Read Online Cold Redemption by Nathan Hawke - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Nathan Hawke
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Oribas stood up. The two Marroc scuttled back,
scuffing his circle of salt to ruin, a carelessness that would have earned Oribas a week of cleaning chores back when he’d been learning his craft. The three of them stood together, looking.
Underneath its mail, the shadewalker’s clothes were rotten and ragged and stained.
‘Where do they come from?’ asked Jonnic. Oribas shook his head.
‘Aulia. The end of days, but no one knows for sure how they came to rise. The armour, their swords, their clothes, all these say they were the emperor’s guard at the fall. No one
knows exactly what happened. Not the start of it. When the city of Aulia itself died, it was no surprise that the rest of the empire collapsed. But as to
how
Aulia died?’ He
shrugged. ‘As the histories I learned tell it, a black mist fell over the city that lasted for three days, and when it lifted, every single creature was dead. The few who escaped before it
engulfed them say the mist swept outward from the imperial palace, but as to its cause?’ He crouched down beside the dead thing, screwed up his face, fingers pushing down into ragged clothes
and the cold dead flesh, searching for the gap between the ribs. ‘Aulia was built on the slopes of a volcano. The emperors were ever digging tunnels under their palaces, always deeper.
It’s said the last one was searching for an entrance to the underworld, looking for his wife and sons lost at sea ten years before, but the Aulians were always diggers, always tunnelling
under the earth. My teacher thought perhaps they broke open a monstrous cave filled with poisonous gas, for such things do occur and there had been times before when the mountain leaked fire from
its summit and belched poison from the many caves and tunnels that riddled its flanks.’ He stared at the shadewalker. Fumes, his master had always insisted. Poisonous air from the mountain
that found a way from deep inside the earth through the emperor’s tunnels; but Oribas knew of no gas that would make a dead man rise and walk the earth and neither did anyone else.
‘Some say the emperor’s tunnels finally reached the underworld and that a part of the underworld spilled out as a result. A punishment from the gods.’
‘Modris and Diaran protect us,’ whispered Jonnic, and both the Marroc made little signs to ward away evil. Oribas had seen Gallow do the same. He’d always laughed at such
superstition, but not now, not with a dead shadewalker right here in front of him.
No, not dead, not yet. ‘You need to finish him.’ Addic handed Oribas the iron sword without even looking at him. Oribas waved him away. ‘I’ve never held a sword in my
life save to carry it from one place to another and I do not intend to start. You can do it. A simple thrust.’ He poked himself in the chest over his own heart and then poked the shadewalker.
‘Here. Between the ribs. Drive it deep and hard.’
Addic offered the sword to Jonnic. Jonnic shook his head and backed hurriedly away as though Addic was mad. Oribas stayed where he was, kneeling beside the shadewalker with fingers held where
the sword would need to go. His hands were shaking. Addic lifted the sword and held it, point down and
his
hands were shaking too. He let the tip rest on the shadewalker’s chest.
‘There.’ Oribas backed away. Addic’s knuckles were clenched white. The Marroc muttered a prayer and rammed the sword hard down into the dead thing’s flesh. At first
nothing happened. The shadewalker didn’t move or make a sound save for a twitch as the sword drove into it.
‘Is it dead?’ Addic stayed where he was, staring. Oribas found he didn’t know. All he’d learned on shadewalkers and how to bind them and confine them and put them to rest
but no one had said what happened afterwards. Some sort of release of the energy that held them between life and death seemed expected.
‘Look!’ Jonnic pointed. The shadewalker’s flesh was starting to darken, only
scuffing his circle of salt to ruin, a carelessness that would have earned Oribas a week of cleaning chores back when he’d been learning his craft. The three of them stood together, looking.
Underneath its mail, the shadewalker’s clothes were rotten and ragged and stained.
‘Where do they come from?’ asked Jonnic. Oribas shook his head.
‘Aulia. The end of days, but no one knows for sure how they came to rise. The armour, their swords, their clothes, all these say they were the emperor’s guard at the fall. No one
knows exactly what happened. Not the start of it. When the city of Aulia itself died, it was no surprise that the rest of the empire collapsed. But as to
how
Aulia died?’ He
shrugged. ‘As the histories I learned tell it, a black mist fell over the city that lasted for three days, and when it lifted, every single creature was dead. The few who escaped before it
engulfed them say the mist swept outward from the imperial palace, but as to its cause?’ He crouched down beside the dead thing, screwed up his face, fingers pushing down into ragged clothes
and the cold dead flesh, searching for the gap between the ribs. ‘Aulia was built on the slopes of a volcano. The emperors were ever digging tunnels under their palaces, always deeper.
It’s said the last one was searching for an entrance to the underworld, looking for his wife and sons lost at sea ten years before, but the Aulians were always diggers, always tunnelling
under the earth. My teacher thought perhaps they broke open a monstrous cave filled with poisonous gas, for such things do occur and there had been times before when the mountain leaked fire from
its summit and belched poison from the many caves and tunnels that riddled its flanks.’ He stared at the shadewalker. Fumes, his master had always insisted. Poisonous air from the mountain
that found a way from deep inside the earth through the emperor’s tunnels; but Oribas knew of no gas that would make a dead man rise and walk the earth and neither did anyone else.
‘Some say the emperor’s tunnels finally reached the underworld and that a part of the underworld spilled out as a result. A punishment from the gods.’
‘Modris and Diaran protect us,’ whispered Jonnic, and both the Marroc made little signs to ward away evil. Oribas had seen Gallow do the same. He’d always laughed at such
superstition, but not now, not with a dead shadewalker right here in front of him.
No, not dead, not yet. ‘You need to finish him.’ Addic handed Oribas the iron sword without even looking at him. Oribas waved him away. ‘I’ve never held a sword in my
life save to carry it from one place to another and I do not intend to start. You can do it. A simple thrust.’ He poked himself in the chest over his own heart and then poked the shadewalker.
‘Here. Between the ribs. Drive it deep and hard.’
Addic offered the sword to Jonnic. Jonnic shook his head and backed hurriedly away as though Addic was mad. Oribas stayed where he was, kneeling beside the shadewalker with fingers held where
the sword would need to go. His hands were shaking. Addic lifted the sword and held it, point down and
his
hands were shaking too. He let the tip rest on the shadewalker’s chest.
‘There.’ Oribas backed away. Addic’s knuckles were clenched white. The Marroc muttered a prayer and rammed the sword hard down into the dead thing’s flesh. At first
nothing happened. The shadewalker didn’t move or make a sound save for a twitch as the sword drove into it.
‘Is it dead?’ Addic stayed where he was, staring. Oribas found he didn’t know. All he’d learned on shadewalkers and how to bind them and confine them and put them to rest
but no one had said what happened afterwards. Some sort of release of the energy that held them between life and death seemed expected.
‘Look!’ Jonnic pointed. The shadewalker’s flesh was starting to darken, only
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