Frostborn: The Gray Knight (Frostborn #1) Read online

  For corruption riddled Andomhaim like a rotten fruit, and his servants were everywhere.

  Shadowbearer strode into a large cavern, the village of the Blue Hand kobolds waiting at the other end. The gate was closed, of course, but a simple effort of his vessel’s power, and it crumbled into ruin. He strode into the village, and a score of kobolds surrounded him, leveling their obsidian spears, their crests flaring as they hissed at him. The fattest kobold of the lot, no doubt their Warchief, stepped forward.

  “Who are you, high elf?” snarled the kobold.

  “A traveler,” said Shadowbearer in the kobold tongue. Such an uncouth language. Of course, all aspects of material world were uncouth. “I wish to speak with the shaman of the Blue Hand.”

  “He is dead!” snarled the Warchief. “Murdered by outsiders. I think you have come to attack the kobolds of the Blue Hand. But we are not weak. We will kill you, for daring to threaten the Blue Hand.”

  “Indeed?” said Shadowbearer, smiling.

  The kobolds charged, and Shadowbearer raised his hands.

  Fire came at his call.

  A few moments later, he had killed every last kobold man, woman, and hatchling in the village. He spotted the Warchief trying to crawl away using his remaining arm, smoke rising from the hideous burns covering his sides and tail.

  Shadowbearer walked after him.

  “You,” rasped the Warchief, “you are a dark elf, you…”

  “No,” said Shadowbearer, watching the flames consume the roofs of the stone houses, “I am not.” He smiled. “Do you know the difference between the dark elves and me?”

  The Warchief gaped at him, yellow eyes twitching, tongue flickering over his teeth.

  “The dark elves,” murmured Shadowbearer, “worshipped the shadow.” He leaned closer. “I am the shadow.”

  The Warchief screamed, fire consuming him.

  Shadowbearer left the smoking corpse behind and climbed to the cavern the wretched shaman of the Blue Hand, once the Magistrius Talvinius, had occupied. The kobolds of the Blue Hand had turned the cavern into a crypt for their dead god, placing his charred bones upon a bier in the center of the chamber.

  Talvinius had grossly underestimated Calliande.

  Shadowbearer had made that mistake once, centuries ago. He would not do so again.

  He drew a chalk circle around the bier, ringing it in intricate symbols. Once the sigil was complete, he cast a long and elaborate spell. Cold air blew through the cavern, and the bones upon the bier stirred.

  A voice whispered in his ears.

  “Who disturbs my torment?” Even death had not removed the petulance from Talvinius’s voice. “Who dares to summon me? I will pull you into the abyss with me,” the spirit’s voice dripped menace, “and we shall burn together.”

  “Talvinius,” said Shadowbearer, smiling. “Have you forgotten me already? It has only been a century.”

  The spirit’s menace dissolved into shock. “You! No…no! It is not possible!”

  “You said that often as a living man,” said Shadowbearer. “A pity you failed to learn otherwise. But no matter.”

  “You have come to free me, master?” said Talvinius, his voice full of cringing, desperate hope. “Give me a body, and I will eagerly serve you. I will do whatever you command.”

  “Actually,” said Shadowbearer, “I don’t need you at all. But when you died the final death, you were inside Calliande’s mind. I need your memories. I had thought her broken. But since she destroyed both you and Alamur, it seems she recovered more of her strength than I thought.”

  “Master! No!” screamed Talvinius. “I will…”

  “Stop talking,” said Shadowbearer, and he sent his will digging into the spirit’s memories.

  He sorted through them, ignoring Talvinius’s agonized screams. Images of the dead Eternalist’s final moments flashed before his eyes. He saw Calliande’s terror, saw her wrath as the power rose up in response to her anger…

  “I see,” said Shadowbearer. He released the spell, let Talvinius’s maimed spirit fall gibbering back into the abyss, and left the cavern.

  He stood in the midst of the slain kobolds, thinking.

  Calliande had recovered some of her power, but none of her memories. That made her dangerous…but not nearly as dangerous as she could have been. Still, Shadowbearer would not confront her himself. He was so close, and he would not risk a confrontation with her, not now.

  Even without her full powers, she could still destroy him.

  But he needed her dead. And he needed the soulstone she carried.

  And if she was not at her full strength, that would make it all the easier for his many servants to deal with her.

  Or, perhaps, some new servants.

