Ghost in the Throne (Ghost Exile #7) Read Online Free Page A

stolen from his victims to heal his wounds. If you cut off his hand, he could take a hand from a victim and affix it to the stump of his arm.”
    “Truly?” said Strabane, taken aback. 
    “I saw him do it,” said Caina, still thinking about Kalgri. 
    “A useful spell,” said Strabane.
    “You would not wish to employ it, lord headman,” said Annarah. “Such a spell corrupts the will of its user. That style of Maatish necromancy induces moral insanity, along with an insatiable lust for violence and cruelty and death. You would quickly become a far worse man if you employed such a spell.”
    “That explains a great deal about Sicarion,” said Kylon. 
    Caina nodded. “What you’ve said makes sense, Nasser. Kalgri must not have told Callatas about the Staff and the Seal yet, though the gods only know why. We’ll have to assume that she’s going to come after me and come after the relics at some point.”
    The very thought of facing Kalgri again made Caina’s stomach twist. She had beaten Caina at Rumarah. She had failed to see the signs, and had fallen into the Huntress’s waiting arms. If not for Kylon and the Knight of Wind and Air, she would have died at Rumarah. 
    They all might have died, and Kalgri was still out there, spinning her webs and laying her traps. 
    “If the Huntress has chosen to delay,” said Nasser, “then we shall use the delay to our advantage. We must make for Catekharon with all speed.”
    “How?” said Caina. “Traveling overland?” That would be a long journey. They would have to leave the Kaltari Highlands, cut across the plains of Akasar, and then both Istarish Cyrica and Imperial Cyrica. From there they could cross the Sarbian Desert and the grasslands of western Anshan to reach the free cities of the west and then Catekharon, or follow the Kyracian colonies along the coast to reach the City of the Sages. Such a journey, Caina suspected, would take at least three weeks, assuming all went well.
    It would give Callatas and the Huntress ample time to chase them down. 
    “I considered it,” said Nasser, “but it is too risky. If the Huntress is following us, she will have many opportunities to attack, to say nothing of the risks of banditry or rapacious local nobles. No, I think our best course is to proceed to Istarinmul, enter the city secretly, and hire a trustworthy ship. Once we are on the Cyrican Sea, we shall be isolated and can reach Catekharon in…”
    “Two weeks,” said Kylon, in the tone of a man who had done it before. “Maybe eleven days. Assuming we hit the winds and the tides properly.” 
    “Catekharon will be a safe place for the relics?” said Laertes. “The Sages have a…peculiar reputation.”
    “It will,” said Caina. Her sensitivity to sorcery had given a constant headache while in the city, and she was not looking forward to seeing Catekharon with the vision of the valikarion. “Not even Callatas will be able to force his way into the Tower of Study. The Staff and the Seal will be safe there.”
    “Will the Sages listen to us?” said Annarah. “Master Laertes is right. Even in my day, the Scholae had a reputation for aloof indifference to the affairs of the world.”
    “They will,” said Caina. “They owe me a large favor. Kylon, too.” 
    “Then it agreed,” said Nasser. “We shall proceed to Istarinmul, charter a vessel, and sail for Catekharon.”
    “How fine and splendid to be in agreement,” said Morgant. His Caerish accent, Caina noted, often became thicker when he was about to say something insulting. “So we’ve locked up the relics and Callatas cannot claim them. What then?”
    Nasser looked at Strabane.
    “When you leave tomorrow,” said Strabane, “my warriors and I will depart from Drynemet. We will join the other clans, and meet with Tanzir Shahan’s host. Then our combined army will march for Istarinmul. We will seize the city, depose Grand Wazir Erghulan Amirasku, and kill Grand Master