Frostborn: The Gray Knight (Frostborn #1)
Page 30
For corruption riddled Andomhaim like a rotten fruit, and his servants were everywhere.
Shadowbearer strode into a large cavern, the village of the Blue Hand kobolds waiting at the other end. The gate was closed, of course, but a simple effort of his vessel’s power, and it crumbled into ruin. He strode into the village, and a score of kobolds surrounded him, leveling their obsidian spears, their crests flaring as they hissed at him. The fattest kobold of the lot, no doubt their Warchief, stepped forward.
“Who are you, high elf?” snarled the kobold.
“A traveler,” said Shadowbearer in the kobold tongue. Such an uncouth language. Of course, all aspects of material world were uncouth. “I wish to speak with the shaman of the Blue Hand.”
“He is dead!” snarled the Warchief. “Murdered by outsiders. I think you have come to attack the kobolds of the Blue Hand. But we are not weak. We will kill you, for daring to threaten the Blue Hand.”
“Indeed?” said Shadowbearer, smiling.
The kobolds charged, and Shadowbearer raised his hands.
Fire came at his call.
A few moments later, he had killed every last kobold man, woman, and hatchling in the village. He spotted the Warchief trying to crawl away using his remaining arm, smoke rising from the hideous burns covering his sides and tail.
Shadowbearer walked after him.
“You,” rasped the Warchief, “you are a dark elf, you…”
“No,” said Shadowbearer, watching the flames consume the roofs of the stone houses, “I am not.” He smiled. “Do you know the difference between the dark elves and me?”
The Warchief gaped at him, yellow eyes twitching, tongue flickering over his teeth.
“The dark elves,” murmured Shadowbearer, “worshipped the shadow.” He leaned closer. “I am the shadow.”
The Warchief screamed, fire consuming him.
Shadowbearer left the smoking corpse behind and climbed to the cavern the wretched shaman of the Blue Hand, once the Magistrius Talvinius, had occupied. The kobolds of the Blue Hand had turned the cavern into a crypt for their dead god, placing his charred bones upon a bier in the center of the chamber.
Talvinius had grossly underestimated Calliande.
Shadowbearer had made that mistake once, centuries ago. He would not do so again.
He drew a chalk circle around the bier, ringing it in intricate symbols. Once the sigil was complete, he cast a long and elaborate spell. Cold air blew through the cavern, and the bones upon the bier stirred.
A voice whispered in his ears.
“Who disturbs my torment?” Even death had not removed the petulance from Talvinius’s voice. “Who dares to summon me? I will pull you into the abyss with me,” the spirit’s voice dripped menace, “and we shall burn together.”
“Talvinius,” said Shadowbearer, smiling. “Have you forgotten me already? It has only been a century.”
The spirit’s menace dissolved into shock. “You! No…no! It is not possible!”
“You said that often as a living man,” said Shadowbearer. “A pity you failed to learn otherwise. But no matter.”
“You have come to free me, master?” said Talvinius, his voice full of cringing, desperate hope. “Give me a body, and I will eagerly serve you. I will do whatever you command.”
“Actually,” said Shadowbearer, “I don’t need you at all. But when you died the final death, you were inside Calliande’s mind. I need your memories. I had thought her broken. But since she destroyed both you and Alamur, it seems she recovered more of her strength than I thought.”
“Master! No!” screamed Talvinius. “I will…”
“Stop talking,” said Shadowbearer, and he sent his will digging into the spirit’s memories.
He sorted through them, ignoring Talvinius’s agonized screams. Images of the dead Eternalist’s final moments flashed before his eyes. He saw Calliande’s terror, saw her wrath as the power rose up in response to her anger…
“I see,” said Shadowbearer. He released the spell, let Talvinius’s maimed spirit fall gibbering back into the abyss, and left the cavern.
He stood in the midst of the slain kobolds, thinking.
Calliande had recovered some of her power, but none of her memories. That made her dangerous…but not nearly as dangerous as she could have been. Still, Shadowbearer would not confront her himself. He was so close, and he would not risk a confrontation with her, not now.
Even without her full powers, she could still destroy him.
But he needed her dead. And he needed the soulstone she carried.
And if she was not at her full strength, that would make it all the easier for his many servants to deal with her.
Or, perhaps, some new servants.
