the contestants had to retrieve: A nest of Verner snakes, the venom from which would kill a Votainion in seconds.
    The Empress could hold court above the playing fields in a circling, heavily armed platform. She was close enough to watch the fighting but far enough away not to be killed by stray or intentional shots from the Benzotii.
    The contest had been playing out for hours before any of the Votainion warriors had gotten near their objectives. Two warriors had already been killed. Both had neglected to respect their adversaries and paid the price for it. The hardened ground near the entrance to the hovels was red with their spilled blood. Body parts had been consumed by the Benzotii, who had over the years developed a taste for blue Votainion skin.
    Empress Nykostra sat on her portable throne in the center of the round observation room. She had been standing against the windows looking down on the battlefield when the two men were caught by surprise and taken apart like slaughtered cattle. It was no contest and she became bored of it before the man from Khangor was completely dead.
    An attendant offered her a drink as the Kwizarra Lonn entered the room from a staircase below. As his cloaked form glided over to her she took a long drought of the hot beverage. It was miserably cold and windy down below and some of the windows were open to afford her a clear view. She was dressed for the cold and it didn't bother her in the least.
    "Two contestants have failed to enter the hovels and one is about to be bitten by his objective. A worthy test, don't you think, my Empress?"
    She scoffed at him and watched a monitor screen that showed the warrior from Settak snatching the Verner nest.
    "What makes you think this one will be bitten?" she asked.
    "They don't have snakes on Settak. He has no idea what's inside that nest. Prudence can be a decent indicator of intelligence."
    Almost as if on command the man was attacked by the juvenile Verner snakes and took one last step before falling dead. She nodded to the Soothsayer who flicked his gray, bony fingers to a second monitor.
    "Here comes Ku'nar from Surg. He is a canny warrior and will know how to properly transport the nest."
    Nykostra watched the warrior approach the dead man and stop. He looked around for a stick and found the dead man's falchion instead. Using the blade, he encourage the startled snakes back into their straw and dirt nest.
    A second figure cautiously entered the room. It was Ketar. He was carrying a Benzotii rifle and pointing it behind him. There appeared to be words between them but Nykostra could not hear what was said. She imagined that they were working out how to