Frostborn: The World Gate by Jonathan Moeller Read Free Book Online Page A

without blinking and did not speak. The lupivirii lived in packs, governed by a dominant male, and the dominant male did not speak first.
    The silence stretched on. 
    The lupivir stepped forward and snarled, snapping his fangs. 
    “Ridmark!” said Morigna. 
    Ridmark did not look away, did not flinch, did not blink. He wanted to tell Morigna not to do anything rash, but he dared not look away from the hulking lupivir.
    At last the beastman let out a rumbling growl that almost sounded like a sigh. 
    “Ridmark son of Leogrance son of Rience,” said the lupivir in the orcish tongue, his fangs and rumbling voice making the words alien.
    “Rakhaag son of Balhaag son of Talhaag,” said Ridmark. “We meet again.” 
    “We are far from Urd Arowyn,” said Rakhaag, “far from where the urdmordar Agrimnalazur enslaved our children for her larder.” 
    “We are,” said Ridmark. “I had not thought to see you again.”
    “I did,” said Rakhaag. “The great memory foretold it.”
    “The great memory?” said Ridmark. He did not fully understand how it worked, but the lupivirii seemed to share their minds, and could access the memories of lupivirii who had died. 
    “The sign has come,” said Rakhaag. “The great memory recalls. The Staffbearer has found her staff once more.”
    “She has,” said Ridmark. 
    Rakhaag let out another rumbling snarl. “Then the hour has come. Shadowbearer will try to open the way to the world of the cold ones, and if the cold ones come forth, the True People shall die and the great memory shall die. All kindreds must come to aid the Staffbearer, for if we do not, the world shall perish in ice.”

Chapter 3: Old Spiders
     
    Morigna and the others returned to the ring fort to decide upon a course of action.
    Rakhaag came with them. 
    Morigna was not sure that was a good idea. She had encountered the lupivirii before, years ago, as she wandered the hills near Moraime. So long as the lupivirii were left alone, they returned the favor. Yet they were feral and wild, ruled by natural instincts instead of their rational intellects. When challenged, when crossed, they acted on their bestial natures and killed for the slightest of reasons. Once Morigna had been hunting a deer, unawares that a pack of lupivirii pursued the same animal. She had barely gotten away alive from that encounter. 
    And, she reflected sourly, she had lost the deer to the beastmen. 
    Still, Morigna supposed, Rakhaag and his pack might make valuable allies. Evidently Rakhaag had aided Ridmark and Calliande against an urdmordar, and had some sort of debt or loyalty to the office of the Keeper of Andomhaim. Given Shadowbearer’s power, they needed all the help they could find. 
    Though Morigna wondered what the Dux of the Northerland would think when Ridmark turned up at Dun Licinia accompanied by an army of Anathgrimm orcs and lupivirii beastmen. 
    She wondered what the Dux of the Northerland would think when he learned that his former son-in-law had taken a sorceress of the Wilderland as his lover. 
    Her lips thinned. If Gareth Licinius did not approve, he could take his disapproval and…
    She felt Rakhaag’s golden gaze shift to her and rebuked herself for inattention. It was best to think of the lupivirii as feral, dangerous wolves that had somehow acquired the power of speech. 
    “Rhogrimnalazur,” said Calliande. “Are you sure that is what this spiderling…”
    “Quinta,” said Ridmark. 
    “Peculiar name for a spiderling,” said Jager. 
    “Evidently her father was named Quintus,” said Ridmark, “and as proof of her loyalty to her mother, Quinta killed him.” He hesitated. “And probably ate him.” 
    “Well,” said Jager, grimacing. “I suppose, Brother Caius, we cannot claim that the spiderlings do not honor their fathers and mothers.”
    Caius grunted. “I suspect that is not quite in keeping with the spirit of the commandment.”
    “Then you have encountered this urdmordar