Soul of Swords (Book 7)

SOUL OF SWORDS

Jonathan Moeller

Description

MAZAEL CRAVENLOCK is the last hope. As castle after castle falls to the runedead horde, Mazael must lead his armies to victory...or the world shall fall into darkness forever.

And Mazael must stop his father's dark plans. No matter what the cost to himself. 

LUCAN MANDRAGON wields the relics of a forgotten empire, the runedead his to command. Soon he shall destroy the Demonsouled and free the world of their curse forever.

No matter who he has to kill to do it.

SKALATAN is the strongest of the serpent priests, and soon he will become stronger still. For he shall claim the power of the Demonsouled and become the new god of the serpent people.

And then all men will bow before the serpent god. 

THE OLD DEMON is ready at last.

For centuries he has plotted and manipulated kings and lords. Now he shall seize the power of the Demonsouled for himself, and become the new god.

And all the world will be his to torment. 

Soul of Swords

Copyright 2013 by Jonathan Moeller

Published by Azure Flame Media, LLC

Cover design by Clarissa Yeo

All Rights Reserved

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author or publisher, except where permitted by law. 

Author's Note

SOUL OF SWORDS has many characters and locations. At the request of numerous readers, I have added a Glossary of Characters and a Glossary of Locations to the end of the book, providing a short, spoiler-free description of all the characters (living and dead) and locations mentioned in the book. Both Glossaries will appear in the Table of Contents, and should you need to consult them, you can use your ereader's Table of Contents function to quickly check one of the Glossaries and then return to your previous place in the book. 

Chapter 1 - An Old Enemy

“That is impossible,” said Mazael Cravenlock, his sword hand curling into a fist. “Lucan Mandragon is dead.”

He stood in Castle Cravenlock’s courtyard, his wife Romaria at his side. Before him stood an assembly of lords, knights, and noblewomen, their clothes dusty from travel. Mazael recognized them all from his years at Lord Malden’s court. Lord Agravain Rainier, stern and fell. Lord Tancred Stillwater, fat and meticulous, and his son Sir Wesson, solid and solemn. Lord Adalar Greatheart, lean and deadly, and once Mazael’s squire. All the lords and knights looked weary, and a few seemed grief-stricken.

But Mazael saw terror in every last one of them.

“I wish he was,” said Gerald Roland. His blue eyes were bloodshot, his jaw shaded with blond stubble. “But I saw him with my own eyes.”

Mazael shook his head. “I killed him.” His hand brushed his sword’s hilt, the golden pommel shaped like a lion’s head. “I put Lion through Lucan’s heart. He was atop Swordgrim when the Great Rising failed and destroyed the castle. Even if he had survived a sword through his chest, he couldn’t have survived that.”

“Mazael,” said the woman standing at Gerald’s side. “I don’t think he survived.” She had brown hair and green eyes, and carried a year-old child in her left arm. With her other hand she gripped a boy of about three or four years who stared at Mazael with enormous blue eyes. 

“Rachel,” said Mazael, looking at his sister. “What do you mean?”

“He was…cold,” said Rachel. “I touched his arm, before I knew who he really was, and it felt like a bar of frozen iron. Mazael, I think he’s undead. I think you killed him and he came back again.” 

“Undead?” said Mazael. He turned to his squire, a boy of thirteen named Rufus Highgate. “Rufus. Get the Guardian and Lady Molly, now.”

Rufus bowed and ran into the keep. 

“The Guardian?” said Gerald. 

“The wizard of the Tervingi nation,” said Mazael. “We will need his counsel.”

Gerald nodded, but his eyes remained wary. Dozens of Tervingi swordthains and spearthains were scattered throughout the courtyard. The nobles from Knightreach gave them fearful glances. Though if they had faced armies of runedead, Mazael supposed the Tervingi were hardly a fearful sight by comparison.

He scratched his beard, glancing at Romaria, and saw the alarm in her blue eyes. Lucan Mandragon had worked the Great Rising and unleashed the runedead. Mazael’s sole consolation from the destruction of Swordgrim was that Lucan was dead and could not hurt anyone else. 

But if Lucan had returned from the dead, if he had been working in Knightcastle all this time…

“These barbarians,” said Gerald. 

Mazael blinked, shaken out his dark thoughts. “What about them?”

“Do you trust them?” said Gerald. 

Mazael laughed. “Of course not. But they will follow me. They have chosen me as their hrould, their war leader.” He shook his head. “And against the runedead, all men must stand united.”

“If Lord Mazael says we can fight alongside the barbarians,” said Adalar, “then we can do so.”

“And their wizard?” said Rachel. She did not like wizards, and had warned him again and again not to trust Lucan Mandragon. 

Mazael should have heeded her.

“A good man,” said Mazael. “And without his aid, we would all be dead. When Lucan worked the Great Rising, he cast the spell that spread Lion’s fire to the other swords.”

Gerald’s eyes widened. “Gods, but that was timely. The first few moments after the runedead appeared were chaos. If not for that fire, they would have slain every man and woman in Knightcastle and Castle Town both.” 

