Free Keeper of the Realms: The Dark Army (Book 2) by Marcus Alexander Page A

with no lid, and if you were to gaze inside you would see the night skies.’
    ‘What, with stars and all?’
    ‘With stars and all, Charlie Keeper.’
    ‘So shouldn’t be too hard to find, then, huh?’
    The Stoman bishop gave her a measured look, trying to discern whether or not she was mocking him. Charlie stared back and did her best to look serious.
    Pulling a sour face Darkmount nudged over a beautifully crafted leather satchel. Charlie opened it and peered inside.
    ‘Er … is it supposed to be empty?’
    ‘It is for the urn. Its padding will keep the vessel safe and will allow you to keep both hands free.’
    Charlie slipped the satchel over her shoulders so she could wear it like a backpack.
    ‘Most importantly,’ he continued, ‘Touch nothing, eat nothing, drink nothing. Remember these words and remember them well.’
    ‘Touch nothing, eat nothing, drink nothing. Sure. But this still all sounds a little too easy. C’mon, Edge, there’s got to be some monsters or guards or … well, something! What about all these “Daemon Kindred” you talk about?’
    ‘I was coming to that.’ Darkmount picked up a long bundle. He carefully unwrapped it to produce an ancient, rusted and seemingly useless sword.
    Charlie looked at it carefully, waiting for a flicker or a sparkle to suggest a hidden sharpness, but she was disappointed. It really was just a rusty sword.
    ‘Oh, great, I feel safer already!’ she snorted. ‘Not only are you sending me to hell, you’re giving me the worst sword I’ve ever seen in my life and what’s twice as ridiculous is that I’ve absolutely no idea how to use it. Ha! If there’s any hungry daemons in there they might as well sit back and enjoy the show cos the only person I’m going to be a danger to is myself.’
    Charlie crossed her arms and sat back in an obvious grump, not caring who saw her pouting.
    ‘Young Keeper, nothing in any realm is what it seems. Nothing. The same can be said of this sword.’
    ‘What, you mean it’s going to turn into a lean, mean, slicing machine, then?’ she said with thick sarcasm.
    ‘It is a Hell Sword. It bears a nasty surprise and if it looks like nothing now that is because it is deceptive.’
    ‘But what am I going to do with a sword? I don’t know how to use one!’
    ‘Well you’d better learn fast as it is the only thing that kills daemons.’
    Charlie leaned over and took the heavy sword in her hands. It felt as useless as it looked. ‘What about the scabbard?’
    ‘There is no scabbard.’
    ‘So what am I supposed to do with it?’ said Charlie, unimpressed. ‘Hold it all day long until my hand goes numb?’
    ‘Just slide it between the straps of the satchel so it rests between your shoulders.’
    She sighed despondently, but did as he suggested.
    ‘OK, so are you going to give me some more info on these daemons? Like what do they look like and how do I stop them doing … well, whatever it is they do to little girls who trespass in the lower dominions.’
    ‘The Daemon Kindred are a jigsaw race. No two are the same and each has been modelled upon a nightmare. Legends speak of creatures and critters half-man and half-beast or half-man and half-insect. Some of the wilder stories suggest that they are even more versatile than this, maybe even half-elemental.’
    ‘Elemental?’
    ‘Half-man and half-smoke, or wind, or fire, or soil or –’
    ‘OK, I get it. Half-not-very-nice, then. I can hardly wait. But why are they all half-man, why not half-hedgehog and half … I don’t know … half- Tyrannosaurus rex ?’
    ‘Some fables whisper that the Daemon Kindred strive to become that which they hate the most. Man.’
    ‘Yeah, is that Human, Treman or Stoman kinda man? I always get a little confused now that I’m in Bellania.’
    ‘Take your pick, each race is as capable of sin as the next.’
    ‘So you don’t know.’
    ‘I tell you what, young Keeper. Why don’t you take notes while you’re down there