The King's Blood Read Online Free PDF Page A

butting each other until one passed out. If this is what the heads of state are studying, it was no wonder the Kingdom was in the shape it was.
    He was about to suggest the boy head back to his father, who was also leading the front row of knights in a round of "Stab, Stab, Stab Your Sword," when his ears prickled. In the distance, a thud registered, like a large slab of wood hitting the ground.
    Protective fingers searched for the young princeling's shoulder, pulling him close. He shrunk back into the edge, his ear pressed against the cool stone, and through the raucous din of knights doing what knights did best could make out boots tromping, thousands of boots. Aldrin struggled in the tight grip but got nowhere, freezing as a thin blade unsheathed itself beside his face. The Dark Knight opened his mouth, about to scream, "We are invaded!" when the great hall's door blew open and a volley of arrows descended upon the party.
    A black swarm stormed across the bright party. The enemy moved with purpose, while the knights, most more inebriated than Gallo the god of cheap wine, tripped and fell upon their own swords. In the scramble to run away from the fingers of god inching in to sweep them away, a pair of barbarians heaved up one of the long tables and launched it towards the advancing army.  
    But the swarm found other holes in the defenses. They poured in from the sides, as unstoppable as the tide against a broken dam. The few elite knights and Lord Albrant rose to their teetotaler feet and readied for battle.
    Asim's hand slipped over the boy's mouth, keeping him silent. There was no chance he could fight without endangering the young prince; his only hope would be to circle around and raise the remaining guards. Assuming they hadn't all been killed by whatever traitor raised the portcullis.
    Moving as silently in the shadows as he could, the Dark Knight inched towards the servants' door, mercifully empty of swords. He clutched the boy close to his chest and crept backwards, his eyes always upon the slaughter as the King's company suffered their own innards spilling out upon the feasting platters.
    Letting go of the Prince's mouth quickly, he reached behind him to grasp the door handle. It was just enough time for a scream laying in wait to claw its way through the boy's mouth and straight into the ears of an invader.
    Asim turned and pushed the prince rather rudely through the open threshold where the boy slipped down a set of stairs and split open his chin. The Dark Knight spun just in time to catch his blade upon the invaders, his superior steel snapping the weaker ones. They hadn't been expecting anything of a fight.
    Ramming his blade through the man's chest, his hilt crumpled the buttons carved with the three circle image of the Empire. Asim pushed the corpse backwards, extracting his entrenched sword slick with blood.
    Just as he turned to follow the boy, a scream high and shrill pulled his attention to the dais and his heart fell as the only master assassin in the bunch roared up in front of the King and, with one pass of his giant blade, sent the King's head flying into the crowd. Asim swore to never look back again, lest he sacrifice both his life and the boy's for the sake of vengeance, and bolted the servants' door behind him.

    Her foot caught on the broken stair as Ciara burst head first into the larder. Normally large enough to easily house a couple dozen deer carcasses should the need and bounty from over excited hunters arise, it was packed with people chattering their heads off.
    Ciara tried to push past the smattering of younglings curled up on the floor weeping wild tears of terror and around a woman who placed a bucket on her head and cried for her granda. The twins clung desperately to a side of lamb that had somehow missed the spit, trying to wedge it to shore up the kitchen door. The fact the door swung outward belied their collected state.
    "What?" she tried to ask them, as the lamb slipped once