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

leaving a trail of frozen blood and frost-caked steel in his wake. 
     
    Bit by bit their anger subsided, replaced by growing terror. 
     
    The ashtairoi stormed ashore and charged the Legionaries. The disciplined men of the Imperial Legions were among the finest soldiers upon the face of the earth. But scattered, separated from their ability to fight as a unit, the Legionaries died just as easily as any other men.
     
    And Kylon’s assault left them scattered and panicked. The Kyracian ashtairoi attacked, their long swords rising and falling. Legionaries fell, their hot blood spilling upon the quay. And as the ashtairoi pushed back the Legionaries, Kylon carved through them like a reaper harvesting grain. He had trained with the blade since the age of seven, and his muscles had long ago memorized the fluid movements. The high thrust. The sweeping slash. The middle block, and the low sweep. Kylon danced through the Legionaries, killing, the roar of the battle matching the drum of his heartbeat, the thunder of the sorcery raging through him. 
     
    There was no feeling to match it. Not wine, not the high seas on a sunlit day, not even making love to a woman. All of these were good things.
     
    But none of these matched the exhilaration of battle. 
     
    And then the battle was over.
     
    Kylon blinked sweat from his eyes, his sword a brand of burning ice in his fist. Dozens of Legionaries lay scattered across the quay, most dead, some groaning in pain. The rest retreated into the maze of the dockside streets. Kylon frowned. He would have to send men to hunt them down, lest they cause trouble…
     
    “Lord stormdancer!” 
     
    Kylon turned. A polemarch, an officer of the ashtairoi, hurried toward him and bowed. The man was in his early forties, at least fifteen years older than Kylon. Yet there was not a hint of disrespect in his tone or stance. 
     
    Kylon was the youngest stormdancer of New Kyrace…and the officer had seen what he could do.
     
    “Speak,” said Kylon. 
     
    “The docks have been secured,” said the polemarch.
     
    They had. The ashtairoi had seized most of the quays. A few pockets of resistance remained here and there, but even as he watched, they collapsed under the waves of Kyracian troops. 
     
    He released his power, and the freezing mist sheathing his sword faded away. 
     
    “Good,” said Kylon. “What else?”
     
    “We’re received word from the Great Market,” said the polemarch. “The Istarish footmen have secured the Market, and are forming up to strike into the heart of the city.”
     
    It was a risky gamble – the Kyracian warships carried five thousand ashtairoi, and Rezir Shahan had smuggled another five thousand of his men into Marsis. Ten thousand men might be able to seize a city the size of Marsis, but if anything went wrong…
     
    He shook his head. This attack was risky. But it was his duty to see that it succeeded. 
     
    “What of Lord Corbould?” said Kylon. “Did the emir capture or kill him?” Old Lord Corbould had a ferocious reputation. If he had escaped, he might rally resistance.
     
    “The Istarish messenger did not say, my lord,” said the polemarch. “The High Seat sends word. She meets with the Istarish emir in the Great Market to discuss their strategy, and bids you to attend her.”
     
    “I shall come at once,” said Kylon. 
     
    “This way, lord stormdancer,” said the polemarch. A squad of four ashtairoi fell in around Kylon, a guard of honor. Not that he needed it – in a fight, he would wind up defending them, rather than the other way around.
     
    The soldiers led him through the narrow alleys of Marsis’s dockside district. More ashtairoi poured into the streets, hunting down the remaining Legionaries. Another squad of four Kyracian soldiers approached Kylon’s group. With them marched a tall man in the gray leather of a stormdancer, a sheathed sword on his left hip. His weathered face and shaved head made him look like a