Free The Crimson League (The Herezoth Trilogy) by Victoria Grefer Page B

collections of antiques: the Hogarane Museum, the Duke of Hornsby’s old vacation home, a number of little shops scattered throughout the village. Some had lines drawn through them, wet lines. Kora started when her gaze fell across the word “riverbank” printed in a plain, masculine script. Someone had struck it through.
    She said, “Whatever they’re after, it’s old. It looks like they’re doing a pretty thorough search.”
    “Look at these books,” said Lanokas. He held up random tomes he had not yet examined, reading the titles as he went. “ A History of Sorcery . Spellbooks of the Ancients . The Book of the Book: the Librette Oscure .” His face went dark. “Zalski can’t be…. Not the Librette !”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “ The Librette Oscure . The most famous spellbook ever written. A dark sorcerer, a Hansrelto, composed it centuries ago. Tell me you’ve heard….”
    “I’ve heard of Hansrelto’s revolt. Just not the book.”
    “Rumor says it has the worst spells known to man, but no one’s sure. It disappeared after his revolt, or before, to be more accurate. He took no chance of his enemy taking it. If Zalski gets his hands on it….”
    “He’d be unstoppable, utterly unstoppable.” Kora grabbed The Book of the Book from Lanokas. It was a leather-bound tome. “We should take this,” she said. “And you should keep your hands free.”
    Kora leafed though the manuscript, placing it on the table. The ink was faded, hardly legible. Then she found a page with the corner turned down.
    “They marked this section, look….”
    “Read it.”
    “‘Before his revolt, Hansrelto is believed not only to have hidden his book, but to have placed a powerful enchantment over it, so that only one worthy of its secrets would discover it. If legend holds true, the Librette Oscure alters its shape and form, waiting in disguise for its future rightful owner, who alone will recognize it for what it is.’”
    She fell silent. The same heavy footsteps that had earlier faded now sounded again down the hall, mixed with crisp knocks.
    Menikas announced upon his entry, “We found nothing. Well, no one . We picked up a list of names, and I recognize some. They’re all dead.”
    “How about here?” asked Ranler.
    Lanokas told his brother, “Zalski’s after the Librette .”
    Menikas turned white. “He can’t be.”
    “Wilhem said this was something big.”
    “Come on,” said Kora. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
    “Should we leave an arrow?” asked Lanokas. “Let them know to whom they owe the pleasure?”
    Menikas shook his head. “Keep Zalski guessing. Let that pinprick of doubt bore into him.”
    “I like it,” said Ranler. He maneuvered his way through the window, followed by the brothers. Kora took up her crossbow. She handed The Book of the Book to Lanokas and was about to climb through after him when something stirred at he r back and she whirled around.
    T he man with the peg leg, the man she had tied, was coming to. They stared at each other, his eyes dull but horribly alert. Shivering, Kora slipped through the square-shaped hole in the wall and joined her fellow Leaguesmen.
     
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    CHAPTER FOUR
    Of Cards and Cage
     
     
    It was dark by the time Kora’s group reached Yangerton. They lodged their horses at an inn with stables, an inn they planned to leave thereafter, in the heart of the city. Kora had never heard of people abandoning their mounts that way, but then, she had never come this far north. She had never ventured into a city larger than Hogarane, if Hogarane could be called a city, and Yangerton was home to hundreds of thousands. At any rate, the League’s request did not startle the innkeeper. He was happy to take their money, from what Kora could make out through the establishment’s grungy window. She still needed false papers, so she waited outside, fascinated by the throngs of passersby and the narrow, winding streets wedged