The Skeleton King (The Silk & Steel Saga) (50 page)

Something else grabbed her ankle, a
cold, searing touch.

Kath fell to her knees.
The shadows had gained substance!
Darker
and somehow more dense, the shadows pounced. Icy fingers poked and clawed,
trying to pull her to the ground.

Kath whirled away. Drawing her
sword, she slashed at them.

They evaded her blade, as if the touch
of steel somehow hurt. Slashing left and right, she pushed them back, her blade
becoming a blur. Steel proved unable to kill them, yet they shied away, lurking
just beyond reach. Making a final slash, she turned and ran for Duncan. Grabbing his arm,
she began pulling him from the pentacle.

The shadows attacked, clawing at
her, a searing cold. She struck at them with her sword, struggling to pull Duncan with just one
hand.

The cavern rumbled and shook, a
powerful tremor. Stalactites crashed down, releasing a hail of dagger-sharp
chips.

Shadows swooped towards Blaine, too many to count.
His blue steel sword slashed through them. Gibbering screams, they whirled away.

Kath sheathed her sword, desperate
to pull Duncan
to safety.

Bear and Boar appeared at the
doorway.

“Help me!”

A stalactite crashed down, nearly
impaling Duncan.
Rock chips flew in all directions, a storm of stone. The floor tilted and shook
like the back of a mighty beast. Blaine
struggled to his feet, his blue sword clutched in his hand. The others leaped
to help.

Overhead, the shadows howled in
rage.

Bear and Boar lifted Duncan to their shoulders.
Staggering like drunks, they bore him from the chamber, narrowly avoiding the
stone spears. They raced up the long spiral of stairs, climbing as if demons
chased them. Kath followed, fearing for Duncan.
The earth shook like an angry beast yet the passage remained open. The stairs
stretched to forever, but the dawn light finally appeared at the cleft.

They stumbled from the doorway.

Tremors shook the citadel, but
these were mild compared to the nightmare below.

“Put him down!” They laid Duncan on the courtyard.
Kath cradled his head. “Come back to me.” She covered his mouth with a kiss.

His eyes flashed open, one golden
and the other sapphire blue. His mismatched gaze was clear, without any taint of
Darkness. “I knew you’d save me.”

She bit back a sob.

His gaze roved to the open sky,
toward the dawn light. Seagulls circled overhead, releasing a mournful cry. He
took a deep breath and then his gaze sought her face, like a man seeking a long
lost sanctuary. “I longed for green, only to find it in your eyes.”

His words lodged in her heart, a
searing mixture of joy and pain. She almost cried, but forced the tears back, drinking
in his voice, his mismatched stare, every detail dear. “Stay with me.”

A stolen moment stretched to
forever but then he gasped and the pain returned, and with it duty. “Beloved, there’s
much I must tell you.”

“Let me find a healer first.”

“No, you must listen.” Agony washed
across his face, but he fought through it, forcing the words out. “The monk,
Bryce, still lives within the Mordant. He spies on the Mordant. He knows his
plans. Somehow he spoke to me while I was trapped in the chamber.” He flashed a
weak smile. “And the Mordant thought I was no threat.”

A sob escaped her. “You spoiled his
plans, my love.”

Someone handed Kath a water flask.
She held it to his lips. Her gaze traveled the length of his body. Every dagger
wept blood, as if the spell keeping him alive was broken. Tears crowded her
eyes, but she held them at bay, determined to be brave for him.

“You must listen. You must
remember.” His voice trailed to a whisper.

She huddled close, her ear bent to
his words.

A flood of warnings poured out of
him, dark tidings and grim plans. He spoke of Lanverness, and the Octagon, and
the Kiralynn monastery. He told her about a dark sword and a hallway carved
like demons. He warned her of Taals that looked like ogres and dwarves that
could sniff magic. Some of the warnings made little sense, a confusing jumble
of images, but she listened to it all, struggling to memorize every detail.

Finally his words trailed to
silence and his eyes closed.

Fear gripped her throat; she
thought he was gone. “Duncan,
don’t leave me!” She cradled his head, willing him to live.

