At the Sorcerer's Command

At the Sorcerer’s Command

Kim Knox

At the Sorcerer’s Command

by

Kim Knox

Copyright © 2016 by Kim Knox

All rights reserved.

This story has been re-edited.

It is also published in its original form in the anthology

Thrones of Desire, from Cleis Press. Edited by Mitzi Szereto

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Contents

At the Sorcerer’s Command

1. The Rahimani Siege

About the Author

Also by Kim Knox

Skin Magic

Emergence

At the Sorcerer’s Command

Miar is her people's only hope to defeat the sorcerer who has besieged her home.  She has an unusual talent. She’s a soul-catcher, able to twist any soul to her will. And Varun, the man who must guard her, is willing to use her and her gift anyway he can.

1

The Rahimani Siege

The air reeked of blood and tar, wrapping around me, mixing with the distant flared hiss of fire. I shivered. I should’ve been in my master’s rooms, hunting through ancient scrolls for a defence against the sorcerer, Kiritan. Not here, lost in a sea of tents flapping in cold, night winds. The creak and thwack of the timber-framed mangonels ran ice through my blood. I wasn’t a soldier. Far from it.

Panic whipped my nerves, my heart beating hard. I hadn’t volunteered for this sortie. I was an apprentice, barely that, with the first swell of magic in my blood. But I’d also shown another skill. A skill the Duke’s new paladin, Varun, commandeered as he fought back against the besieging army.

Keep up, Miar.

Varun’s low voice cut into my thoughts and he grabbed my arm. His strong fingers bit into muscle,