The Measure of Iron by Jamie Crisalli

Author:Jamie Crisalli
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2019-09-18T13:26:04+00:00

Chapter Nine

They arrived back at camp, silent and pale. No one said a word; they simply walked away from each other and refused to answer any questions about what they had seen. Or worse, felt.

Syzek walked into his tent, set the clay bottle with its grim contents on the table, stripped off his armour and then lay down. Despite his escape, he would never be free from the thing’s whispers. After all, it spoke with his doubts, his perfectionism, his fears. It was every person that had ever lived, the ugliest part of themselves. A part of him desperately wanted to go back and burn the tower to the ground.

He slept, though for how many hours he did not know, opening his eyes and then drifting off again. Finally, gnawing hunger shook him from his fugue. That ache in his muscles remained, the haze over his thoughts clung on like a stain.

As he ate, he looked over the raw components. In truth, they did not look like much. A hunk of rock, a bottle of spite, a dark, stained anvil and a twitching skin. Yet, it was there. One just had to see it. The weapon of a king.

Meal forgotten, he stood and ran his hands over the stone and metal. A whisper of cloth signalled the arrival of someone, the heavy walk announcing Eziel’s presence. The clanking creak of Alon’s brace gave him away. They had been waiting for Syzek to free himself from his lethargy.

‘Do you see it?’ she whispered. ‘Is there a vision?’

‘I see it, but not in the way you are asking,’ he said, only half aware of her.

Now he appreciated the silence in his mind, the distance. Like all great leaders, Archaon knew when and where his guidance was needed. And it was not here.

‘Alon, have the forge prepared,’ Syzek said in that same distracted voice. ‘Though do not heat it yet. That will come later.’

Alon turned, the brace on his leg creaking.

‘And send me Krughar,’ Syzek said.

Alon glanced at Eziel with a questioning look on his face. She nodded at him, knowing what Syzek was like when he was working. The rest of the world could have been burning down and he would not care.

Krughar arrived a little while later. As always, he was hard for Syzek to read, the duardin’s face set with an amiable expression.

‘You asked for me, dominar,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ Syzek said, breaking away from his distraction. ‘I require assistance with this. And I do not trust slaves with this work. You and Alon are the only ones with the skills I require. Are you ready for it?’

‘Of course,’ Krughar said, smiling and bowing deeply. ‘Whatever you need from me, you will have.’

‘Good,’ Syzek said. ‘However, if you fail me…’

‘I know, you’ll feed me to the Breacher,’ Krughar said, the easy smile never falling from his face.

‘I am glad we understand each other,’ Syzek said. ‘Wait with Alon, I will be there soon.’

Krughar grunted and left.

‘You are getting better at being dominar,’ Eziel said.

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