His eyes opened, full of light, and
he smiled up at her. “I’ll never leave you. But you must promise me two
things.”

“Anything.”

A spasm of pain crossed his face,
but his eyes remained opened. “You must put an end the Mordant. I’ve learned
that evil is real and it must be stopped.”

Hate boiled within her, an easy
promise to make. “I promise.”

His hand gripped hers. “And you
must promise to live.”

Tears crowded her eyes.

“Promise me.”
 
His voice sank to a whisper. “Promise me and
I’ll wait for you on the edge of the Light.”

Her heartbeat quickened. “You’ll
wait for me?”

“Yes.”

“I promise.”

He smiled up at her…and then he was
gone.

“NO!”
She stared up at the
heavens, challenging the gods with her cry. “Heal him! Heal him or I will not
forgive you!”

Seagulls roiled overhead,
screeching a mournful cry…but no miracle came.

“Svala!”
The word was a murmur
coming from a thousand voices. The courtyard was crowded with her army, a
thousand tattooed faces staring at her. They drew their swords and knelt.
They’d gained a great victory…but she’d lost her heart. Kath closed her eyes
and the world dissolved into tears.

APPENDIX

CASTLEGARD

Three hundred years after the War of Wizards decimated the
kingdoms of Erdhe, a group of knights banded together to protect the southern
kingdoms from the ravages of the north. They claimed Castlegard, the great
mage-stone castle left empty after the War of Wizards, as the seat of their
power. Adopting the shape of the great castle as their symbol, they became
known as the Octagon Knights.

To bolster their cause, the knights were ceded land
running along the length of the Dragon
Spine Mountains.
Stretching from Castlegard all the way to the Western Ocean,
this land became known as the Domain. A series of castles, keeps, and walls
were built along the Dragon Spines, allowing the knights to control the
mountain passes and deny access to the southern kingdoms. The Domain also
includes the only iron ore mine in all of Erdhe to yield blue ore, the rare ore
required to forge the knights’ fabled blue steel swords.

As a sworn brotherhood of elite knights, the candidates
forsake their lineage and their past when they win their maroon cloaks. Their
symbol is a maroon octagon emblazoned on a silver shield.

KING URSUS ANVRIL
,
King of Castlegard and the Knights of the Octagon, Lord of the Domain, hero of
the Battle of Raven Pass, bearer of a great blue sword named
Honor’s Edge.

-his wife,
QUEEN PHYLA
, died giving birth to their only daughter

           
-their
children:

PRINCE ULRICH
, First-born son of the king, a sworn knight of the
maroon, commander of the wall at Raven
Pass, bearer of a great
blue sword named
Mordbane

PRINCE GRIFFIN
, Second-born son of the king, a sworn knight of the
maroon, commander of Dymtower

PRINCE GODFREY
, Third-born son of the king, a sworn knight of the
maroon, commander of Shieldhold

PRINCE TRISTAN
, Fourth-born son of the king, a sworn knight of the
maroon, slain while leading a patrol into the steppes

PRINCE LIONEL
, Fifth-born son of the king, a sworn knight of the
maroon, commander of Cragnoth Keep, slain by Trask

PRINCESS KATHERINE
, Sixth child of the king, also known as the Imp
or Little Sister or Kath. As a female, the Octagon symbol of Castlegard is
forbidden to her. Instead she uses the Anvril’s ancient heraldic symbol of a
red hawk attacking with talons outstretched on a field of white.

-his sworn knights and retainers:

SIR OSBOURNE
,
The Knight
Marshal
of the Octagon, right hand of the King, a one-eyed man with a
scar-crossed face, he wields a saber as his weapon of first choice, but then
takes up Sir Tyrone’s great sword from the signal tower of Cragnoth Keep.

