Chapter Twelve
The Albino Empress
“This way, victim.” Two towering guards armed with swords and truncheons herd me out of the cell and ahead of them down the stone-block corridor.
We’re deep under the palace of the Albino Empress, the legendary sorceress and warrior-queen whose armies have overrun much of the world. My home city was just the latest to be sacked, its defenders slain and people enslaved.
As a minor administrator I was lucky to escape summary execution. This is especially true since my smallish frame is ill-suited to the heavy labor unto death expected of more robust captives. For some reason I was singled out however, and brought all the way back here to the palace dungeon rather than be hauled off to the slave pens or impaled on a pointed post before the city gates. You
