the palace.”
“If the sarcophagus was damaged, it might be mentioned on the manifest,” Rhiana said. “The Admiral would have had to sign for it and he would have to certify that it arrived in the same condition as it set out. It’s his responsibility after all.
“More bloody paperwork,” muttered Gerd.
“Did I just hear you volunteering to check it,” said Kormak.
“Still looking for ways to skive off, I see.”
Fang had returned to where the chancellor’s body lay. He sniffed and growled. He seemed to have screwed up his courage. The other Shadowhounds clustered around him. Their tails were down but their teeth were bared.
“Looks like Fang has picked up a scent,” said Rodric. He looked at the abbot, then at the dogs, then at his feet.
Gerd glanced at Kormak. “I know what you’re going to say,” he said.
“We’d best see what we can find,” said Kormak.
***
Rodric moved slowly over to his hounds. “Now boy, seek,” he said. His voice was low and encouraging, like a man talking to a nervous child. “Seek!”
Fang sniffed. His nose wrinkled as if he did not like what he smelled. His ears pricked up and his lips drew back in a snarl and he began to move forward. “Balthus, Slasher, follow Fang! You’re not going to let yourself be shown up by the runt of the litter, are you?”
With visible reluctance, Balthus and Slasher slunk after Fang.
“Either those are the most cowardly Shadowhounds I have ever seen,” Kormak said. “Or there’s something about this Old One has them really troubled.”
Rodric wrinkled his nose and glared. The way his lips drew back to reveal his teeth reminded Kormak of his dogs. “There’s nothing cowardly about my hounds,” he said. He sounded personally affronted.
“That’s what’s worrying me,” Gerd said. “I’ve seen those dogs hamstring a Shadow-blighted mastodon and look cheerful while they were doing it.”
Rhiana glanced at the dogs. She looked pale in the torchlight. She was becoming more wan by the moment.
“What is it?” Kormak asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “I just don’t like being cooped up in these tunnels.”
Kormak remembered how he had felt in the ocean’s depths and wondered whether it was the same for her down here.
“You don’t have to come with us,” he said.
“Try and stop me.”
“I would not dream of it.” Kormak glanced over at Gerd. “You got the essence of truesilver?”
The abbot nodded.
“It’s time to treat your weapons with it.”
CHAPTER NINE
GERD DRIBBLED THE last of the liquid metal on to the head of his mace. He smeared it on the runes with the sleeve of his tunic. The air smelled faintly of polish and something more acrid that made the back of Kormak’s throat tighten.
“We’ve got about an hour,” Gerd said.
“An hour of what?” Rhiana asked. She sounded tetchy. Perhaps because the abbot had treated his own weapon and Rodric’s but not hers. It would be easy for her to take it as a sign that they did not trust her. Maybe Gerd didn’t.
Gerd said, “An hour during which our weapons will cause an ungodly amount of pain to any Old One. It will kill any of their blood too.”
He paused for a moment as if considering his next words. “You had best be careful not to get yourself hit.”
It was all the explanation or apology Rhiana was going to get. Kormak waited for her angry denial but it did not come.
“Poison,” she said.
“In a sense,” Gerd said. “It’s something that burns the Old Ones like poison ivy burns us.”
Rhiana said, “The armour Kormak’s wearing will have the same effect, won’t it? That’s not just essence of truesilver. It’s made from it.”
“It’ll certainly make an Old One or one of their bloody servants think twice about hitting the wearer a second time.”
“You ever consider making weapons from it?”
Gerd grinned. “What do you think the runes on this mace are made from? The truesilver alloys that men make are not much use for normal blades, too soft and won’t hold an edge long, but they have their uses. The mace will hurt an Old One.”
“Your order believes in being prepared, doesn’t it?”
Gerd sounded serious. “Sometimes it’s the only advantage we have. You take whatever you can get.”
“It was the Solari who came up with all this stuff though . . .”
“They used it but they had better weapons. Sunblades, lightspears, dayshields, armour made from sungold. They picked up the knowledge from the Angels of the Sun when they warred against the Old Ones in the Dawn Ages of the World.”
Kormak remembered the thoughtful scholar