Free The New Guard (Crossroads Book 1) by Matthew M. Johns Page B

and puffy scars that led to two large, deep set eyes.
It was hard to tell that he was an elf, as his telltale pointed ears were
shriveled, burnt scabs on the side of his head. Long, thin strands of greasy
hair barely covered his head.
    “Ferreter,”
Caliban began, “you’ll take a hound and a horse and track down the one child
that was missing from the group. I’m sure it is here, since its brothers and
sisters have been brought over. Track it down and kill it.”
    “Caliban,”
Ferreter spoke with uncertainty in his reedy voice, “we were to take the children
alive.”
    “Look
where that plan got us,” responded Caliban. “These children are the new twelve.
We do not want the stability they can bring to the Way World. The elven lords
are falling to the powers of the Void. The Way World is slipping into chaos.
Once the Void has full control here, it is a simple matter to take out the
other habitable realms.
    “Kill the
child. Make the Light Bringer waste time organizing and calling forth a new
twelve. Meanwhile, our forces will continue to overtake the Light Bringer’s
current Twelve and bring down His order.”
    Ferreter
bowed his head, acknowledging his acceptance of Caliban’s plan. Caliban then
turned back to the other Riders.
    “Maraud,”
he said, pointing to a still hooded rider, “you and I will take our mounts and uncover
our wayward allies. We will bind them and bring them to the Void to face
punishment for failure. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel the
failure of this enterprise lies in the arrogance of our former leader and the
minor demon who disappeared when its services were in need.”
    All of
the Riders grumbled agreement and Caliban went on. He singled out a broad
shouldered Rider who showed no sign of his initiation into the Dark Rider
guild. Caliban knew, however, that this particular Rider’s scars covered his
back where his wings once were.
    “Vex, you
take the rest of the band and track down the Truth Wielder and his offspring.
Be wary of his abilities, but make sure they don’t make it to the Central
Kingdom, for this will surely be their final goal. Kill them out as you can.
Call on any forces you come across as you hunt them down.
    “We must
stay in contact, so be sure to check in at the third watch of every night.
We’ll meet back up as we can. Hunt well, Riders.”
    With
those last words, Caliban mounted his horse. As if signaled, the hounds broke
from their shelter and began eagerly sniffing the ground. The Dark Riders
divided as instructed and took off in separate directions.
    *
    Caliban
found the crossing after a half hour of searching. It was several miles away
from where it had let the Void Riders out the previous night. It was several
more miles from where they had entered it to pursue the new twelve. While this
shifting was an overall good sign because it meant there was a great deal of
instability in the land, it also created tracking problems here and now.
    Caliban
chose to seek out their entry point from the prior night in hopes of finding
some clue as to the whereabouts of the wayward demon. When he finally found it
an hour later, he saw signs of a struggle. The band of thralls had been set
upon and, as there was a fresh mass grave, it meant the forces of the Word had
intercepted the Riders’ backup. Caliban looked around and came to the
conclusion that the force which set upon the demon and his thralls must have
been angels; as most of the other followers of the Word would have likely burnt
the dead. Caliban smirked; this would prove to be an error on the angels’ part,
he thought.
    Caliban,
Maraud, and their hound dug at the mass grave until they got to the first body.
Pulling the torso free, Caliban flooded the body with Void magic and summoned
forth a fragment of the lost soul.
    “Tell me,
thrall,” he spoke to the unmoving body, “what happened here?”
    For a
moment there was nothing, and then the body twitched and began to scream.
“Stop!