The Epic of Garthel Parts I-III by Nathaniel Sullivan

Author:Nathaniel Sullivan [Sullivan, Nathaniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nathaniel Sullivan
Published: 2013-10-06T22:00:00+00:00

XVI

______________________________________

The Corrupt Lord

Arovehar entered Icquariouse’s tower and climbed up the first flight of stairs to the library were Icquariouse was waiting with a book in hand that he immediately closed and set down on a table.

“Harrec, Arovehar, you’re back. And I see that you have retrieved the Jade Blade, most excellent.” He smiled, and after looking at their worn out faces, he added, “Did you have any trouble?”

“You could say that.” Arovehar chuckled with Harrec.

“The mansion wasn’t actually haunted was it?” Icquariouse asked through another smile, believing the actual odds of a haunting to be nigh.

“Actually, it was—and by a bitch of a ghost at that.” Harrec replied.

“Truly?” Icquariouse raised an eyebrow and shifted his glance from the blade to the two companions. “You’re sure it was really haunted?”

“Aye little brother, my eyes don’t betray me. The bitch sent a library of books flying at us and set fire to the place, so it leaves little room for doubt.”

“Really? How did she do that?”

“Hell if I know! She just grabbed the torch out of my hand and made the fire spread like spilled water. As soon as I saw that the fire was spreading, I realized that we didn’t have enough time to get to the sword. So I hauled ass up out of the mansion the same way we’d entered, and in fact, if it wasn’t for Arovehar we wouldn’t have the damned sword at all.”

“Then I’m glad you went along, Arovehar. You’ll have to tell me the whole story.” Icquariouse requested eagerly. He was clearly thrilled to have come across a reputable haunting.

So Arovehar and Harrec told the happenings of the haunted mansion and Icquariouse listened with fascination. By the end of it, however, none of them could figure out why the mansion was haunted or who the ghost was. Arovehar voiced what the ghost had said to him. Apparently, ‘part of a snake’ meant nothing to Harrec or Icquariouse. They ended up dismissing all of it as one of the many mysteries in the world and went on to talk about more pressing matters like when they would attempt to bribe Lord Preandor. They decided on the morning, but not too early.

Arovehar showed the Intellectual his wrist where the ghost had touched him and Icquariouse said that it looked like a minor form of frost bite, nothing serious. Afterwards, they talked about the warfare tactics of the Saljari barbarians and what kind of defense they would need to create against them.

After they had all business matters out of the way, Icquariouse retired to his bed higher up the tower and Arovehar and Harrec ended up drinking ale, swapping stories and playing cards until Harrec eventually fell asleep on the couch in a large mass of pillows, snoring loudly. Arovehar was too tired and tipsy to try to make it to Biah’s home, so he simply wandered around the tower until he found a large spare bedroom and slept…

…He awoke in the middle of the night because he heard a strange noise coming from higher up the tower.

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.