Free Born Of Darkness (Book 7) by William King Page A

reluctance, Balthus and Slasher slunk after Fang.
    “Either those are the most cowardly Shadowhounds I have ever seen,” Kormak said. “Or there’s something about this Old One has them really troubled.”
    Rodric wrinkled his nose and glared. The way his lips drew back to reveal his teeth reminded Kormak of his dogs. “There’s nothing cowardly about my hounds,” he said. He sounded personally affronted.
    “That’s what’s worrying me,” Gerd said. “I’ve seen those dogs hamstring a Shadow-blighted mastodon and look cheerful while they were doing it.”
    Rhiana glanced at the dogs. She looked pale in the torchlight. She was becoming more wan by the moment.
    “What is it?” Kormak asked.
    “Nothing,” she said. “I just don’t like being cooped up in these tunnels.”
    Kormak remembered how he had felt in the ocean’s depths and wondered whether it was the same for her down here.
    “You don’t have to come with us,” he said.
    “Try and stop me.”
    “I would not dream of it.” Kormak glanced over at Gerd. “You got the essence of truesilver?”
    The abbot nodded.
    “It’s time to treat your weapons with it.”

CHAPTER NINE
    GERD DRIBBLED THE last of the liquid metal on to the head of his mace. He smeared it on the runes with the sleeve of his tunic. The air smelled faintly of polish and something more acrid that made the back of Kormak’s throat tighten.
    “We’ve got about an hour,” Gerd said.
    “An hour of what?” Rhiana asked. She sounded tetchy. Perhaps because the abbot had treated his own weapon and Rodric’s but not hers. It would be easy for her to take it as a sign that they did not trust her. Maybe Gerd didn’t.
    Gerd said, “An hour during which our weapons will cause an ungodly amount of pain to any Old One. It will kill any of their blood too.”
    He paused for a moment as if considering his next words. “You had best be careful not to get yourself hit.”
    It was all the explanation or apology Rhiana was going to get. Kormak waited for her angry denial but it did not come.
    “Poison,” she said.
    “In a sense,” Gerd said. “It’s something that burns the Old Ones like poison ivy burns us.”
    Rhiana said, “The armour Kormak’s wearing will have the same effect, won’t it? That’s not just essence of truesilver. It’s made from it.”
    “It’ll certainly make an Old One or one of their bloody servants think twice about hitting the wearer a second time.”
    “You ever consider making weapons from it?”
    Gerd grinned. “What do you think the runes on this mace are made from? The truesilver alloys that men make are not much use for normal blades, too soft and won’t hold an edge long, but they have their uses. The mace will hurt an Old One.”
    “Your order believes in being prepared, doesn’t it?”
    Gerd sounded serious. “Sometimes it’s the only advantage we have. You take whatever you can get.”
    “It was the Solari who came up with all this stuff though . . .”
    “They used it but they had better weapons. Sunblades, lightspears, dayshields, armour made from sungold. They picked up the knowledge from the Angels of the Sun when they warred against the Old Ones in the Dawn Ages of the World.”
    Kormak remembered the thoughtful scholar Gerd had been as a boy. The smell of the old classrooms, and the way the light fell through the stained glass windows came back to him. He shook his head. It was the pain-killing potion. It was making him dreamy even as it numbed his wounds.
    Gerd tilted his head to one side and studied the Guardian. “You all right? You look a bit sickly.”
    Kormak wondered about that. If he was not at all right, he was putting their lives at risk. The Old One had almost killed him last night and he had been in better shape then.
    Still, there were four of them and the hounds. Gerd and Rodric were better prepared than any royal guardsman, and Rhiana had strange powers of her own. If he left things much longer the trail might