Sword of Wrath (Kormak Book Eight) Read Free Page B

horrifying thing they worship in their Cathedral. They have a king who thinks he’s a saint. This is a strange city.”
    “You’ll get no argument from me,” Kormak said.
    “I miss the sea. I miss my pets,” she said. She was mind-linked to one dolphin in particular; it had helped them in their quest to find the Kraken. “I do not like this place.”
    “You want to leave?”
    She leant forward on the battlements and studied the distant water. “Yes. No. I don’t know.”
    “That’s decisive.”
    She looked directly at his face. “I feel like I have unfinished business here. And, as you will recall, I have been informed that I cannot leave without the permission of the king or his brother. Both Jonas and Captain Zamara were clear on that.”
    “I am sure you will get it.”
    “Maybe. Eventually. Although I cannot help but feel they have some purpose in keeping me here.” She looked back in the direction of the Cathedral. “Do you want me to go?”
    He shook his head and stared out to sea. “The king and his brother see people as pawns. We are all just here to do their bidding.”
    She leant against him and he was aware of her soft, warm weight, pressed against him. He ignored the pain in his side, and put his arm around her shoulder.
    As he did so, he noticed a man talking to one of the sentries. The guardsman said something, and pointed in their direction.
    “What now?” Rhiana asked.
    “I don’t know,” said Kormak. “But that man is wearing the livery of the Order of the Dawn.”

    * * *
    T he messenger strode up to them, walking at double pace. Sweat ran down his face and stained his tunic under his armpits. He must have run or ridden fast in the morning heat.
    The man’s livery bore a red dragon on a black background. In his hand, he clutched a rolled-up scroll of paper sealed with red wax. He looked at Kormak, then at Rhiana. His cheeks flushed when he noticed her tightly fitted clothes. Or perhaps it was the sight of a guardian being so friendly with a moonchild that flustered him.
    “What is it, brother?” Kormak asked.
    The messenger walked over and stopped directly in front of Kormak. He made a clenched-fist-over-heart salute, then stretched out his hand containing the scroll and said, “An urgent message for you, Guardian.”
    Kormak took the scroll and turned it over in his hands. “Thank you,” he said.
    “I’m supposed to wait for your reply,” the messenger said.
    Kormak gave a sour grimace. “Then I suppose I had better read it.”
    He made no move to do so immediately. In his experience, such messages rarely brought good news. The scroll was made of heavy paper which spoke of the order’s considerable wealth. The red wax bore the imprint of a dragon surrounded by an elder sign. On it showed a number of smaller stars, which marked it as the seal of the abbot of the Trefal chapter house. Kormak recognised it at once, for he had taken it off the finger of his dead friend Gerd only the day before.
    “Who is using the seal?” Kormak asked.
    “Frater Gregor, Guardian,” the messenger said. “He is the acting abbot until Grand Master Darius appoints a successor to Abbot Gerd.”
    Kormak broke the seal with his fingernail and slowly unrolled the scroll. He did not know why he was tormenting the messenger. He suspected it was because he was resentful of the intrusion of order business, so soon after he had finished one of the greatest fights of his life. Or perhaps it was the interruption of conversation with Rhiana. He smoothed the paper flat on the battlement, after glancing around to make sure that no one but himself and the messenger could see what it said.
    Guardian Kormak, report to the chapter house in Trefal immediately. Take this to be written under the seal of Grand Master Darius. Messages of importance await you with the Farspeaker.
    “I will visit your Farspeaker within the hour,” Kormak said.
    The messenger gave him another salute, and then turned and raced back