Swords of the Six Read Online Free Page B

Brian saw regret, anger, and confusion in the man’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” Kesla choked out.
    Somehow Brian believed him. Perhaps it was because he needed to, and because he wanted to. During that moment he found the courage to forgive Kesla for the ghastly crime he was committing, even as he fell under the weight of Kesla's swing . . . and felt his back split open, his insides twisted, another crystal sword of the Six impaling him.
    He saw Letrias stumble up to Xavion from behind and grasp his charred shoulder. “You’ve failed, old man!” Letrias drew back his sword arm and thrust his captain through his back. The sword’s point protruded through Xavion’s chest.
    Xavion fell to his knees, sliding off the blade. His blood, on Letrias’s sword, spread from the point all the way up to its handle, then drained off, leaving rust in its wake. Hestor and Clavius gasped and dropped their weapons. The swords sank into the crimson pool forming around Xavion. The blood covered their weapons as it had Letrias’s, leaving them covered in rust.
    Choking on his own blood, Brian fought for air. He could hear Auron laughing, as if this were all a joke, but the sensation of the blade sliding painfully out of his back proved that it was not.
    The white-bladed scimitar slipped from Brian’s fingers and he fell forward in a kneeling position. He knew now . . . he knew that death was coming, but he smiled to himself in spite of it. What was death but a threshold; the threshold to eternity with his Creator.
    “My poor boy, please . . . please forgive me.” He heard Kesla’s voice plead into his fogging mind. He tried to reply that yes, he was forgiven—but he could not. Blood had flooded his lungs and clogged his throat.
    A roar filled his ears. With his last strength he pulled his sword toward himself and broke it, broadside, across his knee. The enemy would never use it.
    The ground shook violently and, as his vision darkened, he saw a flash of white dragon scales dispelling the darkness and knew that salvation had come . . . too late.
     
     
     
    PART I
     
    SEEDS OF SALVATION
     
     
     
    Chapter 1: Shizar Palace
     
    Albino the dragon took another powerful stride and the marble floor trembled beneath him. Nearly one thousand years had passed since the fall of his famed and beloved Six; the warriors in whom he had placed utmost confidence. But only one had stayed true. He felt a growl build in this throat. "It may have been better if I had killed Letrias, too." He dipped his head beneath one of the white arches supporting the vaulted ceiling and his horns merely grazed it.
    The white-bearded man alongside the dragon shook his head. "That would have solved nothing. The roots of wizardry had already spread too far." He tapped his hooked shepherd's staff on the shiny floor and straightened his hooded, white robe. "If Letrias had fallen, another man would have risen to take his place, leaving Subterran no better off than it is now."
    The dragon turned and his claws sparked against the palace floor. "You are right, Patient. But ever since that fateful day when the Six fell . . ." He sighed. "I wonder how things would have turned out if I had done things differently."
    "Albino, my friend." The shepherd's ocean blue eyes looked up at him with naked honesty. "The past is passed. Let it remain so."
    "Yes . . . the past is behind us." Albino's claws scraped the marble. He flared his nostrils. "But the future has not been written. Letrias will pay for his treachery . . . in time."
    Gesturing with one clawed hand at an opening in the wall, Albino waited for Patient to precede him through the large doorway. The shepherd's sandals whispered over the floor, his white robe draped comfortably around his shoulders as he took long strides into the spacious room.
    The man turned his head ever so slightly to gaze around the room. Patient bore himself with the sureness of a king.
    The dragon flexed his white wings. His palace was in no way small