Souldrifter by Garrett Calcaterra

Author:Garrett Calcaterra [Calcaterra, Garrett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626817067
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2015-09-29T04:00:00+00:00

• • •

It had been a harrowing flight. With the storm bearing down on them, Siegbjorn had been forced to cross the Barren Mountains east of Talvera, taking a winding path between craggy peaks. Then the storm collided with the mountain range and the valleys turned into wind tunnels that sent the little airship careening recklessly close to the copper-toned rockfaces. As if that were not enough, next came the torrential hail, pummeling the air-filled hull above them and sounding like a thousand-horse stampede. Night descended then, and they were still in the thick of mountain maze, the wind and hail unrelenting. Caile could do nothing but retreat with Thon to the cabin with Talitha and silently hope the ship would withstand the beating. Siegbjorn was unperturbed, though, and when they finally poked through the eastern edge of the mountain range, all was calm, the airship no worse for the wear.

From there, it had been a smooth night’s sailing over the Forrest Weorcan, and now only a few low afternoon clouds hung over the Gothol Sea as Siegbjorn piloted his airship to land in the open meadowland south of Col Sargoth.

“Thanks for getting us here alive, my friend,” Caile told him.

The big man smiled in return, then turned to Talitha for his orders.

“Get some sleep if you can,” she told him. “I’ll return before nightfall.”

And with that, Caile, Talitha, and Thon strode across the meadow to the south gate of the dark city: Col Sargoth.

It was the same gate Caile had used on his first trip to the dark city, but on that occasion he had been on horseback along with Lorentz and a small contingent of troops to consign themselves as hostages to Emperor Guderian. On that trip, the dark city was crowned in a halo of black smoke that rose up from the two smelting factories, one each at the north and south ends of the city. On that trip, Caile had barely escaped alive. This time Guderian was gone, the factories dormant, and Caile was wiser perhaps, but far less certain of himself. Or maybe that’s what wisdom is, realizing you have little control of anything in this world.

The city was much the way he remembered it. The buildings were dreary, squat looking things, tarnished black with age and soot. Ether-fueled streetlamps burned even in the midday light, and the rutted tar-paved streets were crowded with a mixture of traditional beast-drawn carts and noisy steam-powered wagons and rickshaws. It took the three of them the better part of an hour to reach Lightbringer’s Keep at the center of the city. The keep was a monstrous structure, far more imposing than the royal palaces in either Sol Valaróz or Kal Pyrthin. Its five black towers were twice again as tall as the watchtower in Lon Golier, the second highest structure in the Five Kingdoms.

Guards at the main entrance challenged their approach, but they recognized Talitha when she identified herself. She had been a regular fixture at Lightbringer’s Keep for the last year, so nearly all the staff and guards knew her on sight.

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