Read Lords of Destruction for Free Online Page A

Gath.
    His thick hand flew at her, caught her shoulder and drove her to the ground.
“Now where is the entrance?”
    Her arm parted the blanket of black hair that had fallen over her face, and
she looked up at him. Her chin was smudged, and malevolent humor glittered on
her grey-gold eyes. “So that’s how it is,” she purred. “You’ve worn it too long
… the helmet’s taking control.”
    “Don’t worry about the helmet.” His voice was low, coarse. “What did he say?”
    “All right, I’ll tell you,” she said, drawing herself up to sit on a boulder.
“But call in your little virgin to remove the helmet first.” She looked off at
the shadowed boulders, then back at the metal face of the helmet. “What you are
about to hear requires a cool head.”
    “Talk!”
    “All right,” she said again, “but you are not going to like what you hear.
Apparently, when my former lord was informed that you had defeated me and
successfully stolen the helmet, he became enraged and began to roar and shake
the mountain.”. She nodded at the dying snakeman. “According to this poor
soldier, it continued to get worse, then all the volcanoes started spitting
flames and smoke, even those thought to be dead. Then they exploded…
repeatedly… burning the forests and destroying everyone as they fled. When
that stopped, a series of earthquakes began, tearing down the mountains and
changing the courses of the streams and rivers. Only a scattered few survived.
When the lava cooled, they returned to seek out the entrance and enter the altar
room to ask what he wished of them. But as they entered the tunnels, the earth
shook again and the crater collapsed, killing most of them in the tunnels…
and burying the entrance. There were only a handful of survivors who you
apparently have disposed of. Now there is no way to enter the mountain, or even
to tell which mountain was mine. Not even I could find it.”
    “You lie.”
    She smiled bitterly. “I only wish that were true… but it isn’t. The
mountain is sealed. Everything I possessed is buried. Gone. And I am deserted,
with no one to protect me… except the one who has ruined me… you.”
    He shook his head, once. “If your master is dead, the helmet’s powers would
have died with him.” She smiled briefly and said, “Now, Gath of Baal, you
flatter yourself. You did not kill him. He has only temporarily retreated to the
bowels of the earth, and when he returns, you will be in more danger than ever.”
    The eye slits glowed briefly in reply, and Gath said, “Come here.” She rose,
moved to him, and he added, “Remove the helmet.”
    The corners of her eyes smiled. “I thought that was a privilege reserved for
your simpering virgin.”
    “She’s not here.”
    Her mouth dropped open in shock. “You’re not serious, you’re… you’re
just testing my powers?” He took hold of her wrists, lifting her hands to the
helmet. She resisted, and a slightly mocking smile coiled in her cheeks as she
purred, “So that’s why you released me?” A faint echo of her old power rang in
her voice. “You’ve left her, and now you need me. The helmet’s killing you.”
    “You talk too much.” He placed her hands on the horns of the helmet, but she
stroked them instead of taking hold of them, and laughed lightly.
    His blunt fingers crushed her hands around the horns, making her wince with
pain. “Remove it, bitch!”
    “No!” she said, her voice laden with defiant power.
    He took hold of her throat, yanking her to him. But still she grinned,
shaking her head. “It’s no use threatening me. I can’t remove it now.”
    “You’ve lost your powers?”
    “It’s not that. I used all my strength to restore myself, and I’m weak now,
unstable. I must rest first, and eat.” He held her slightly away, and she added,
“I need bread, wine, berries, whatever you can find… and meat… fresh
meat.” He let go of her, and she smiled. “And since I now have