2 Defiler of Tombs Read Online Free PDF Page A

that.”
    “If I don’t do it, it will happen again, somewhere else.” He looked at the line of hills in the distance. Low clouds hung over them and they seemed dank and dark and gloomy. “Those hills are full of barrows. There are worse things than wights in some of them. If someone plans on opening them all, they need to be stopped. Have you any idea who it might have been?”
    “It wasn’t any of my people,” said Brandon. “I would take an oath on it.”
    Kormak looked at him steadily. He didn’t say anything. He had found that in situations like this, silence was often the best option. People would talk just to fill it.
    “No one in the village would open a barrow. We grow up listening to the stories of the Old Lords of Darkness, of the Men of Kharon and the Shadow that devoured them. No one would dare go near that barrow. Why do you think I was scared to go with you last night? I am no coward, Kormak. You know that.”
    “I never said you were.”
    “There’s no man down there braver than me and I would not go near that old tomb unless I had to and I had a Guardian like yourself with me.”
    “It did not open itself.”
    “What are you trying to say?”
    “You saw the entrance. The runes were defaced. The seals were broken. Someone smashed them, knowing what would happen.”
    “That’s insane.”
    “Sometimes people are not sane. Sometimes people do terrible things. Sometimes people are so scared that it haunts them and puts strange ideas in their heads and makes them do exactly what they are afraid of just to end the fear.”
    “You think one of my folk did that?”
    “I am asking if it’s possible.”
    Brandon laughed. There was relief in his laughter. “You’ve never lived in one of these small villages have you?”
    “Not since I was a boy.”
    “There are no secrets in a place like this. Everybody knows everybody else. If someone’s dog has pups its big news. I know it almost before the bitch does.”
    Kormak looked at the more distant huts. Brandon followed his gaze then shook his head.
    “If someone was taking walks into the Barrow Hills I would know about it. Look how bare the land is. You can see right across the fields. You can count the sheep on the hills from this tower. You can’t go any distance without the sentry spotting you.”
    “What about at night?”
    “Nobody in their right mind would head out into those hills at night. You saw what my men-at-arms were like. Hell, my people won’t go looking for lost animals in those hills even in daylight, and a sheep is worth a lot up here.”
    Kormak nodded. He had not really expected it to be anybody local. It was something that had needed to be asked. There were procedures that needed to be followed.
    “What are you going to do when you find whoever did this?” Brandon asked.
    “What do you think?”
    “There are those who call your Order assassins. I can see why.”
    “Kill a peasant they call it justice. Kill a nobleman they call you an assassin.”
    “I never knew you were so bitter.”
    “You want to know why I have killed more nobles than peasants?” Kormak’s voice was very soft.
    “I feel sure you are about to tell me.” Brandon licked his lips nervously.
    “Most peasants don’t have the education to work the high rituals of Shadow. Most of them can’t read. It’s the nobles and the clergy can do that. They are the ones who learn to call those things that should not be summoned.”
    Brandon took another swig of from his flask. He looked thoughtful.
    “They are also the ones with influential families and friends. You kill a nobleman there are always consequences, whispers and attempts at payback.”
    “What is your point, Kormak?”
    “You might want to think about that the next time a noble points at me and calls me an assassin behind my back.”
    Brandon took a step back and Kormak realised he had let a note of menace enter his voice, sufficient to worry even the knight.
    “That’s not why I brought it