“That was his work,” said Mazael. “We have been through some very dangerous times.”

“It seems,” said Gerald, “that you have a tale or two of your own to tell.”

“Aye,” said Mazael, glancing at Romaria, and at the single oak tree that stood in the courtyard. He remembered her lying in the roots of that tree, a heartbeat away from death, her life sustained only by the Guardian’s magic. “Aye, we do.” 

Rufus hurried from the keep’s doors, followed by a man and a woman. The woman was in her early twenties, lean and fit, clad in close fitting dark wool and leather. A slender sword rested on her left hip and a dagger upon her right, the blade fashioned from the tooth of the dragon Mazael had slain in the Great Mountains. She had long brown hair and eyes the color of hammered steel, and they widened when she saw the nobles from Knightreach. 

Behind her walked a Tervingi man of average height with deep blue eyes and thick black hair. Like most Tervingi men, he wore a mail shirt over his clothing. Unlike most Tervingi men, he bore neither sword nor spear. He carried only a staff of bronze-colored wood, its length carved with elaborate sigils. 

But even without weapons of steel, Riothamus son of Rigotharic, Guardian of the Tervingi nation, was one of the most dangerous men in the Grim Marches. 

“Father,” said the woman, “it appears we have guests.”

“Molly,” said Mazael. “You remember Sir Gerald Roland and Lady Rachel Roland.” He made the rest of the introductions, and Molly offered a polite bow. Despite the dark news, he felt a twinge of amusement. Apparently even Molly could learn manners. “This is Riothamus son of Rigotharic, Guardian of the Tervingi nation.”

“My lords,” said Riothamus. “You are in distress.”

“Yes,” said Gerald. “I would say so.”

“Tell us what happened,” said Mazael. “Everything. Even before we sit down. If Lucan is still alive, we have to act at once.”

Molly gave him a sharp look, but Gerald began his tale. He described the war against Caraster and his runedead, how the mysterious Ataranur had come to their aid. How Ataranur and healed and rejuvenated both Lord Malden Roland of Knightcastle and Grand Master Caldarus of the Justiciar Order. 

And how Ataranur, Lucan Mandragon in disguise, had corrupted them.

“And now Lucan has all of Caraster’s runedead at his command,” said Gerald.

“How many?” said Mazael.

“At least one hundred and fifty thousand,” said Gerald. “If not more.” 

“And your father allows this?” said Mazael. Lord Malden had been short-tempered, arrogant, and proud, but he had always followed his own sense of honor. Mazael had never imaged that Gerald’s father would ever accept the aid of the runedead and Richard Mandragon’s renegade son. 

But perhaps the promise of immortality had been enough to corrupt him. 

“Lucan has twisted my father,” said Gerald. “He claims that the runedead submit because my father is the rightful Lord of Knightcastle, because of the righteousness of the Justiciars. But that is nonsense. Caraster controlled the runedead with a spell, and Lucan has seized that spell for himself.”

“He could do it,” said Riothamus, “with the Glamdaigyr.”

“But the Glamdaigyr was destroyed,” said Mazael, “with Lucan at…”

He fell silent. The Glamdaigyr had been forged by the cruel high lords of Old Dracaryl, mighty necromancers and wizards. The greatsword allowed its wielder to steal the life force and strength of its victims, and Lucan had used the ancient weapon to work the Great Rising. Mazael had thought the sword destroyed at Swordgrim.

But Lucan had survived. Why not the Glamdaigyr? And the Banurdem as well? The diadem, also forged by the high lords of Dracaryl, permitted its bearer to control vast numbers of undead. With it, Lucan could build a host of runedead.

And finish his mad quest to purge the world of every drop of Demonsouled blood. 

“He had the Banurdem,” said Gerald. “I saw it upon his brow when I unmasked him.”

“But if Swordgrim was destroyed and Lucan slain,” said Adalar, “how could he have returned? After I saw him, I thought the story of his death merely a rumor. But if you slew him, my lord Mazael…”

“He is undead,” said Rachel. “Like the zuvembies or the runedead.”

“No,” said Riothamus. “He’s something much worse. I fear he has become a revenant.”

“The greatest undead of Old Dracaryl,” said Romaria. She remained calm, but Mazael saw the tension in her stance, the posture she assumed when a fight was upon them. “Immortal and invincible.”

“Aye, my lady,” said Riothamus. “When the mightiest necromancers among the high lords died, they rose again as revenants, their bodies cold and unfeeling, never again to know the pleasures of food or drink or touch. But in exchange for living death, they received tremendous power. Their undead bodies do not age, and are impervious to all but the most powerful magic. And a dead wizard can wield magic that would burn a living wizard to ashes.”

“Gods,” whispered Gerald. “Tobias stabbed him through the heart, and he shrugged off the blow as if it were a scratch.”

“Where is your brother?” said Mazael. “Did…”

“No.” Gerald’s voice was flat. “Lucan’s runedead slew both him and my mother when we flew Knightcastle.” 

Rachel pressed closer to him.

