TODAY IS TOO LATE Read Online Free

replace than repair. I need materials.”
    Materials had become code for bodies.
    “No.”
    “The nobles are not fools. You sacrificed our beasts against the walls to save your precious swordsmen. Now that we are weakened, you think to consolidate your position—”
    Tyrus raised a hand. “We are still sorting the dead. The emperor wants an accounting of the battle. And navigating the caravans around the surviving beasts is difficult enough.” Horses and mules hated the monsters. They needed two armies, marching parallel, to keep the animals from panicking. “There is fighting beneath the city. We need to finish this battle before we start rebuilding.”
    “The bone lords will not like that.”
    “Tough.”
    “You should be more careful. You are his favorite, for now, but the Etched Men are dying out. The bone lords have taken over the court and they do not like bowing before a commoner.” She watched her words work on him. “How much longer do you think the emperor will need a marshal with no talent for sorcery?”
    Tyrus stood, and Lilith lowered her eyes. They played this game more frequently of late. He was a commoner by birth, but no noble had ever survived half as many etchings, yet that earned no respect from the court. Did they think the war was over? They planned their little fiefdoms? He took a calming breath.
    “You threaten me?”
    “Of course not, milord. I speak as a friend, Tyrus, as an old friend. The court has changed, and there are all these new faces. You provoke them. The days of Etched Men are numbered, and many envy your rank.”
    “When we have sorted our dead from theirs, you may collect your materials. Until then, do something useful with your sorcery. Put out fires. Find the Red Sorceress. Salvage something from the library.”
    Lilith locked eyes with him. She believed he had become irrelevant. Runes strengthened his eyes. In the dim light of the tent, they flashed gold, like a wolf’s, and the staring contest ended. Lilith took interest in the table of scrolls and smoothed her robe again. Her fussiness bothered Tyrus. The lords preferred clean fingernails. Labor was for their beasts.
    “You are dismissed, milady.”
    Lilith tilted her chin and left.
    “If I may, she has a point.” Elmar sidled up to Tyrus. “A lot of things have changed in the last few years. The men no longer call it the Royal Court of Rosh. They call it the Court of Bones. Sorcerers replace everyone.”
    “Court of Bones?”
    “The latest battlefield promotions.”
    Elmar handed him a piece of parchment with two columns, the dead and their replacements. Tyrus scanned the lists. His officers replaced by bone lords, and he knew many of them, soft people, pampered people, who had no idea what the army did. They fought from the rear, barking commands. The men wouldn’t follow them. Champions led the charge. The men with the most runes fought first.
    “On whose authority?”
    “The emperor’s.”
    More scrolls, royal seals, and Azmon’s flourished signature for Tyrus to inspect. Why had no one told him?
    “When did this happen?”
    “This morning, before the executions.”
    Tyrus had stood beside the emperor for hours, and he hadn’t said a word. He called for his armor again even though he hated wearing it in the heat, but until the city was pacified, he had a role to perform. The sight of the Damned in full armor had won a few battles, and Tyrus had learned how to use his black name. Clerks buckled him into his plate.
    “Work on the counts. Start buying swords. I need to speak to the emperor.”
    “Milord, there are also reports of a small army of knights that fled the battle.”
    “How many?”
    “A hundred, maybe more. The Red Sorceress was spotted with them.”
    “I am so tired of that woman.” Tyrus stretched his shoulders, testing the range of motion as he wondered which reports to believe. He had known the Red Sorceress in another life, Dura Galamor, the emperor’s one-time tutor turned rival