The Ghosts of Broken Blades Read Online Free Page B

cautious. But why would the spirit lead them into a trap? What could Serth have to gain? Only by helping them would he achieve his eternal rest. They were his only hope of being freed from his imprisonment within the sword.
    Roubris knew that while Serth knew more than he did about what lay ahead, Roubris had leverage. He wouldn’t be undertaking this if he didn’t. That leverage was what had made his “business” so successful for so long.
    The staircase was surprisingly long and steep, winding around ancient boulders of great size and the occasional withered tree with black, drooping branches.
    “There it is,” Serth said.
    At the top of the stairs, rising out of the misty gloom, was the temple. A small ziggurat of large obsidian blocks, the temple perched atop a narrow pinnacle. Roubris had no idea how someone would go about building such a structure in such a precarious place. The entrance appeared to be an uninviting stone door surrounded by serpentine runes.
    “I don’t like the look of this,” Karatha said quietly.
    Roubris pulled the broken sword and held it in both hands. He whispered, “If this is a trap, Serth, you’ll never get out of that sword. You know that, right?”
    “Yes,” Serth hissed. Roubris thought the spirit sounded indignant.
    Roubris remained unsatisfied. He thought back to the demonic creature they fought a few days earlier. The one Serth knew so much about. He considered how Serth knew unusual amounts about Roubris himself, how much more aware of his situation Serth was than any other trapped spirit Roubris had encountered. Roubris looked up at the malevolent temple that lay ahead of him, and then back at the broken sword that held Serth within it. He chewed his lip.
    “Serth,” he said only in his mind, “you knew a lot about that creature earlier.”
    “Yes?”
    “And now you’ve led me here, to the edge of the Worldwound itself.”
    “Yes?”
    “You’re not the spirit of a man, are you?”
    “No.”
    “You’re the spirit of a slain demon.”
    “Yes.”
    Roubris cursed.

Chapter Four: A Terrible Choice
    Roubris had no idea what to do with the information he’d just gained. The spirit trapped in the sword leading them to the temple in the Worldwound was not that of a slain warrior, but instead a demon. Can you trust a demon? Ever? It seemed like a bad idea.
    Of course, Karatha might know. But at this point, telling her that Serth was a demon also seemed like a bad idea. She would, as likely as not, demand that they turn around and go home immediately. And maybe that would be the wise thing to do, but maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe the treasure Serth promised him truly lay within the black ziggurat temple at the top of the rocky spire they climbed.
    “I know what you’re thinking,” Serth’s voice said in Roubris’s mind. “Well, not literally of course. I can’t tell what you’re thinking unless you try to speak to me with your thoughts. But nevertheless, I’m certain you’re worried that the fact that I wasn’t once a mortal soul means I must be lying to you. That this is a trap. I can assure you that it is not. I may not have been what you assumed me to be, but I am still in the dire situation you perceive. I am still a slain spirit trapped against my will in the weapon I once wielded in battle. And only you can communicate with me. Only you can help me. So the treasure vault hidden in the temple ahead is most assuredly real. You get paid and I get freed. That’s your standard mode of operation, is it not? This is no different.”
    Damn it all if that didn’t make sense to Roubris. Demon or man, Serth wanted to be freed. Roubris had never thought about it before, but demons must have souls like mortals, right?
    He had encountered the spirits of nonhumans trapped in weapons before. Orcs from Belkzen, mostly. Helping them had practically no potential for profit, so he never actually tried. But helping Serth had the potential for the greatest profit he’d ever