SIR LOTHAR
, knight-captain of the Salt Tower,
wields a battleaxe, close friend to the knight marshal

SIR BORIS
, knight-captain of Holdfast Keep

SIR DALT
, knight-captain of Ice Tower

SIR GRAVIS
, knight-captain of Sword Keep

SIR ABRAX
, knight of the maroon, champion of the sword, guard to
King Ursus, he wields a blue steel sword named
Protector

SIR RANNOCK
, knight of the maroon, champion of the morning star

SIR ODIS
, knight of the maroon, champion of the lance

SIR BLAZE
, knight of the maroon, champion of the mace

SIR ADLEMAR
, knight of the maroon, champion of the claymore, wields
a blue steel claymore named
Stalwart

SIR TRASK
, knight of the maroon, champion of the battleaxe,
assigned to Cragnoth Keep as a punishment posting, slain at the battle of
Cragnoth Keep

SIR TYRONE
, knight of the maroon with skin the color of ebony,
often referred to as the ‘black knight’, he wields a great sword, companion to
Princess Katherine, a hero slain at the battle of Cragnoth Keep

SIR MALVOY
, a fresh-sworn knight of the maroon

SIR MARIN
, a knight of the maroon

SIR AMBROSE
, a knight of the maroon

SIR WINTON,
a knight of the maroon

SIR VARDINE
, a knight of the maroon

SIR MELLOT,
a knight of the maroon

HADRIAN
, master archer of the maroon

BALDWIN
, senior squire of the maroon, serves the King

BROCK,
squire to Prince Ulrich

EMMETT
, young squire

STEWARD MALT,
Steward of the armory of Raven Pass

OTTO
, the Master Swordsmith of Castlegard’s forge, responsible for
the forging of all blue steel weapons

QUINTUS
, the Master Healer of Castlegard

VAL
, a stable lad of Castlegard

SIR RAYMOND
, branded as an unmade-knight of the Octagon, exiled
from the Domain of Castlegard on penalty of death

THE KIRALYNN
MONKS

Founded over two thousand years ago by a group of
scholars, knights, and wizards, the Kiralynn Order has always presented an
enigmatic face to the world, a face that is open yet closed. One hundred years
before the start of the War of Wizards the monks withdrew from the southern
kingdoms, retreating to their monastery hidden deep in the Southern Mountains.
As if erased from the minds of men, the location of the monastery disappeared
from the maps of Erdhe. The memory of the Kiralynn monks has slowly faded,
becoming little more than legend and myth. Yet select rulers of the southern
kingdoms still receive scrolls sealed with the symbol of the Order. History has
proven that these scrolls contain an uncanny prescience. Kings ignore the
advice of the Order at their own peril.

The symbol of the Kiralynn monks is a Seeing Eye in the
palm of an Open Hand. Their seat of power is their mountain monastery. The
motto of the Order is “Seek Knowledge, Protect Knowledge, Share Knowledge”.

THE GRAND MASTER
,
the leader of the Kiralynn Order, his/her identity is a closely guarded secret

-monks and initiates of the Order:

MASTER RIZEL
, a Master of the Order

MASTER GARTH
, a Master Healer of the Order

BRYCE
, an initiate of the Order, he studied to take his vows to
become a monk and a healer but was subsumed by the Mordant’s Awakening,
becoming a prisoner in his own mind

MASTER AEROTH
, an ambassador monk sent to the kingdoms of Erdhe

MASTER ZITH
, a Master of the Order, accompanies Kath as one of her
companions

-visitors to the monastery:

PRINCESS JORDAN
, a princess of Navarre, sent to the monastery for
her Wayfaring, she remains locked in a healing coma, felled by the treachery of
the Mordant

DANYA,
a young woman who sought sanctuary in the monastery with her
mountain wolf,
BRYX

THE DARK CITADEL

The Dark Citadel is a forbidding fortress-city in the far
north. Perched atop three hundred foot cliffs that overlook the Western Ocean, it is built upon a huge
monolithic boulder. The tiered city has nine layers spiraling upward around the
stone monolith. Each layer holds a distinct class of people, with the palace of
the Mordant at the summit. The stone monolith contains steps leading to a cave,
the ancient source of Dark power.

The Mordant’s domain also includes the steppes, a vast sea
of grass that serves as a desolate greensward for the Dark Citadel, a barren killing
field. The northern steppes are divided from the south by a dark wall studded
with ten Gargoyle Gates.

