The Sheening Of The Blades (Book 1) by Kari Cordis Read Free Book Online Page B

fight back, lest they be destroyed.  Raemon’s men, whom he called Tarq—”
    “ Tarq?” Cerise interrupted.  “I’ve never heard them called that.”
    “ Shhh!” Loren hissed.
    “ That’s what the men who fight them call them,” Melkin growled darkly.  She frowned, the firelight barely softening her thin features.
    “ What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “ RAEMON’S MEN,” Banion continued doggedly, “had brought with them their strange, soft metal, forged far beyond the lands of Ethlond.  In the necessity of countering these blades, the gods moved man forever from his first home.  Far to the north they traveled, to the mouth of the Kendrick where the iron ore lay thick and the land lay rocky, and rough, and defensible. And there they taught him how to forge steel and to make such blades as could never be defeated.”
    “ But Raemon’s hunger was unquenchable, his quest for domination so relentless that the war of men became the war of the gods as well.  Raemon made the women of the Tarq to bear many children, so that his people swelled up like blood from a wound.  He gave them the thirst for fire so that they struck terror into the hearts of men with their cruel desire to burn all in their path.  He taught them how to throw fire with catapults, on arrows, at a quick touch of liquid.  To save their people, the gods were forced to respond.  They brought great Warwolves, born to hunt Tarq, from these wild lands around us.  They gave us fire-shedder and the knowledge of building with stone and of building ships to fight them at sea.”
    “ And so it went.  On and on without hope of end, until all man knew was fighting and all the span of his years was spent in defense against the Enemy.”
    “ Now, the Royal Line still lived, and in fact had borne men who became mighty heroes, of great valor.  There arose amongst them the mightiest yet, three brothers who had never known defeat, men of great skill with arms and keen judgment: Kendrick, Karl and Khristophe.”
    Cerise snorted softly and Loren shot her an ugly look.
    “I didn’t say anything,” she protested.
    “ Well, roll your eyes quieter.”
    “ There burned within their hearts,” Banion continued—he had the patience of a professional—“a great discontent and a desire to seize more aggressively the reins of their destiny.  So, they formed a plan and went to plead it before the gods.  At the Triele, for so the Temple was called when all three gods resided in it, they besought the priest, who in turn cried unto the gods until the Diamond, the Sapphire, and the Emerald began to glow and the gods came and stood among them.
    “ What is it, my sons?” Marek asked of them.
    “ O my lord Marek,” Kendrick, the eldest, implored, “We are sick and heartsore of ever defending against a dishonorable Enemy that moves about at his will, doing what he wills, as he wills.  Each of you, we beg now, take of us a people and lead us out against the Enemy, searching until we find his home and finally destroy him forever.  We are many thousands, and while these cities along the sea can be easily defended, a full two-thirds of our people might be moving forcefully to end this endless war!”
    “ Now, the gods were greatly surprised by this, and not happy as you would think.  For always had it been their wish that man live in peace and ever had they hoped to win over their brother with soft words of reason and diplomacy.  They had taught man to live in harmony; they’d taught him the facts and skills necessary for survival, moderation and kindness and tolerance to strange ideas.  But man seemed to fall easily, eagerly even, into the ways of war.  They’d taught him nothing of courage, of honor, of boldness, yet the desire for these things seemed to well out of him of its own accord.”
    “ What about women?” Cerise asked pointedly.
    Loren ground his teeth.  “Women aren’t in stories because we get quite enough of them in our real