Ghost in the Storm (The Ghosts) by Jonathan Moeller Read Free Book Online Page A

darkness. 
     
    Even from this distance, he felt the dark sorcery in tower.
     
    He wanted nothing to do with it. 
     
    He felt a disturbance pressing upon his arcane senses, and realized he would soon have more immediate problems. 
     
    Men in the steel plate of the Imperial Legions hastened toward the quays, their steel-banded shields held out before them. Six hundred men or so, Kylon guessed, almost an entire cohort. The Kyracians outnumbered them eight to one, but if the Imperials held the quays, they could keep the ashtairoi from landing. 
     
    A powerful stormsinger could have called the lightning and blasted the Legionaries to ash. But Kylon’s sister had her hands full dealing with the Citadel’s siege engines and Marsis’s magi.
     
    Which meant Kylon would have to handle the Legionaries.
     
    He strode towards them, one man facing fifty. Behind him the landing boats with the ashtairoi drew closer. From here, the Legionaries could launch their javelins at the packed ashtairoi with ease. 
     
    But their eyes remained fixed on Kylon, at the one man walking toward them. 
     
    He drew the sword from his belt. It was longer and thinner than the Legionaries’ weapons, the blade the color of a stormy sky. The leather-wrapped hilt was long enough that Kylon could wield it in one hand or two.
     
    “Kill that fool!” shouted a Legionary in the crimson-plumed helmet of a centurion. “Then stand ready to hold the quay!”
     
    The Legionaries advanced in formation, intending to simply mow down Kylon and block the ashtairoi.
     
    Kylon took a long breath and lifted his sword in both hands. 
     
    He saw the Legionaries advancing, the black smoke rising overhead.
     
    He heard the lap of the waves against the quay, the battle in the Great Market.
     
    He smelled the stink of the harbor, the sweat of the Legionaries, the smoke from the fires.
     
    And he felt the power raging inside him like a storm. 
     
    Frost formed on his blade, a flickering halo of cold air surrounding the weapon. The centurion’s eyes narrowed. Perhaps he was clever enough to realize what Kylon really was.
     
    “Kill him!” bellowed the centurion. “Take him down!”
     
    The Legionaries broke ranks and charged.
     
    Kylon moved.
     
    The sorcery of air lent speed to his limbs, allowing him to move like the wind. The sorcery of water surged through him, giving him the strength of a striking wave. It let him sense the men around him, feel the blood pounding through their veins with rage or terror. For blood was life, and blood was only water, in the end.
     
    And Kylon was a stormdancer of New Kyre, and the sorcery of water and wind augmented his strength and speed. 
     
    His sorcery-fueled leap carried him over the first rank of Legionaries. He landed behind their backs, his sword glittering. The Legionaries turned, but they were so slow compared to the wind raging through Kylon. He struck, his hands moving with the speed of the wind, his arms striking with the power of a waterfall. His sword smashed through the Legionaries’ armor, covering the torn plates in frost, and ripped through their flesh, turning their blood to ice. Three Legionaries fell dead in as many heartbeats, and Kylon wheeled, his sword trailing black droplets of frozen blood. 
     
    The remaining Legionaries drew back in fear. For a moment Kylon thought they would retreat. But the centurion’s voice rang out, and the famed iron discipline of the Imperial Legions returned. 
     
    “Take him! Javelins!”
     
    In one smooth motion the Legionaries reached over their shoulders and drew their javelins.
     
    Kylon moved faster, his sorcery propelling him into the Legionaries. His frost-rimed blade smashed through a Legionary’s shield, shattering it into frozen splinters, and an instant later his weapon took the man’s throat. The Legionaries turned, trying to track him, trying to strike with their javelins, but Kylon was too fast. He carved through the Legionaries,