Read Online An Oath of Brothers by Morgan Rice - Free Book Online Page A

was chivalry anyway? he wondered. A moment of passion, of selflessness, of craziness. It just made his throat run dry, his heart pound, his hands shake. He hated the feeling, hated every second of it. He wished he’d kept his big mouth shut. Chivalry wasn’t for him.
    Or was it?
    He was no longer sure of anything. All he knew right now was that he wanted to survive, to live, to drink, to be anywhere but here. What he wouldn’t give for a beer right now. He would trade the most heroic act in the world for a pint of ale.
    “And who is it exactly we are going to pay off?” Merek asked, coming up beside him as they walked together through the streets.
    Godfrey racked his brain.
    “We need someone in their army,” he finally said. “A commander. Not too high up. Someone just high enough. Someone who cares more for gold than killing.”
    “And where will we find such a person?” Ario asked. “We can’t exactly march into their barracks.”
    “In my experience, there’s only one reliable place to find someone of imperfect morals,” Akorth said. “The taverns.”
    “Now you’re talking,” Fulton said. “Now, finally, someone is talking sense.”
    “That sounds like an awful idea,” Ario retorted. “It sounds like you just want a drink.”
    “Well, I do,” Akorth said. “And what’s the shame in that?”
    “What do you think?” Ario countered. “That you’re just going to march into a tavern, find a commander, and buy him off? That it’s that easy?”
    “Well, the kid is finally right about something,” Merek chimed in. “It’s a bad idea. They’d take one look at our gold, kill us, and take it for themselves.”
    “That’s why we’re not bringing our gold,” Godfrey said, deciding.
    “Huh?” Merek asked, turning to him. “What are we going to do with it then?”
    “Hide it,” Godfrey said.
    “Hide all this gold?” Ario asked. “Are you mad? We brought too much as it is. It’s enough to buy half the city.”
    “That’s precisely why we are going to hide it,” Godfrey said, warming to the idea. “We find the right person, for the right price, that we can trust, and we’ll lead him to it.”
    Merek shrugged.
    “This is a fool’s errand. It’s going from bad to worse. We followed you in, God knows why. You’re walking us to our graves.”
    “You followed me in because you believe in honor, in courage,” Godfrey said. “You followed me in because, from the moment you did, we became brothers. Brothers in valor. And brothers do not abandon one another.”
    The others fell silent as they walked, and Godfrey was surprised at himself. He did not fully understand this streak of himself that surfaced every now and again. Was it his father talking? Or he?
    They turned a corner, and the city opened up, and Godfrey was overwhelmed once again by the beauty of it. Everything shining, streets lined with gold, interlaced with canals of sea water, light everywhere, reflecting off the gold, blinding him. The streets were bustling here, too, and Godfrey took in the thick throngs, amazed. His shoulder got bumped more than once, and he took care to keep his head lowered so that the Empire soldiers would not detect him.
    Soldiers, in all manner of armor, marched to and fro in every direction, interspersed with Empire nobles and citizens, huge men with the identifiable yellow skin and small horns, many with stands, selling wares up and down the streets of Volusia. Godfrey spotted Empire women, too, for the first time, as tall as the men and as broad-shouldered, looking nearly as big as some of the men back in the Ring. Their horns were longer, pointier, and they glistened an aqua blue. They looked more savage than the men. Godfrey wouldn’t want to find himself in a fight with any of them.
    “Maybe we can bed some of the women while we’re here,” Akorth said with a belch.
    “I think they would just as happily cut your throat,” Fulton said.
    Akorth shrugged.
    “Maybe they’d do both,” he