Born of Darkness (William King) - William King Page 0,18
small, feral memories. Of hunger and hunting for food in the dark. Soon it would integrate the rat’s flesh into its own form. Perhaps that would help heal the wound.
It altered its shape as easily as a mortal breathed.
He was male now. He stood differently. His balance altered. Fur rippled and grew. Hound-like ears twitched. His wolf-like muzzle wrinkled as he snarled.
He changed. His snout shrank. His brainpan bulged. It was easier to focus his mind in this form.
He kept shifting, extending the range of his thoughts, decreasing the range of his senses. It was as if the more of his mind he freed from processing basic sensations, the greater his powers of reason, the more he could remember.
The Old One limped further down into the darkness. He needed refuge and time to think. In the distance, he smelled blood and warm living flesh. He caught the faint pheromonal traces of fear and hunger and hate. There were other sentient things down here.
Good. He had not fed in a long time but he would now and he would grow stronger and give his enemies cause to regret their temerity.
***
“I might have guessed I would find you lounging around in the lap of luxury,” said the abbot as he entered the room. Gerd had not changed much since their youth. He was medium height with shoulders so broad he looked squat. His hair was Sunlander gold and his beard was long and curly, not carefully trimmed like those of the Sidereans. He limped and that was new. “As always, you’ve landed on your feet.”
Kormak lay on the couch in his chambers, with his sword close at hand. He had rarely felt so weak and he did not like others seeing it. “You know what it’s like when you’re a Guardian. One day it’s a peasant’s hut, the next day a King’s palace.”
Gerd’s smile held a complex mix of envy, bitterness and agreement. “You look like you’ve seen better days, Kormak.”
“I have, Gerd. And many of them.”
“What in the name of the Angel Zhamriel happened to you?”
“I met an Old One in the King’s vaults last night. I neglected to wear my armour.”
“Rumour has it you did not kill it.”
Kormak did not want to say he had still been weak from guiding the ship through the storm. It sounded too much like an excuse “Rumour has the right of it.”
“I knew I was not summoned to the palace so they could look at my cheerful Taurean face. So there’s an Old One loose in the Palace Imperial, is there?”
“A very dangerous one.”
“It must be if you did not kill it.”
“I’m getting old, Gerd.”
“We all are.”
“I feel it.”
“You thinking of giving up the blade?”
“You did.”
Gerd looked down at his leg. “Tendon was slashed. Healed badly. Made it difficult to do the dance of blades.”
Kormak tapped his chest. “I took a few cuts myself last night.”
“Doesn’t look like anything that would slow you down in the long term. You’ll heal.”
“Yes,” Kormak said. “I’ll heal.”
Gerd gave a short barking laugh.
“What?” Kormak asked.
“You’re the last man I would have thought to hear talking about giving up the blade. I always thought they’d pull it from your cold dead hand.”
“How many are left from our oath year?”
“You. Me. Magritte. The rest are all gone.” Silence filled the room while they contemplated the deaths.
“And only you are still carrying a sword. Magritte went back to Aethelas last year. She’s teaching herbalism to acolytes, believe it or not.”
“Good for her.”
“What would you teach? How to climb a rock like an Aquilean ape?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it?”
“You did not ask me here so we could discuss your career choices, did you? Because if that’s what you want, let me give you some advice. Don’t become abbot of a chapter house. It’s all prayers, scrolls and bloody politics with barely time to steal beer from your own cellars.”
“I thought it was what you always planned on doing.”
“Yes, I am really living my dream,” he said. “Look what it got me. Fat, bored and forced to listen to your whining.”
He smiled to take away the sting of what he was saying then said, “You didn’t ask me here so we could wax nostalgic about the good old days. What do you need?”
“Truesilver armour if you have it.”
“The shirt will need adjusted to fit your heathen build but we have a good man for that.”
“Sunflares.”
“Every chapter house has those. Basic alchemy, man. Ask me for something difficult.”
“Valen’s Elixir.”
“There was no need to take