Read Online Born Of Darkness (Book 7) by William King - Free Book Online

uniforms of the Household Guard watched all the entrances to the catacombs.
    Hard looking men in white surcoats bearing the red dragon of the Order of the Dawn waited among them. They wore belts containing flasks of strange alchemicals. Elder signs warded their helmets. Most of them wore other runes on armlets, necklaces or rings. All of them had burning torches at hand.
    Groups of household servants gawked. Nobles in full court dress displayed just as much curiosity.
    Kormak felt the unfamiliar armour of truesilver on his shoulders and chest. He had forgotten how light it seemed when worn. He ran his hands over the contents of the pouches and rings in the belt the abbot had given him, making sure everything was there.
    He touched the stoppers of tubes containing truesilver essence. He ran his fingers over the rune-lines inscribed on the otherwise smooth surfaces of sunflares. He studied one. The faint glow showed it was ready to discharge a burst of the stored light of the Holy Sun.
    He felt the flask containing Valen’s Elixir. Why had he asked Gerd for it? His own strength would be enough. It always had been in the past. He should return the potion and tell the abbot he had made a mistake in a moment of doubt.
    “So what’s the plan?” Gerd asked. The abbot carried a mace marked with dwarven runes. Near him stood a big man who held the leads of three huge black dogs. The dogs were the size of wolfhounds with jaws like bulldogs. They looked at Kormak as if considering him for their next meal.
    “We’re going down to the vault to take a look.”
    “By we, you mean . . .”
    “You, me and the dogs.”
    “We might want to take some more.”
    Kormak shook his head. “They’re needed up here to make sure nothing gets out.”
    “I’m rather hoping we do.”
    “I meant other than us.”
    Gerd made a face. His hands went to his belt. He too carried sunflares and alchemical fire. He licked his lips.
    “You sure you want to come?” Kormak asked. Gerd shot him an odd look. Kormak felt that his friend did not so much want to go with him as need to do it. Perhaps he wanted to show that he had been a Guardian himself once and to prove he still had it in him. He had always been competitive even when they were boys. “It might be best if you stayed here. You are the abbot after all.”
    Gerd smiled as if he saw through Kormak’s attempt to discourage him. “What could possibly harm me? I have a famous Guardian to protect me. And if this Old One gets too close I’ll threaten to make him pay for feeding the dogs. That should scare him off. It bloody well scares me.”
    “I’m starting to worry about this obsession with accounting.”
    “Just you wait until you’re in my position. You’ll be obsessed with it too.”
    “You were right. You’re going to have to pry this sword from my cold dead hand.”
    “Let’s pray to the Holy Sun that I don’t have to do it today then. It’s been a while since I held a dwarf-forged blade.” He brandished the mace with one stubby hand. “And this will not be nearly as effective.”
    The dogs started to growl as Rhiana pushed her way through the crowd. Gerd eyed her with a mixture of appreciation and suspicion. “Who is this?”
    “Captain Rhiana, late of Port Blood and parts beyond.”
    “She coming with us?” Gerd looked dubious. The gills marked Rhiana as a child of Saa-Aquor, not a follower of the Holy Sun. He was wondering what her relationship with Kormak was.
    “Yes, she is,” Rhiana said. “I didn’t pull you out of the belly of Leviathan just to watch you get yourself killed here.”
    “The belly of Leviathan? I hope you are not speaking literally,” Gerd said.
    “She is,” Kormak said.
    “You’ll need to tell me about that.”
    “You can write up the report for the Grand Master if you want.”
    “Yes, I’ll do that. You know how much I love paperwork.” Gerd’s sarcastic tone was not lost on Rhiana. She smiled.
    “Rhiana, this is Abbot Gerd. He’s