Read Online Sword of Caledor by William King - Free Book Online Page A

the forces of Chaos struck these cities with mighty magics during the first incursion. For a long time, the slann and their lizardmen slaves bore the brunt of the Dark Gods’ attacks.’
    The ground squelched underfoot. It was as if they were moving through the limits of a great swamp.
    ‘Flooded?’ Tyrion asked.
    Teclis nodded. ‘Seems most likely.’
    ‘Let’s hope the whole city is not under water then.’
    ‘It would not be the first slann city to be so.’
    ‘You do not reassure me, brother.’
    ‘We still have to find what we came here for,’ said Teclis. ‘We still need to find the sword.’
    Tyrion sprang upwards and grabbed a vine. It was wet and slippery, but he was agile even by the standards of elves and he had soon pulled himself up into the lower branches of the trees. From there he used his dagger as a piton and climbed as high as he could go.
    He was hoping for a good view of his surroundings, and even through the downpour he managed one. Although these trees were not as tall as some of the millennia old giants of the deep forest, they were still far taller than the mast of an ocean-going ship. What he saw was as awesome as it was disheartening.
    They had found Zultec.
    The old slann city stretched to the horizon. Less than a league away were a number of ziggurats, partially overgrown but the size of small hills. They had been hidden by the jungle until he climbed above it. He counted at least a score and gave up. He knew that there would most likely be smaller ruins hidden among the wreckage. They had found the city but it might take years to search it for what they sought, assuming it was even there. He scrambled back down the tree and told Teclis what he had seen. His brother smiled. He did not look at all put out by Tyrion’s discovery.
    ‘Zultec is not all that huge by the standards of slann temple cities,’ he said. ‘This was a mere satellite town of Pahuax according to Beltharius.’
    ‘If this was a small town, their cities must be gigantic indeed,’ said Tyrion.
    ‘They are.’
    ‘What now, brother?’
    ‘You have shown what brawn and eyes can do here. I will show you the uses magic can be put to.’
    ‘I would be grateful if you could,’ Tyrion said. ‘I do not fancy spending the rest of my life searching this place for Sunfang. There is a woman in Lothern I am anxious to get back to.’
    ‘I am not so sure her husband will be that keen,’ said Teclis.
    Tyrion shrugged. One of the reasons they had set out on this quest was to let that particular scandal die down. Lady Valeria’s husband was a powerful ally of House Emeraldsea and he doted on her the way she doted on Tyrion. A duel would not have done anyone any good. It would have damaged a powerful faction in politics.
    The humans were looking at them again, wondering what they were saying. Tyrion turned to them and said, ‘It is Zultec, no doubt about it. Unless there is another huge slann city we have not heard of hereabouts.’
    He turned to Teclis and said in elvish, ‘Sorry, I meant to say small slann village.’
    ‘I told you we would find it, didn’t I?’ Despite the wet misery of the rain, and the sunken look of their surroundings, Leiber could not keep the triumph from his voice. He sounded like a man who had come close to realising a lifelong dream. Tyrion could not deny the human his moment of triumph.
    ‘You were right, Leiber,’ he said.
    Leiber smiled again, showing his missing teeth and blackened stumps. ‘We are all rich, lads,’ he said. ‘The slann gold is almost ours.’
    There was nothing like the prospect of wealth for cheering humans up, Tyrion thought. Even soaked to the skin and swatting at mosquitoes, they looked happy at Leiber’s announcement and ready to run off into the nearest ruins to seek for treasure. Tyrion could not really blame them. For the most part their lives were short and miserable and gold helped humans find comfort in their hovels.
    ‘The really big pyramids start