“I’m sorry,” said Mazael. 

Gerald gave a sharp nod, blinking.

“If Lucan delved into the secrets of Old Dracaryl,” said Riothamus, “then he must have learned the spell to become a revenant, and placed it upon himself in the event of his death. And when he was slain, he rose again.”

A murmur of fear went through the lords.

“My lords,” said Riothamus, “it is the office of the Guardian to counsel the Tervingi nation, and since you are kin and friends to our hrould, I shall counsel you as well. You have all faced danger – the Malrags, the runedead, wars against your neighbors. The thing Lucan Mandragon has become is much more dangerous. I fear that every lord of every nation and tribe upon the earth shall need to unite against him…and even then, it may not be enough.”

“He seeks to rebuild Dracaryl for himself, I deem,” said Lord Tancred, “to raise an empire of blood and dark magic for a thousand years.”

“No,” said Mazael. “No, he doesn’t want mere temporal power. If he did, he could have murdered his father and brother and made himself liege lord of the Grim Marches.” He remembered Toraine Mandragon screaming as the Glamdaigyr devoured his life, the ghostly green fire of the Great Rising burning in the sky over Swordgrim. “He has a grander purpose. He wants to rid the world of the Demonsouled.”

Molly gave him a sharp look. 

“Conquering Knightcastle and corrupting my father is a curious way to go about it,” said Gerald. 

“It’s why he worked the Great Rising,” said Mazael. “He raised the runedead and commanded them to slay the Demonsouled. It didn’t matter if a man had one Demonsouled ancestor a hundred generations back. If a man had a single drop of Demonsouled blood, Lucan set the runedead to slay him.”

And uncounted thousands had died in the Great Rising. 

“It’s what he is doing at Knightcastle now, I’m sure,” said Mazael. “Another plot to destroy the Demonsouled.”

“And gods help us,” said Agravain, “if it ends as disastrously as the first.”

“And that must be,” said Riothamus, “why Skalatan is going to Knightcastle.”

“Who?” said Gerald.

“A San-keth archpriest,” said Mazael. “Have you heard of the Aegonar invasion in Greycoast?”

“Bits and pieces, nothing more.”

“The Aegonar worship Sepharivaim,” said Mazael. Rachel flinched at that. “They’ve conquered northern Greycoast, and would have taken Barellion itself, but the new Prince repulsed them.”

“With a little help from us, I must point out,” said Molly. “Malaric didn’t kill himself.”

Mazael nodded. “The Aegonar have a High King, but their true master is Skalatan. He intends the Aegonar to take Knightcastle for themselves.”

“It seems we are not the only ones with dark tales,” said Gerald.

“No,” said Mazael. He told Gerald what had happened since the Great Rising, about Malaric’s assassination attempt and Romaria’s poisoning. “Skalatan is dangerous, more dangerous than any San-keth I have encountered.”

“I heard of him during my…youthful folly,” said Rachel. She took a deep breath. “Skhath mentioned him a few times. He said Skalatan was a heretic, was half-mad. But no one dared challenge him, not even the other archpriests.”

“Skalatan believes that the serpent god died millennia ago,” said Mazael, “and that the San-keth worship a memory. So he intends to seize the gathered power of the slain Demonsouled and use it to transform himself into the new serpent god.”

“Then Lucan is doing something in Knightcastle to destroy the Demonsouled,” said Gerald, “and Skalatan wishes to seize Knightcastle, interrupt whatever Lucan is doing, and take the spell for himself.”

“Aye,” said Mazael. “I think you have the right of it.”

Save, perhaps, for one detail, the most dangerous of all.

The Old Demon.

A woman’s voice, soft and cold, filled Mazael’s ears. “Then you understand.”

Mazael kept his face calm, but his eyes shifted to the left, and he saw the spirit watching him.

Morebeth Galbraith stood among the nobles, clad in her usual black gown. She had been Mazael’s half-sister, and had seduced him and tried to use him as a weapon against the Old Demon. But with Lucan’s help, Mazael had realized the truth and defeated her. Yet her spirit had been drawn to Cythraul Urdvul, the birthplace of the Demonsouled. 

And now she could appear to him. 

“You know what our father wants,” said Morebeth. Her gray eyes glinted, her blood-colored hair stirring. “All these years, brother. For three thousand years he has been fathering us and slaying us, harvesting us to claim our power for his own. Now he is ready. All he needs to do is enter Cythraul Urdvul and claim the stolen power, and he will become the new god.” She shuddered, a hint of fear going through her pale face. “If he does, we shall be his slaves forever. All living things will be his slaves. You must stop him, Mazael. You must.”

“Mazael?” said Gerald.

Mazael shook his head, and Morebeth vanished. To his surprise, he saw Romaria staring at the spot where she had stood. Could Romaria see the spirit? Skalatan had been able to see Morebeth, but Skalatan wielded tremendous magical power. 

“You are right,” said Mazael, pushing aside his doubts. “We must take action, and quickly, before Lucan finishes whatever scheme he has in mind.”