Spook's: The Dark Army (The Starblade Chronicles) Read Free Page A

this harvest months before we arrived here with Tom; someone who has seen the larger picture of events and schemed to bring about this very situation.
    ‘Months?’ I asked. How could she know this?
    ‘The winged being has been appearing to the magowie for some time. It has been controlled by someone who hides in the shadows so that I cannot see him.’
    ‘Do you know who it is?’ I asked, suddenly afraid. I had thought Grimalkin was the great schemer, but now, it seemed, there was someone too powerful for even her to detect.
    ‘I know only one person capable of such powerful dark magic,’ she said. ‘A human mage I have encountered before. His name is Lukrasta, and he once served the Fiend. His purpose now is to ensure the survival of humanity and the destruction of the Kobalos.’
    ‘Tom told me a little of Lukrasta – isn’t he the dark mage his friend Alice now works with?’
    ‘Yes, that is the one,’ the witch assassin admitted, her face grim. Her mouth twitched, and I wondered if she was afraid . . .
    ‘But don’t we all want the same outcome, then?’ I asked. Surely this mage Lukrasta would be a valuable ally.
    ‘Lukrasta is indeed fighting on our side against the Kobalos – but sometimes the means he uses are too terrible, and the goal is not worth it,’ Grimalkin replied, shaking her head. ‘I watched the final stage of Tom’s struggle with the assassin very carefully. He fought perfectly, exactly as I had trained him – but as he delivered the killing blow, he made an elementary mistake. His stance allowed the Shaiksa to deliver the killing thrust.’
    ‘But the Kobalos warrior was highly skilled. Are you sure Tom made a mistake? Anybody can make a mistake in the heat of battle, surely?’
    ‘I am
certain
, child,’ Grimalkin retorted angrily, showing her sharp teeth. ‘Tom Ward would never have made such an elementary mistake of his own volition. I think his actions were influenced by some magical force. He had to die so that these warriors could witness his resurrection; they are now more likely to follow him into battle obediently and without question. The winged creature and the prophecies made by the magowie . . . it all fits together only too well. We have been used as part of a clever scheme, pawns in a much larger game.
    ‘Think
what
has been done and
how
it has been done!’ she spat. ‘Tom has suffered to meet the needs of this mage. He died a painful death and perhaps an even more painful resurrection. We are all expendable. Tom Ward and Lukrasta are enemies. Last year they fought, and Tom won. There is something cruel and vindictive about what has been done here – in hurting Tom, the mage has exacted a painful revenge over his rival.’
    ‘How is Lukrasta Tom’s rival? Is it because of Alice? Does Tom still care for Alice?’ I hoped he didn’t – it couldn’t be good for a spook to be so close to a witch.
    Grimalkin smiled bitterly. ‘Alice and Tom were very close – he is hurt by her absence. Now she is closer to Lukrasta than she ever was to Tom. Yes, they are truly rivals for the friendship of Alice.’
    For a while I did not reply. I’d never seen the witch assassin so upset before. I could feel myself wilting under the fierce heat of her anger. Then at last I screwed up my courage and asked the question that had been bothering me.
    ‘How could Tom have been manipulated by a magical force during his battle with the Shaiksa? He was wielding the Starblade that you forged for him. You both thought that made him invulnerable to magic.’
    ‘It should have done so. I believed that it would protect against any dark magic intended to harm him – magic wielded by both humans and Kobalos. That is what worries me. The magic used against Tom was more powerful than the blade. I suspect that Lukrasta and Alice combined their magical power to achieve that.’ Grimalkin’s hands were trembling slightly – but was it from fear or anger?
    After a while she spoke again,