Loremaster - Palace Of Kings Part 56

Holbian made to rise, then sank back against the tunnel wall. 'I have led them this far but I can go no further. Take the people out and shout our victory to the limits of the sky. I will hear the shout and know I did not fail.'

'Lord,' Breakmaster cried, bringing the stonemason to the King's side, 'let us help you.'

'I am turning to stone!' the King hissed. 'Each movement

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makes me weaker. Without the steelsilver cloak I would have fractured long ago into thousand of pieces. Leave me here rest my last few moments and dream of the daylight I cann see.'

'Lord,' ventured Arachatt, the mason, moving closer to th King, 'let me try and make you strong enough to see th daylight.'

Holbian frowned at Arachatt's outstretched hands, b slowly gave the mason his hand. Arachatt smiled. Opening heavy leather pouch that hung at his waist, he scooped ot a handful of fine stone dust. Taking a pinch of stone th mason mixed it with a few drops of water leaking from fissure in the tunnel wall and kneaded it to a thick paste. H worked it into the maze of cracks in the King's hen smoothing and wiping the surface of each fmger with a silo trowel. 'There, Lord,' he whispered, letting the King lift th

hand.

Holbian gazed at the hand, bent the fingers and made

clench the fist.

'Easy, Lord, the stone dust needs time to settle and~bon But it should make you strong enough for many daylights

Holbian smiled, offering his other hand to the mason. 'Ye are a Lord amongst masons to have such magic at your find tips; twice now you have helped me towards the daylight. Ad and all shall be yours.'

'Lord, I carry no magic, only a bag of dust from the ruins the great granite wall that once surrounded the city. IT fitting that it should now help you back into the sunlight Arachatt replied, squeezing the stone paste into the cracks the other hand and smoothing it between the fingers.

Holbian sighed and settled back against the wall to li Arachatt work the stone paste into the fractures of his fat and neck. It tingled and itched, drawing the brittle skin tigl as it dried. Arachatt wet his fingers with spittle and smooth) over the last few hairline cracks in the King's eyelids and s back, nervously, on his haunches. Breakmaster held up

polished knuckle of armour and the King laughed in the feeble sparks of light as he looked at his face. Turning his head from left to right, he felt suns younger and ready to face the light.

Taking Arachatt's hand he rose to his feet and thanked the mason. Pausing a moment, his hand on Beacon Light's saddle, he said, 'I said ask and all will be yours, but in truth I have nothing to offer you. I carry the Kingdom about my shoulders and my pockets are empty.'

Arachatt laughed, helping the King into the saddle. 'Lord, to have reached the end of this dark road is enough, but beware, for I have only hidden the fractures, I do not have the power to make you young again.'

Holbian reached down and gripped the mason's arm. 'It will last to journey's end, I know it will.'

'Journey's end, Lord?' asked the mason, hurrying after the King as he trotted the last stretch of darkness, but the King did not reply, he was lost in the cheering as he trotted out into the bright sunlight on to a wild gra.s.sy slope.

'Granite King!' shouted a voice from the top of the bank, stopping the King's headlong rush out of the secret road.

The King turned and stared up the bank, blinking his eyes against the light, his hands closing on the hilt of his sword.

'Chancellors!' he snarled, spurring Beacon Light forwards.

Proudpurse laughed, and with a sweep of his hand he motioned the treacherous warriors out of hiding behind the bank into a tight line before the King. 'We heard you creeping along behind us,' sneered Proudpurse, 'but the broken bridge

should have stopped you and drowned you in darkness.'

Holbian turned the point of his sword at the Chancellor and tried to force a pa.s.sage through the warriors, but much as they hesitated to strike the King they would not let him pa.s.s.

Proudpurse took a Marcher's long spear and stepped towards the King. 'For suns beyond counting I have sat on the steps of your throne and dreamed of this daylight. Now you shall die and I will have all Elundium in my hand.'

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a'Stay, my Lord,' Grey Goose cried out, necking an arrow ~ to his bow and taking aim at the Chancellor's heart.

Proudpurse laughed cruelly, pointing at his strike of box men. 'You are defeated, Archer, and dead if you do not tin your bow. The last Granite King has reached the end of h road and stands all alone.'

'He is not alone!' cried Breakmaster, lowering his spa and urging Mulberry forward.

Proudpurse sneered and called his Gallopers out to fax the single horseman. 'Abandon your King. Look how ma' stand against you, but if you kneel at my feet there is a plan for you amongst my hors.e.m.e.n. Come forward, Breakrnaste

and join the new rulers of Elundium.'

Breakmaster spat on the ground and dug his spurs in,

Mulberry's sides, driving him forward.

'No! No!' shouted the King, raising his hand to stop Breakmaster's reckless charge. 'I will parley and strike a bargain for the people of the Granite City before blood is spilt.'

'Parley?' laughed Chancellor Overlord. ~

'Bargain!' sneered Proudpurse. You have nothing to bar-. gain with. Your life is worth less than the sharp stone that honed my spear blade.'

King Holbian sat easily in the saddle letting the suns.h.i.+ne warm his face. Laughing, he held the Chancellor's eyes, 'There is more to Kings.h.i.+p than just taking a crown, surely my wise Chancellors know that. I do not deal with you for my life, but for the future of the people of Elundium.'

Turning in the saddle he swept his arm across the city dwellers that knelt in neat lines in front of the entrance to the secret road, the weapons they had taken from the armoury held steady in their hands. 'They will be your inheritance if you kill me. They are the future of Elundium.'

Chancellor Proudpurse hesitated. He had expected rage of anger, even fear, m the aged King, but not this strength of purpose in the city folk that stood behind him. Their grim and

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angry faces mocked at his treachery and made him stand back a pace.

'We will kill your city folk. All of them,' he cried. 'Elundium will belong to the Chancellors and those they choose to share it with.'

'Then you will have nothing,' answered the King quietly, 'nothing at all, for the warriors you whispered into treachery are beyond trust and will in turn betray you at the first twist of fate.

It is you who stands alone through your own black thoughts and deeds. It is you who totters on the edge of defeat.'

'You lie!' screamed Proudpurse. 'It is you who stands alone to die! Those so-called warriors will not fight, they are servers, Candlemen, the sc.u.m of the lower circles of the city.'

King Holbian laughed and lifted his hand for silence. 'It matters not which circle they came from, the Nightbeasts levelled the city and made us one. But we are not alone, listen to the changing wind, brave Chancellors, for it whispers out your fate in sweet music. Listen.'

Proudpurse frowned and lowered his spear. Listening, he turned his head from left to right. Faint on the wind it came as horse bells on a summer breeze.

'Look about you, traitors,' shouted Grey Goose, bending his bow, 'and see the warriors who are true to the King.'

Proudpurse spun round and dropped the spear, falling on to his knees in terror as he saw the bright glitter of Dawnrise's steelsilver coat and the shadow of a forest of spears ascending the bank. Errant let his hand fall to his side and the Nighthorses

of Underfall swept forwards in a fast-moving crescent, galloping beside the Warhorses. The thunder of their hooves drowned out the Chancellor's screams and the cries of the treacherous warriors who, as the King foretold, turned their weapons on the Chancellors, felling them before the Nighthorses could check their pace.