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

hissed in the flames, a reminder that this way was secret.
Down and around, the torchlight played against dark stone, a cold musty smell
riding the air, like entering a tomb. She reached the bottom and light
reflected back at her. Gold glittered from every corner, a treasure trove of
coins strewn across the floor. She lowered the torch, discovering jeweled
crowns and gilded armor lying scattered amongst the coins, wealth beyond
imagining. So this was the Mordant’s treasure vault, but Kath cared little for
gold. Raising the torch, she explored the hoard, coins clinking at her feet.
Silver gleamed in the darkness, catching her gaze. A winged throne, her
breath caught. Sculpted into silver wings, the throne glowed like captured
starlight. Elegant yet powerful, the throne called to her, like something long
lost yet somehow dear and familiar. Letting the torch fall, she crossed the
chamber. Yellow diamonds glittered along the tall seat, fashioned in an
eight-pointed star. “The Star Knights!” Her fingers caressed the silver
armrests, needing to know it was real. Memories of the ruined tower lost in
Wyeth crowded her mind, the very place where she’d found the crystal dagger. A
certainty shivered through her, this throne did not belong here, a prisoner
chained in Darkness. 
    Pulling her maroon cloak close,
Kath bowed low, wondering if she dared. Gripped by curiosity mixed with a
hungry need, she sat upon the throne.
    At first nothing happened, but then
chimes filled the air like windblown music, defying the stillness of the crypt.
The throne flared to life, glowing like unchained starlight. Light blazed from
the silver wings, filling the chamber with radiant beams.
    And then she saw him, hovering at the
Light’s edge, his body whole and unbroken, his mismatched gaze full of love. Duncan !
    She froze, afraid to hope, her
words a whisper. “Am I dreaming?”
    “ Perhaps we’re both dreaming.” He
gave her a smile that filled her with warmth. “ You must not lose heart, for
the Light is as real as the Dark.”
     She wanted to touch him, to wrap
her arms around him and hold him close…but she feared he would disappear,
nothing more than a delusion. “I miss you.”
      “And I you.”
     “Will you stay?”
    “You know I cannot. Yet I will
wait for you in the Light.” His smile softened. “Do not lose hope, do
not lose heart, both are needed to defeat the Dark.”
    The throne began to dim. “No! Stay
with me! ” She gripped the silver armrests, willing the sculpted wings to
stay bright, but the glow faded to darkness.
    “Duncan!” She screamed his
name but he was gone, disappearing with the light. She willed him to return,
willed the throne to blaze bright…but the winged silver remained dormant.
Darkness encroached, the torch sputtering among the coins. Battered by
emptiness, her dam of tears burst. Kath sobbed, wracked by loneliness and loss,
a river drenching her leathers.
    An eternity later, her tears ran
dry.
    Gasping for breath, she struggled
for composure, grateful no one had seen her weakness.
    Darkness crowded close. The torch
was nearly extinguished, nothing but a faint glimmer.
    She refused to succumb. “Darkness
is real but so is the Light.” She’d married Duncan under the starlight and
nothing would ever change that. Binding her grief with memories, she reached
for the torch. At the stairs she paused, her gaze drawn to the silver throne.
Among the Mordant’s gold, she’d found a single treasure. She did not know if
her vision of Duncan was real or imagined, but she clung to the memory like an
elixir meant to last through an endless drought. Gripping her sword, she
climbed the stairs back to duty.

2
    The Knight Marshal
     
    A cold wind howled out of the north, a bitter herald of
death and destruction, but the knight marshal refused to be cowed. Like an old
oak with roots gnarled deep in the soil, he stood unbowed, keeping vigil by a
fresh-laid cairn of rocks, the tomb of his king. The world