Stained Glass Monsters by Andrea Höst Read Free Book Online Page A

the sea. The bulk of
the city spread east, rolling over a series of smaller hills which
gradually petered out into fields and fields and fields punctuated
by smaller towns and villages.
    There were three Claire properties in
Asentyr. The neat and compact apartment on the northern edge of the
Temple District would be home until the Grand Summoning was
complete. There was also a basement storehouse close to the docks,
which held a great deal of old Surclere junk and copies of the most
important books. On the far side of Aliace Hill, on the outskirts
of the city proper, was a dusty house surrounded by a high wall.
Seb had checked it once to ensure it was intact, and they would
only go there again if they were desperate for shelter.
    The northern edge of the Temple District
held the city's busiest streets. Tall houses were jammed together,
crammed with people, and a dozen play-houses stood out among the
narrow buildings, queens each with a little court of taverns. The
area was called Crossways, and it seemed to Rennyn as if the entire
population of Tyrland passed through it three times daily. A useful
thing. She lost herself in the crowd, letting it carry her down the
largest of the roads toward the river.
    They'd started setting up the blockade
already, though people would be allowed through until sunset, and
then a curfew would be enforced over the entire Temple District. A
dramatic move, but a sensible one. It would be night, and even
warned and waiting the Sentene might not be able to intercept a
major creature immediately. Keeping the area as free from
unnecessary wanderers as possible would prevent deaths.
    People weren't afraid yet. This blockade
had been announced as a precaution for a suspected outbreak, and
the destruction of Falk was the centre of gossip as an ongoing
magical disaster, but they'd not announced the Grand Summoning for
what it was. Rennyn had no doubt it had been discussed in Private
Council, and it was sure to eventually become obvious to anyone who
had read a history book, but for now Tyrland went about its
business much as usual.
    Sliding her free hand into her pocket,
Rennyn carefully slipped a ring onto her middle finger, and lifted
up the egg-sized stone attached to it by a sturdy chain. Solace
Montjuste-Surclere. She'd been a strong ruler, occasionally harsh,
but not unusually so. Until the Grand Summoning, she'd not done
anything to make herself reviled. But her rule had been threatened.
Internally by a cousin who claimed a truer right to the throne.
Externally by a foreign empire greedy for expansion. Her response
was called the Madness of Queen Solace now, but it seemed to Rennyn
a coldly calculated and conscienceless move. The Grand Summoning.
It would make Tyrland almost impossible to attack, and consolidate
the Montjuste-Surclere rule. What were a few innocent lives
compared to that cause?
    Rennyn let go the stone, so it swung
below her hand. The Grand Summoning had destroyed the town of
Eberhart, the first expansion killing at least a hundred. The
half-dozen incursion points that opened over Tyrland had released
Eferum-Get which had killed many more. Sacrifices to a cause. How
many did you have to make, before they called you evil?
    The stone swung forward, tugging at the
ring. Rennyn followed its pull, and was not surprised to be led
along the street until she was directly in front of the Devourer's
Temple. She stopped, ignoring the swirl of the crowd, and gazed up
the broad flight of steps to the huge cowled statues, each with
most of the face hidden, but for an overlong mouth which curled up
too far. Patient, smirking Death, greedy and complacent.
    Turning in a circle, Rennyn decided on
the building opposite the Devourer's, which was three stories high
and flat-roofed. It housed some kind of private and
irreverently-named club, and there was not a great deal of traffic
moving in and out. Rennyn followed an alleyway alongside it, and
found herself among neatly-kept trash bins outside a