The Dawn of a Desperate War (The Godlanders War) by Aaron Pogue Read Free Book Online Page B

chewed his lip, thinking, then said haltingly, “I have a . . . a means to make Ephitel . . . vulnerable. If I can draw him out to a place and time of my choosing, and if I’m . . . properly prepared . . . then I can strike him down. I can kill him forever. Imagine it, Ben.”
    “Oh, I’ve imagined it,” Ben said. “My people suffer more than most beneath these current gods’ regime. But this sounds like a risky proposition.”
    Corin stopped walking and turned to his companion. “There’s nothing riskier in all the world. I am not blind to that. Even with Fortune and Oberon behind me, there’s a thousand ways this could go wrong and only one it could go right. But I can choose no other path.”
    Ben rubbed his jaw, considering. “I suppose I understand, a t that.”
    “Understand this too,” Corin said, trying to find some kindness for his tone. But his thoughts hung too much on Ephitel and all his crimes, and his words came out sharp as Godslayer ’s blade. “I have no other friend in all the world. There are assets and resources and safehouses I could use, but I have no other friend than you. I need you, Ben Strunk, but I cannot ask you to take up my burden. As you said, it is a risky proposition.”
    Ben shook his head, and his eyes flashed with something like anger. “Ask me. Sand and stone, ask me, Corin, or we’re not friends at all!”
    Corin licked his lips and looked back in the direction they had come, toward the distant studio where Lilya still slept. “I thought . . . perhaps at last your roving days were over. I thought perhaps the time had come for you to settle down and find some lasting happiness. I can’t ask you to give that up for fear and suffering , and almost certain death.”
    The dwarf peeled back his lips and snarled. “You’re a villain , Corin Hugh. I found a pretty plaything for a summer, and you’re declaring that my roving days are through? I ought to gut you just for saying that. Now tell me what you have in mind, or I’ll start thinking you just want me as an excuse to give up your quest.”
    Corin spread his hands in apology. And despite himself he smiled. “Forgive me. I meant no offense.” He turned northeast again, up the sloping street, and Ben fell in beside him. Corin went on, “As I said, I must draw Ephitel out to a place and time of my choosing. I have some plans for how to do that, but as you said, there are risks. When I set my plan in motion, I need someone I can trust who will hang back, somewhere close enough to see what happens but far enough to slip away if things go bad.”
    “And what about you? I’m just supposed to slink away and let you die?”
    Corin showed his teeth in something like a grin. “I won’t die easy. Remember the gifts I have from Oberon. If I am captured, if things go wrong, I can always step away through dream. But if we’re in the fight together, I cannot guarantee that I could reach you and get us both away.”
    “Ah,” Ben said in reluctant understanding. “Hmph.”
    Corin clapped him on the shoulder. “Exactly so.”
    “And what do you need me for at all?”
    Corin chewed his lip. Then he shrugged out of the sword belt he’d draped across his chest. It was fashioned to buckle around the waist, and that was how Corin usually wore it, but he’d hung it on his back to help complete the new illusion.
    The thin gray mists of a glamour hung about the sword, tracing its golden hilt and leather scabbard to Corin’s eyes, but for Ben it would have looked for all the world like a heavy scrollcase. Corin handed it down to Ben, and the dwarf accepted it with a reverence almost befitting the weapon itself.
    “And what is this? Some weapon?”
    “As I said before, Oberon bestowed on me the means to defeat Ephitel. It rests within this case. If everything goes according to my plan, I will meet up with you and retrieve this package.” He hesitated, chewing his lip, then shook his head. “Aye. There should be time for