Read Online Frostborn: The Eightfold Knife by Jonathan Moeller - Free Book Online

Magistria would disagree, I think,” said Caius. “And you must concede that her magic would be useful.”
    Ridmark grunted. “I cannot argue with that.”
    “And,” said Caius, “she has as much right to do this as you.”
    “Right?” said Ridmark. “What does that have to do with it?”
    “She has lost her memory,” said Caius, “but she was tied to the Order of the Vigilant. You know this as well as I do, my friend. If she was one of the Vigilant, then it is her duty to stand against the return of the Frostborn. Perhaps even more than yours.”
    “Her duty,” said Ridmark. He sighed. “I had not considered that. I thought she might go to Tarlion, seek aid from the Masters of the Magistri in recovering her memory, or that she might search the ruins of the Tower of Vigilance for clues.”
    “After what happened with Alamur and Talvinius,” said Caius, “you can see why she might not want to trust the Magistri. And we have both been at the Tower of Vigilance. There is nothing there but empty stone and crumbling walls.”
    Ridmark sighed, closed his eyes for a moment. 
    “You are determined, aren’t you?” said Ridmark. “Both of you.” He looked at Kharlacht. “All three of you.” 
    “I am,” said Caius. “As Calliande is.”
    “As I am,” said Kharlacht. “I will see this through to the end.”
    “So be it,” said Ridmark. “I tried to dissuade you. Follow me to Urd Morlemoch if you will.”
    “So you will not slip off in the morning?” said Caius.
    “I will not,” said Ridmark. “You mad fools can follow me to your deaths if you wish.”
    “Well,” said Caius. “We must all die and enter the kingdom of the Dominus Christus someday. We might as well do it while attempting a great deed.” 
    “Though,” said Ridmark, looking at Gavin, “we shall have to stop by Aranaeus first.”
    “For supplies?” said Caius.
    “And other things,” said Ridmark. “You saw those dead beastmen?” Caius nodded. “The packs of beastmen think the men of Aranaeus have been taking their females and young. The men of Aranaeus think the beastmen have been kidnapping people from within the village.”
    “And so you think,” said Caius, “that something else has been preying upon both the beastmen and the villagers?”
    “I’m certain of it,” said Ridmark. “We came across Gavin just as the beastmen were about to tear him to pieces, and I promised I would look into the disappearances. After Calliande rests, we’ll proceed to Aranaeus, and take Gavin back to his father.”
    Gavin stared at them with wide eyes. 
    “Gavin?” said Ridmark.
    “It seems,” said Gavin, “that I have fallen in with companions of great renown. You speak of so many strange things.”
    “It is,” said Kharlacht, “quite a long story.”
    Ridmark looked at Caius. “You can tell it from the beginning. Given how much you enjoy talking.”
    “All men have their gifts,” said Caius. He cleared his throat. “Well. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and…”
    “Start,” said Ridmark, “a little sooner than that.”
     
    ###
     
    A faint buzzing filled Calliande’s ears.
    She saw things. Remembered things. A sad old man in a white Magistrius’s robe, watching her. Fire and frost contesting each other, and a gash in the skin of the heavens, a gash that burned with cold blue flame. Tall, gaunt figures in armor the color of hard gray ice, eyes like blue fire in their crystalline faces. Death followed in their wake, ice choking the lands, corpses rising to fight at their sides.
    Calliande tried to focus upon the memories, but they slipped through her fingers like smoke.
    But she remembered other things, hard and clear. Shadowbearer’s mercury-colored eyes, gazing at her. Orcs and men struggling below a stone wall. A tall, lean man in wool and leather with close-cropped black hair and blue eyes, a wooden staff in his hand as he fought with the fury of the archangels