The Empire Stone by Chris Bunch

Author:Chris Bunch [Bunch, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9781841490335
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2000-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

12

OF OLD FRIENDSHIPS AND BLOODY GEMS

The castle wasn’t that prepossessing. Its stone bulk sat atop a hill, surrounded by artfully tended grape vines. Instead of arrow slits, generous glassed windows studded the angular cone-topped turrets at each corner of the walls. The huge gates thudded open, and a dozen armored men galloped out, lances lowered. Peirol pulled up and waited.

The men smoothly surrounded him, and Peirol was at the center of a nest of lance points. Their evident leader, a bushy-bearded man with a scar down his face where his right eye and most of his nose should have been, bayed a laugh a wolf pack leader might have envied.

“It’s nice when the prey comes to you, even if it’s nothing but a bearded child.”

“‘E’s a dwarf, Honoro,” another man said.

“Dwarf, changeling, what matters it? What tribute do you have for us, little one?” Honoro bellowed.

“Not a copper,” Peirol said.

“Then your life is forfeit.”

“Perhaps you’ll let your lord, Aulard, the one I seek, decide that,” Peirol said.

Honoro jerked in surprise. Instantly all the lances were lifted. “You have business with him?”

“I don’t think it’s any concern of yours,” Peirol said haughtily. “Where I come from, lackeys listen and obey, no more.”

Two or three of the riders laughed. Evidently Honoro was no better liked than most bandit leaders. Honoro started to scowl, met Peirol’s steady gaze, dropped his head. “Sorry. Sir.”

“Now you may escort me to him,” Peirol said. “And I find you a good and proper guard.”

Honoro, insulted then praised, didn’t know what to do. Eventually he touched his free hand to his helmet in salute, and the dozen men, Peirol in their center, rode back up to the castle. Over the sallyport a motto was carved in the stone: HELD NOT BY THE MIGHT OF MY STONES, BUT BY MY LORD’S STEEL.

Peirol glanced into the moat as his horse clopped over the stone bridge, then looked more closely. There was no water below, only green grass, but the moat was an even deadlier guardian than normal. There were at least half a dozen huge bears patrolling the strip of land. Two were worrying over bones, and there were other bones scattered around the sward.

“Lord Aulard, when it strikes his fancy, or when the beasts hunger, tosses one of his prisoners over.”

“Are there always prisoners?” Peirol asked. “Generally,” Honoro said. “But if there ain’t, we grab a peasant. They do fine. And if we get lucky, and it’s female, we get pleasure of our own before the bears.”

• • •

Lord Aulard was a perfect example of the sort Peirol had always feared and, secretly and ashamedly, envied a bit. He would have been a huge baby, always growing faster and larger than his fellows. Boys and men like him had always found Peirol their natural prey, and it wasn’t until the dwarf had learned the equalizing power of a stick, a rock, or later, a small knife, that he could come and go undisturbed. Now in his thirties, Aulard bulked over his retinue, and his long dark hair and beard made him even more menacing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.