The domain also includes the Pit, a massive crater with near
vertical glass-sheer walls. Slaves live within the Pit, toiling within the
Mordant’s iron mines. Female slaves are forced to serve as whores for the
Mordant’s army. Residual magic in the Pit results in the massive abnormalities
of newborns. Two new sub-races have been born and bred in the Pit; the Taals,
an ogre-like sub-race with massive strength and limited intellect, and the
Duegar, also called the Hounds of the Mordant, dwarves with the ability to
scent magic.

The symbol of the Dark Citadel is a gold pentacle emblazoned
on a field of black. The Darkflamme is the Mordant’s personal battle banner,
twelve feet of black silk ending in two silken tails of bright red flecked with
gold, creating the illusion of darkness on fire

THE MORDANT
- With
over a thousand years of life, he is the oldest of the Harlequins, the god-king
of the north, the ruler of the Dark Citadel. He wields the Staff of Pain, an
iron scepter with a red crystal at the top.

-his officers and priests:

HIGH PRIEST GAVIS
- High Priest of the Pentacle, Keeper of the
Trials Return, the ruler of the Dark Citadel in the absence of the Mordant

GENERAL HAITH
- General of the army of the Pentacle, witness to the
beheading of the Mordant in his prior life

GENERAL MARRIS
- commander of the cavalry

BISHOP SIFF
- Administrator bishop serving the High Priest

DOLF
- Master Assassin of the Ninth Rank

BISHOP TYNES
- bishop of the border guards

SIR RAYMOND
- branded as an unmade-knight of the Octagon, exiled
from the Domain of Castlegard, sworn to serve the Mordant

CAPTAIN LORNID
- captain of the citadel guard

CENTURION CAYLEX
- commander of the third border guard

TAVOS
- priest of the border guard

FENTHANE
- priest of the border guards, serves Bishop Tynes

JAMIS
- a guard of the Door, witness to the beheading of the Mordant
in his prior life

-Emissaries to the Citadel:

MERCHANTER TIMOTH
- emissary from the MerChanter Sea Lords, vassals
to the Mordant

Lords and people of the Pit:

LORD SLEGHORN
- the self-styled lord of the Pit and the iron mines

GRACK
- a one-armed Taal turnkey,
guard of the lower mines

CRIBB
- guard of the Pit

HARIT
- guard of the Pit

MARDAK
- Taal guard of the upper mines

HONORABLE ELSWIN
- leader of the slave’s Council of Elders, he has
the deformity of six fingers on each hand, he is Mara’s uncle

BRAITH
- a slow-witted slave Taal,
serves as the guard to the Council of Elders

MARA
- a serving girl assigned to the upper mines, the niece of
Honorable Elswin

THESSALA
- patty woman working the dung mountain

Prisoners of the upper iron mine:

KRELL THREE-EYE
- prisoner/leader of the upper mines, a massively
strong man with the deformity of a third eye in the center of his forehead

NAGA
- dark-skinned prisoner of the upper mines

MARCUS
-prisoner of the upper mines

Prisoners of the lower iron mines:

CLOVIS
- also known as
CLOVIS
FARSEERER
, born of the Pit he became a guard of the Citadel before being
condemned to the iron mines, he has a hidden deformity, the hidden eye, the
third eye of prophecy

BROCK
- prisoner/leader of the lower mines

SETH
- prisoner of the lower mines, has rocklung

BRUCE
- prisoner of the lower mines

HAL
- a slow-witted Taal prisoner
of the lower mines

GREN
- a Duegar dwarf prisoner of the lower mines

BREDON
- prisoner of the lower mines, born with a third eye in his
forehead

NEF
- prisoner of the lower mines, has six-fingered hands

TRELL
- prisoner of the lower mines, has a clubfoot

BRENT
- prisoner of the lower mines, is a hunchback

SIMEON
- prisoner of the lower mines, is a hunchback

FELDON
- prisoner of the lower mines, has rocklung

STAN-
prisoner of the lower mines has a cleft lip

BREDAN-
prisoner of the lower mines, has a third eye in his forehead