  He cast a spell, shadow and blue fire dancing around his fingers, and a shadow-wreathed wind blew through the cavern, the flames in the ruined houses flickering.

  And the dead kobolds, hundreds of them, rose as undead at his command.

  “Go forth,” said Shadowbearer. His will burned an image of Calliande into their minds. “Find this woman, overpower her, and bring her and the stone she carries to me.” He sent an image of Ridmark into their minds. “And if you encounter this man, kill him.”

  The undead kobolds raced from the cavern to do his bidding.

  Shadowbearer followed them from the ruined village.

  He had a great deal of work to do.

  THE END

  Thank you for reading FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT. If you liked the story, please consider leaving a review at your ebook site of choice.

  Ridmark Arban will return in early 2014 in FROSTBORN: THE EIGHTFOLD KNIFE. To receive immediate notification of new releases, sign up for my newsletter, or watch for news on my Facebook page.

  About the Author

  Standing over six feet tall, Jonathan Moeller has the piercing blue eyes of a Conan of Cimmeria, the bronze-colored hair a Visigothic warrior-king, and the stern visage of a captain of men, none of which are useful in his career as a computer repairman, alas.

  He has written the DEMONSOULED series of sword-and-sorcery novels, and continues to write THE GHOSTS sequence about assassin and spy Caina Amalas, the COMPUTER BEGINNER'S GUIDE series of computer books, and numerous other works.

  Visit his website at:

  http://www.jonathanmoeller.com

  Visit his technology blog at:

  http://www.jonathanmoeller.com/screed

  Contact him at:

  [email protected]

  You can sign up for his email newsletter here, or watch for news on his Facebook page.

  Other books by the author

  The Frostborn Series

  Frostborn: The Gray Knight

  The Orc's Tale (Tales of the Frostborn short story)

  The Third Soul Series

  The Testing

  The Assassins

  The Blood Shaman

  The High Demon

  The Burning Child

  The Outlaw Adept

  The Black Paladin

  The Tomb of Baligant

  The Third Soul Omnibus One

  The Third Soul Omnibus Two

  Computer Beginner's Guides

  The Ubuntu Beginner's Guide

  The Windows Command Line Beginner's Guide

  The Linux Command Line Beginner's Guide

  The Ubuntu Desktop Beginner's Guide

  The Windows 8 Beginner's Guide

  The Linux Mint Beginner's Guide

  The Ghosts Series

  Child of the Ghosts

  Ghost in the Flames

  Ghost in the Blood

  Ghost in the Storm

  Ghost in the Stone

  Ghost in the Forge

  Ghost in the Ashes

  Ghost Dagger (World of the Ghosts novella)

  Ghost Aria (World of the Ghosts short story)

  Ghost Claws (World of the Ghosts short story)

  The Demonsouled Series

  De
monsouled

  Soul of Tyrants

  Soul of Serpents

  Soul of Dragons

  Soul of Sorcery

  Soul of Skulls

  Soul of Swords

  The Dragon's Shadow (World of the Demonsouled novella)

  The Wandering Knight (World of the Demonsouled short story)

  The Tournament Knight (World of the Demonsouled short story)

  The Tower of Endless Worlds Series

  The Tower of Endless Worlds

  A Knight of the Sacred Blade

  A Wizard of the White Council

  The Destroyer of Worlds

  $1.99 Dark Fantasy

  Driven and Other Stories

  The Devil's Agent

  Angel Sword and Other Stories

  Table of Contents

  Description

  A Brief Prologue

  Chapter 1 - The Knight and the Friar

  Chapter 2 - The Omen

  Chapter 3 - Awakening

  Chapter 4 - The Tower of Vigilance

  Chapter 5 - Shadowbearer

  Chapter 6 - Pursuit

  Chapter 7 -The High Altar

  Chapter 8 - Iron Staff

  Chapter 9 - The Ursaar

  Chapter 10 - A Pact

  Chapter 11 - Lost Memories

  Chapter 12 - Raiders

  Chapter 13 - The Shaman

  Chapter 14 - Fangs

  Chapter 15 - Parting

  Chapter 16 - Burning Fields

  Chapter 17 - A Bargain

  Chapter 18 - Siegecraft

  Chapter 19 - Assault

  Chapter 20 - A Challenge

  Chapter 21 - The Duel

  Chapter 22 - Calling the Fire

  Chapter 23 - The Hero of Dun Licinia

  Chapter 24 - The Four

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Other books by the author