He cast a spell, shadow and blue fire dancing around his fingers, and a shadow-wreathed wind blew through the cavern, the flames in the ruined houses flickering.
And the dead kobolds, hundreds of them, rose as undead at his command.
“Go forth,” said Shadowbearer. His will burned an image of Calliande into their minds. “Find this woman, overpower her, and bring her and the stone she carries to me.” He sent an image of Ridmark into their minds. “And if you encounter this man, kill him.”
The undead kobolds raced from the cavern to do his bidding.
Shadowbearer followed them from the ruined village.
He had a great deal of work to do.
THE END
Thank you for reading FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT. If you liked the story, please consider leaving a review at your ebook site of choice.
Ridmark Arban will return in early 2014 in FROSTBORN: THE EIGHTFOLD KNIFE. To receive immediate notification of new releases, sign up for my newsletter, or watch for news on my Facebook page.
About the Author
Standing over six feet tall, Jonathan Moeller has the piercing blue eyes of a Conan of Cimmeria, the bronze-colored hair a Visigothic warrior-king, and the stern visage of a captain of men, none of which are useful in his career as a computer repairman, alas.
He has written the DEMONSOULED series of sword-and-sorcery novels, and continues to write THE GHOSTS sequence about assassin and spy Caina Amalas, the COMPUTER BEGINNER'S GUIDE series of computer books, and numerous other works.
Visit his website at:
http://www.jonathanmoeller.com
Visit his technology blog at:
http://www.jonathanmoeller.com/screed
Contact him at:
jmcontact@jonathanmoeller.com
You can sign up for his email newsletter here, or watch for news on his Facebook page.
Other books by the author
The Frostborn Series
Frostborn: The Gray Knight
The Orc's Tale (Tales of the Frostborn short story)
The Third Soul Series
The Testing
The Assassins
The Blood Shaman
The High Demon
The Burning Child
The Outlaw Adept
The Black Paladin
The Tomb of Baligant
The Third Soul Omnibus One
The Third Soul Omnibus Two
Computer Beginner's Guides
The Ubuntu Beginner's Guide
The Windows Command Line Beginner's Guide
The Linux Command Line Beginner's Guide
The Ubuntu Desktop Beginner's Guide
The Windows 8 Beginner's Guide
The Linux Mint Beginner's Guide
The Ghosts Series
Child of the Ghosts
Ghost in the Flames
Ghost in the Blood
Ghost in the Storm
Ghost in the Stone
Ghost in the Forge
Ghost in the Ashes
Ghost Dagger (World of the Ghosts novella)
Ghost Aria (World of the Ghosts short story)
Ghost Claws (World of the Ghosts short story)
The Demonsouled Series
De
monsouled
Soul of Tyrants
Soul of Serpents
Soul of Dragons
Soul of Sorcery
Soul of Skulls
Soul of Swords
The Dragon's Shadow (World of the Demonsouled novella)
The Wandering Knight (World of the Demonsouled short story)
The Tournament Knight (World of the Demonsouled short story)
The Tower of Endless Worlds Series
The Tower of Endless Worlds
A Knight of the Sacred Blade
A Wizard of the White Council
The Destroyer of Worlds
$1.99 Dark Fantasy
Driven and Other Stories
The Devil's Agent
Angel Sword and Other Stories
Table of Contents
Description
A Brief Prologue
Chapter 1 - The Knight and the Friar
Chapter 2 - The Omen
Chapter 3 - Awakening
Chapter 4 - The Tower of Vigilance
Chapter 5 - Shadowbearer
Chapter 6 - Pursuit
Chapter 7 -The High Altar
Chapter 8 - Iron Staff
Chapter 9 - The Ursaar
Chapter 10 - A Pact
Chapter 11 - Lost Memories
Chapter 12 - Raiders
Chapter 13 - The Shaman
Chapter 14 - Fangs
Chapter 15 - Parting
Chapter 16 - Burning Fields
Chapter 17 - A Bargain
Chapter 18 - Siegecraft
Chapter 19 - Assault
Chapter 20 - A Challenge
Chapter 21 - The Duel
Chapter 22 - Calling the Fire
Chapter 23 - The Hero of Dun Licinia
Chapter 24 - The Four
Epilogue
About the Author
Other books by the author