Duel At Grimwood Creek (Book 2) Read Free

grimoire's spine. “Nothing. It's okay.”
    “Then where is it? Why couldn't you kill it?”  
    “There was nothing I could do,” he said. “I expected it to gut you, to tell the truth. Was ready to run as fast as my fucking legs could carry me. But then it disappeared. Like a shadow in the sun. Could be you fought it off? I'm fucked if I know what it was. But whatever it was, it was old. I could tell that. Ancient, even. While it was strong enough to destroy Veil's Gift, maybe it couldn't fight your will?”  
    “Make sense, 'lock! Is it gone?”  
    “I really don't know. Maybe it's still in there, crawling around inside. Too small for me to find. Could be it's just waiting. Waiting for the right time to emerge. Whatever it was, Long-ear, I can't find it in you now. So maybe it's really gone,” he said, but there was reluctance in his voice. “But not knowing what it was makes it difficult. Weirdest thing I ever saw. Tell me, Nysta. Do you know what was inside that thing you opened?”  
    Her mouth was dry. So dry it felt her tongue might crack open.
    All she could remember was the  hideous sensation of a river of slick worms sliding up her arm from the box's icy heart. Drilling into her flesh.
    She shook her head. “No fucking idea. It was Talek's. Something his family protected since the Godwars. Even he didn't really know what it was. Just figured it was some kind of puzzle box.”
    He drew the box from one of his pockets and held it in his palm. Looked at it with a spellslinger's curiosity, a frown pulling at his brow. “You know, since dragging you here, I've been looking at it. I can't quite understand it. You know what I find more strange than anything else?”
    “Give it to me,” she demanded firmly. Reached for it, but he pulled away from her.  
    “It doesn't open. You say it might have been a puzzle box, but it's not. There's no trick to it. It's a box not meant to be opened by anyone less than a mage. Maybe more than one. In any case, a good mage. Better than me, though that's not difficult. And yet, it opened for you.” He traced his fingers along the crisp alien runes. “And what's this writing? I've never seen anything like it. It's in no language I've ever seen, and I've spent years in the Library of Hatejaw. I've studied goblin, ork, dwarf and elf writing. Seen languages you don't even know exist. Since before the Gods arrived. And this is nothing like any of them. Where did Talek's family get this? Do you know? And how did you open it?”  
    “It's mine,” the elf hissed, overwhelmed by the speed at which the warlock shot his questions at her clouded mind. She lurched forward, but the pain in her side made her flinch back and let out an involuntary moan. “Give it to me, you spellslinging fuck! Or I swear, I'll cut it from your corpse!”  
    He eyed her calmly, apparently unmoved by her threat. Then, casually, tossed it to her. It bounced once in the moist earth and came to a rest near her hand.
    The elf snatched it with a snarl and stuffed it quickly into her jacket.
    “Just remember this, Nysta. Whatever was in that box, I didn't save you from it,” he said. “If I were you, I'd take it to Doom's Reach. Maybe even Godsfall. Give it to the mages. It's too powerful for you. It should be studied. You should make sure that whatever it was, it's not still inside you. Somehow, that thing is important. Too important for you to run around carrying in your jacket.”  
    “Fuck you, spellslinger,” she growled. “It's mine. You can't have it.”  
    “I don't want it. Believe me, Nysta. I really don't. It gives me the creeps. There's something about it which says it shouldn't be here. It's wrong. Whatever was inside, it got into you and wrung the life from that Lichspawn shit. And if Gaket was right, that was a gift from Veil. Strangled. Then spat out of you like dust.” He licked his lips and leaned forward, almost desperate to get through to her. “Whatever it was, it did that.