The Knight Marshal (The Silk & Steel Saga) Read Online Free

North
     
     

1
    Katherine
     
    Kath woke with a harsh gasp. Sodden with sweat, she fled her
nightmares…only to realize they were true. Duncan ! She keened his
name, remembering the horror of the bloody cavern. Tears threatened but Kath
refused to let them flow. She’d tried to save him, but silver daggers riddled
his flesh, biting deep, a hundred gaping wounds. Breaking the chains, they’d
rescued him from the foul darkness, carrying him up into the dawn’s bitter
light, but the victory proved hollow. So short the time she had with him, she
would have held him forever, clutching him close beneath the gulls’ mournful
cries, but the others intruded, insisting he was dead. They buried him out on
the steppes, in clean earth untainted by darkness, the vast blue sky arching
overhead. The Painted People raised a warrior’s mound over his grave, an
earthen cairn of captured weapons and battle banners, a hero’s tribute. She’d
watched as if she wore someone else’s body, unable to believe he was gone. Her
heart ached beyond the telling, yet she’d promised to live. Words so easily
spoken, yet so hard to keep.
    Hollow with hurt, she abandoned her
bed, belting her sword to her side, the crystal dagger secure in its sheath.
Twirling her maroon cloak around her shoulders, she shrugged on her throwing
axes. Night lurked beyond the lead-paned windows, as cold and bleak as her
soul. Bleary-eyed, she wandered the Mordant’s palace. Every room screamed of
decadence, marble columns, golden doors, and gilded braziers. The gaudy display
bludgeoned the senses with tasteless wealth, a monument to Darkness. The palace
repulsed her, yet night after night Kath roamed the labyrinth hallways as if
seeking something lost. Retreating to her memories, she pulled her maroon cloak
close. Duncan , his name throbbed in her heart. She gripped his
silver warrior’s ring, her fingers tracing the aspen leaves, willing herself to
remember his face, his touch, his voice.
    Something intruded. She felt
watched. Her hand gripped the crystal dagger. Kath woke from a trance and found
herself surrounded by nightmares.
    Demons leered down at her. Devils,
harpies, and orcs carved in stone, so real their talons seemed to reach for
her, stone hungering for flesh. She lurched backward, remembering the gargoyle
gates, but the carved stone remained fixed to the wall, a frozen frieze. A
hallway of monsters, the riddle drew her forward. Beneath the show of
wealth, the Mordant’s palace hid nightmares but this was blatant, unlike
anything she’d seen. A pantheon of monsters capered along the walls and across
the ceiling, a seamless horror carved in gray stone, but why? Duncan’s dying words whispered in her mind, “ Find the demon hallway and press the
devil’s horn.” And then she remembered. “ Eye of varg and claw of balrog,
tongue of ghoul and skull of lich.” Like a code writ in stone, she searched
for the first clue. A grinning devil winked at her as if he kept a secret.
Setting her thumb against his left horn, she pushed. The horn slid into the
wall, a soft grinding noise. Intrigued by the stone riddle, yet Kath slowed,
warning herself that this was the Mordant’s secret. Caution was
advisable. Keeping a grip on the crystal dagger, she followed the clues. Hidden
amongst the details, she found the pressure points cunningly wrought, secrets
sculpted into stone.
    She pressed the last clue.
    A secret door ground open.
    Kath crouched, sword in hand,
expecting shadowy demons to belch from the doorway…but the hallway remained
still as night. She crept forward and peered inside.
    A lich-king glared from the
darkness, ruby eyes glinting in the torchlight.
    Her heart lurched, but it was just
another carving, a horror etched in stone. Beyond the carving, spiral stairs
wound down to absolute darkness. She shuddered, remembering the red cavern but Duncan’s dying words urged her on. Wresting the nearest torch from its bracket, she dared
the stairs. Cobwebs