Read Online The Gates of Winter by Mark Anthony - Free Book Online

nodded. “I worked with black powder such as this in Castle City. It is a perilous alchemy, one used to power dangerous weapons called guns. There is enough powder here to kill many men.”
    “Or to destroy two towers?” said a booming voice.
    They all looked up to see Boreas striding across the hall toward the high table. Behind him came a pair of guards and Prince Teravian. All those around the table leaped to their feet. Aldeth wove first one way then another, hunting for a path of escape.
    “Don't act as if I don't see you there, Spider,” Boreas said as he ascended the dais. “No matter what you might believe, I'm not that dense. Besides, Queen Inara told me in her last missive you were here.”
    Aldeth stopped in his tracks and stared at the king. Aryn stared as well.
    Boreas gave them a smug smile. “I'm not the only one around here who has secrets.”
    “You should be resting, Your Majesty,” Grace said.
    Teravian rolled his eyes. “That's what I tried to tell him.”
    “And when you're king, if you should be so fortunate, people will obey you,” Boreas snapped, and the young man turned away, his shoulders crunching in.
    Lirith gave the young prince a worried look, and Grace agreed that the king's words seemed harsh. Then again, it had been anything but a good day for Boreas. Grace moved to him, probing the bandage on his head. Belatedly she realized she should have begged his permission to touch him, but it was too late now, so she finished her examination.
    “You're going to be fine,” she said. “I imagine you'll live forever.”
    “That's an ill curse for a warrior, my lady,” Boreas growled. “I'm not familiar with this
g'hun
powder you speak of, Sir Durge, but it's capable of working great deviltry, as we saw today. I wonder how it got into my castle.”
    “Perhaps we should ask the one who brought it,” Aldeth said, and all eyes were instantly on the spy.
    Vani advanced on the Spider. “Did you see someone? Why did you not tell me?”
    “It's surprisingly difficult to talk when you're being strangled,” Aldeth said, giving her a sour look. “I saw him not long before the explosions, leaving the room where we later discovered the sack of black powder. Several guardsmen were passing nearby, making a good deal of noise, and the fellow ran off. I suppose he left the powder in his haste.”
    Beltan stole the uneaten venison from Lirith's trencher. “So that's why there was only one explosion in the guard tower instead of two. He hadn't finished his work.”
    “It seems to me he did well enough,” Sareth said, gazing at his hands. He had washed them clean, but the sleeves of his shirt were still spotted with blood.
    Grace rubbed her aching temples. There was something peculiar about Aldeth's story, and not just the fact that someone in a medieval castle had managed to acquire large quantities of gunpowder and fashion it into bombs.
    “This man you saw,” she said to Aldeth. “Do you remember what he looked like?”
    The Spider stroked his beard. “Vaguely. There was nothing remarkable about him. He was dressed like a peasant.”
    “Was he tall? And with good skin?”
    “Now that you mention it, yes. Why?”
    Grace moved to Durge and gripped his arm. “The bundle you found on the road—the one that peasant who ran into you dropped. Do you still have it?”
    “I had forgotten about it, my lady. But I believe so.” He rummaged inside his tunic and drew out the small leather purse the man had dropped in his haste.
    “Open it,” she said.
    Durge fumbled with the strings and upended the purse. Something sleek and black clattered on the table.
    “What is it?” Lirith said, drawing closer.
    Grace picked it up. It was smooth and hard, shaped like a river pebble, but made of plastic, and fit easily into her hand. There were two buttons on one edge, and a circle of small holes on one side. Her finger brushed the topmost button.
    There was a hiss of static, then a man's voice—tinny but