Storm of Sharks Read Free Page B

You realize my power is absolute?’
    Ringlin shifted awkwardly. ‘It may not
be wise to antagonize your brother, my lord, especially with your night walks still
unexplained.’
    Bless him,
thought Hector,
he
still doesn’t realize that Vincent sees and hears
everything
I
do
.
He may be silent at the moment, but there isn’t a thought passes
through my head that he doesn’t feed upon
.
Is that not so,
brother?
The vile remained ominously silent. Hector shivered, despite
Ringlin’s brown cloak.
    ‘We shall speak in greater detail
regarding my brother later,’ said the Boarlord, clenching his black fist, the skin
drawing tight over the knuckles. He stared out over the land beyond the city walls.
    The beleaguered camp of the Bearlords lay
below, temporary home to Dukes Henrik and Bergan, while further away the fires of the
Catlord forces burned. Hector had once been a friend of Bergan, the Lord of
Brackenholme, but those days were long gone. The Boar had sided with the Lion for a
brief time, before news of the Catlords’ treachery had reached his ears. Lord
Onyx, the Pantherlord who commanded the king’s armies, wanted him dead, having
sent the Werecrow Flint to carry out that very deed. Onyx had seen the power that Hector
wielded, his mastery over the dead, and rightly feared the young Wereboar.
    But Hector had chosen his own path now.
Flint and hisWerecrow brethren had become unexpected allies, the Lords
of Riven also fearing treachery at the hands of the Catlords. The Crows had spent too
long as the whipping boys in Lyssian courts. Alongside Hector, the greatest necromancer
the Seven Realms had ever known, they would forge a magnificent new future in which Boar
and Crows ruled over all humans and therians, mastering the mountains and the lands
below.
    Hector’s eyes narrowed as he caught
sight of something moving across the sky in the distance, the moonlight catching its
pale wings as it circled the Catlord camp. Ringlin spied it too.
    ‘Another of the Catlords’
allies,’ said the Boarguard warily. ‘An avianthrope of Bast, no doubt.
Perhaps a Cranelord? Their numbers grow daily, Onyx calling upon the aid of fellow
Werelords from his homeland. I fear the force he’s gathered down there, and
exactly what it’s made up of. What creatures do you suppose he’s mustered to
his side? And how soon before they finally strike out and crush the
Bearlords?’
    ‘Spring is here,’ replied
Hector. ‘Perhaps Onyx still fears the advantage that Henrik and Bergan have of the
higher ground. The Sturmlanders know the Whitepeaks better than any force, especially an
invading army from the jungle continent. The weather may have become that bit more
tolerable, but even with far greater numbers the Bastians would be fools to rush their
attack. They play a waiting game: they intend to starve the Bearlords and the Sturmish
out of the mountains.’
    ‘You do realize, my lord, that the
Beast of Bast still wants you dead? You’ve betrayed your oath to Lucas, takingIcegarden for your own and siding with the Crows. You’ve as good
as signed your own death warrant: once Onyx and his army have vanquished the Bearlords,
surely we’re next.’
    ‘Next to be vanquished?’ Hector
laughed. ‘And I thought you were a gambling man, Ringlin.’
    ‘I like a wager, but the odds sound
stacked against us. Just
look
at the size of that army!’
    Hector nodded, appreciating the point his
man made. ‘I don’t disagree; that’s a frightful force Onyx and Lucas
have gathered, but you underestimate the hand we hold. Not only do we have the
impregnable walls of Icegarden surrounding us, but we have my Ugri warriors from Tuskun
bolstering our ranks alongside the recently arrived Blackcloaks of Riven. And all the
while their Crowlord masters control the sky. It would be sheer folly to mount an attack
on my city. We truly hold all the aces.’
    Even shivering and in shock from his
terrifying sleepwalk, Hector couldn’t help but feel good. After