Read Online Spook's: The Dark Army (The Starblade Chronicles) by Joseph Delaney - Free Book Online

guards.
’
    ‘What about the other attics in the south wing? What do they contain?’ I asked.
    ‘
Echoes of what once existed but nothing of importance. Maybe there are also human ghosts. Some of your people were questioned and sacrificed there.
’
    All at once the ghost began to fade.
    ‘Don’t go!’ I cried. ‘I want to ask you some more questions. And I’ll try to help you escape from here. Just answer this, please – if the rulers of Valkarky changed, could the war end? Could Kobalos and humans ever live in peace?’
    ‘
It would depend upon those who ruled and upon the structure of that rule
,’ the ghost of the mage said, becoming solid again, the hollow voice reverberating from the walls. ‘
The last king of Valkarky was not as militant as the Triumvirate. His father had fought wars against humans, and so had his father before him. But they were limited territorial disputes, whereas the Triumvirate now seeks unlimited expansion and wishes to kill or enslave humans. There would always be border disputes and skirmishes, but with different rulers, Kobalos and humans could live in peace most of the time. Yes, that is possible.
’
    I quickly asked another question. ‘You named yourself as the architect who conceived of and shaped the Kobalos god, Talkus – and it is that god who now drives your people forward in this war. Is that what you wanted?’
    The ghost flickered, but answered my question.
    ‘
War was not the purpose for which I shaped Talkus
,’ it replied. ‘
Thousands of years ago, my people carried out a great crime, an act of insanity. We slew all our females. I wished to rectify that act of madness.
’
    I watched incredulity and horror flicker across Jenny’s face. That was something she must have read about in Nicholas Browne’s Kobalos glossary. However, hearing it from the ghost brought home the insane horror of that act. That defining moment had shaped the Kobalos society of today. It was a terrible tale, and was hard to believe. The Kobalos women had been taken to a vast arena and slain, their throats cut, their blood drained. It took seven days to complete the terrible task. It was, as the ghost admitted, an act of madness. By that act the Kobalos males had hoped to come to their full strength – they believed that the women made them weak, undermining the savagery that was the pure essence of a warrior.
    Of course, they were then faced with the threat of extinction but had already planned a way to avoid that. Although humans and Kobalos are two distinct races, their use of magic made it possible to breed with human females – slaves which they call purrai. But only Kobalos males resulted from such unions.
    ‘
The god I began to shape would have helped us create our own females once more
,’ the ghost continued. ‘
Balance would have been restored and, in time, there would have been no need for us to use purrai. But the murder of the king and the coming to power of the Triumvirate changed all that. They reshaped the new god for their own ends – that of war, and the acquisition of greater and greater power.
’
    ‘Is it too late to change things again?’ I asked, stunned by that revelation. The dead mage had actually been benign and had intended for good to result from his act of creation.
    ‘
There are those among my people who already strive for such change. I have talked to them. My spirit cannot leave this place, but they can and do project their minds to me. An alliance is already working to overthrow the Triumvirate. It began with a small secret group called the Skapien, who are opposed to the slave trade. But recently there have been others in Valkarky who are more open and vocal in their opposition. Haizda mages are one of these dissenting groups, and as a result have been outlawed by the Triumvirate and are now being hunted down and exterminated.
’
    ‘It would be better to change the rulers of Valkarky than have a war,’ I said to the ghost. ‘You say you have