Read Noman for Free Online Page B

from his hands and burrowed into the hay. From somewhere out of sight came the deep grunts of the mother sow.
    "Father," said Sasha. "You know why we're here."
    "Piggy, piggy, piggy," said Amroth Jahan. "Where did you go?"
    "Father! Listen to me!"
    "Listen to you?" The Jahan goggled at Sasha as if this was an incomprehensible request. "Why should I listen to you? You're my son Sasha, the lump head. You've never said anything worth listening to in all your lump-headed life." His withered face cracked into a wide grin. "I'd rather listen to my piggies squealing. Piggy, piggy, piggy!"
    He roared with laughter.
    It was the laughter that snapped Sasha's self-control. He drew his blade and jabbed it in the air and burst into a stream of violent abuse.

    "You're drunk!" he screamed. "You're a joke! Everyone laughs at you! I laugh at you! Ha-ha! The Great Jahan! Only you're not so great any more; you're sick and old and a joke! You shame the whole Orlan nation! You've bullied me all your life and now it's over, it's over, it's over! And I'm laughing, I'm happy, because I've always hated you, I've always wished you were dead, so hurry up and die, old man! Everyone wants you dead!"
    Amroth Jahan was not laughing any more.
    "You want me dead?"
    Sasha struggled to regain his dignity.
    "I want you to name me as the Jahan of Jahans."
    "While I still live?"
    "It's over, Father. We all know it. The Orlan nation must have a new leader."
    Amroth Jahan heaved himself slowly to his feet and fumbled at his waistband for the silver-handled whip. His sons watched him, unsure what he meant to do. If he gave Sasha the whip, he would be handing over his title and his power. Instead he held it up before them.
    "You want this," he growled, "you'll have to kill me for it."
    "If I have to," said Sasha, raising his blade once more.
    "Stop this!"
    A commanding voice cried out from behind him. Amroth Jahan smiled.
    "Meet Caressa, boys."
    Caressa had a spike in one hand and a blade in the other and a look about her that said she was ready to use both.

    "Back away!"
    "Then you make him see sense," said Sasha. "It's over. He's a joke."
    "What's the joke?" said Caressa, never dropping her guard. "Tell me, so that I can laugh, too."
    All three of the Jahan's sons were struck by the fierce cutting edge to her voice, but it had not yet occurred to them to fear her.
    "He's sick and old and sleeps with the pigs," said Sasha. "Look at him."
    Caressa looked.
    "I see the man who conquered the world," she said.
    "Oh, beauty!" cried Amroth Jahan. "What a woman!"
    "Have him!" said Sasha. "Keep him! But I must have the whip!"
    He made a grab for the whip and caught the cord and wound it tight round his right arm. Amroth Jahan had a firm grip on the handle, but he was far weaker than he had once been and Sasha knew it. He pulled on the cord and dragged his father towards him.
    Caressa's cool, clear voice sliced the air.
    "Let go or die!"
    The threat stopped Sasha only for a moment.
    "I'm not afraid of a woman," he said.
    "Mistake, son," said Amroth Jahan. "You're not half the man she is."
    He roared with laughter.
    "Don't laugh at me!" screamed Sasha. He pulled on the whip's cord, yanking his father close, and in the same movement thrust into him with his sword. Caressa saw and struck.

    The spike hissed through the air and buried itself deep between Sasha's shoulder blades. Sasha uttered a single grunt and dropped to his knees. Amroth Jahan stood motionless before him, his eyes on Caressa.
    "Oh, you beauty!" he said.
    Sasha's sword was protruding from his belly, where it had been plunged halfway to the hilt. The Jahan now grasped the sword with both hands and pulled it out. Blood gushed from the wound. Caressa ran to him and caught him as he fell.
    "Help me here!" she shouted. Alva and Sabin, too shocked to know what else to do, came to her aid.
    Together they laid the Jahan on the hay and bound his wound as tightly as they could, to staunch the flow of blood. They looked