Jalia in the North (Jalia - World of Jalon) Read Online Free Page A

men of his own city if he thinks this High King will come to call on him?”
    “Did I not mention that the King is insane?”
    Daniel let the man go and they faced each other.
    Sandor whispered urgently. “If you go on the street he will kill you, as you’re obviously neither female nor an old man.”
    Jalia entered the room wearing a strange mix of clothes. While they were all men’s clothes, no one could have mistaken her for anything but a woman. She threw some clothes over to Daniel and grabbed a wicked looking knife from the table next to the stove. She mimed lifting something up delicately with her thumb and fingers and then she mimed swiftly cutting it off. “I could help you with that male problem,” she told Daniel.
    Daniel gulped and decided it was time to get some protection between his legs. He hastily put on the trousers she had thrown him. He was never sure with Jalia about when she was joking, but then her face contorted into the grin she had been trying hard to suppress. “You always believe me, don’t you?”
    Daniel looked her in the eyes, “I have been told that the application of a birch rod on the buttocks can still the chatter of a wayward maiden”
    “You would have to find a maiden first,” Jalia retorted, but she stopped teasing him. “So what have we found out?”
    “The King is insane and has killed all the males in the city except the old ones and his guards.”
    “So why haven’t the women put him out of his misery?”
    “Because they are women and we old men cannot fight his soldiers,” Sandor responded, shocked at the idea that the women might fight.
    “I lost a dagger to the guards. Where might they have put it?” Daniel asked.
    They have their quarters in the tower above the gate, but if all you want is a dagger I’m sure I can find you one.”
    Jalia was using the knife she found to eat the eggs in the pan. She swallowed a large piece and was about to say something when they heard a crash at the front door. Then shouting from outside as a voice yelled at them to “Open up and be quick about it.”
    Sandor’s face blanched as Jalia stood and threw the knife to Daniel who caught it expertly before stopping to fasten his shirt.

Swordsman
     
    King Fran and Captain Haran rushed down the corridors to the Long Dungeon. There were two doors to the dungeon one at each end of the palace complex but they headed for the only door that had been used in the last ten years.
    Captain Haran and Sergeant Trant stepped in front of the King as Trant turned the key. They opened the door slowly, ready to kill anything that moved on the other side, but the long dungeon was as empty of life as the corpses that hung within it.
    Haran and Trant walked in front, with the King behind them and four guards bringing up the rear. It took several minutes to reach the spot where they had chained Jalia and Daniel.
    The pool of sticky blood was clearly visible as were the two sets of manacles that hung on each side. They was no trail in either direction, the bodies were simply gone.
    “The girl must have been manacled badly, probably slipped her wrists through them and dragged her man’s body away. She’s probably whimpering at the other end of the dungeon,” Haran suggested after examining the scene.
    “They are here,” The King whispered. “They have finally arrived and they plan to kill me. You must find them, Haran. Search the city, find them and kill them.” He turned on his heels and headed back. Haran’s men stepping clear as the King strode passed them. Haran nodded to the guards and they ran to catch up with their King.
    “Come on out you little bitch,” Sergeant Trant shouted down the dungeon, his voice echoing like the voice of ghosts.
    “Shut up, Sergeant,” Haran ordered. “Come with me. I am sure she’s still in here and she’ll not be going anywhere.” The two men started down the corridor, the Sergeant walking backwards with his sword drawn, Haran walking as if he didn’t