Storm and Steel Read Online Free PDF Page A

dominion. In that endeavor, he was well and truly alone.
    â€œLet's go find a cool drink.”
    They exited the courtyard through an arbor of vines with beautiful orange and pink blossoms that led into the villa's enormous gardens, surrounding them in a riot of colors and scents. Stone pathways wound among beds of well-pruned topiaries and burbling fountains. Birds twittered from hiding places within the foliage, and statues in alabaster, marble, and bronze decorated niches carved from the hedges.
    Horace wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. Lord Ubar smiled at the gesture. “I find it difficult to believe you are not cold.”
    â€œWhat? This?” Horace looked up at the clear blue sky. “This feels like a fine spring day back in Arnos. You don't know anything about real cold. Snow on the ground, all the streams and lakes frozen solid.”
    â€œIt sounds dreadful.”
    â€œNo. The change of the seasons is quite magical. You appreciate the warmer months, for sure, but there's something beautiful about a blanket of fresh snow covering everything, like the world has been reborn in virgin white.”
    â€œYou miss it.”
    â€œI suppose, sometimes. But it's not as simple as being homesick. After my wife and son died, no place truly felt like home. I was happier at sea, to tell you the truth. Then, when I washed ashore here, it was like a new beginning. A fresh start.”
    On the other side of the garden was a gate leading back into the villa proper. Sunlight gleamed off its high walls and narrow minarets, built of white and red stone.
    Ubar paused at the gate. He opened his mouth as if to say something but then closed it.
    â€œIs something wrong?” Horace asked.
    â€œI was not sure how to broach this subject with you, Inganaz . Forgive me. I have news that you might find disturbing.”
    â€œAll right. Just spit it out.”
    â€œIt concerns the town of Omikur.”
    An uneasy feeling gripped Horace's stomach. He hadn't heard much ofanything about the town since the queen took him on a tour to see the siege firsthand. The memory of the massive storm that had ravaged the crusaders’ defenses still haunted him.
    â€œI have heard the royal legions conducted a new assault just days ago.”
    â€œDid the town fall?”
    â€œNot yet, Inganaz . But it seems to be only a matter of time.”
    Horace felt the sudden urge to sit down. If Ubar's account was true, then hundreds—perhaps thousands—of soldiers were going to die. The Great Crusade was over, at least for the time being. What does that mean for me? Should I be angry? Should I want revenge for men I've never met and didn't know? What does it mean if I don't? They were soldiers. They knew the risks when they signed up. But what soldier could understand the risk of Akeshian sorcery?
    As the moments piled up, Horace realized he wasn't angry. The feelings stirring inside him were a mélange of sorrow and disgust. Those lives were being wasted. Fathers, brothers, sons—all dying because their rulers could not find a peaceful way to resolve their disputes.
    â€œ Kanadu ,” he said. Thank you. “I'm glad you told me. It is…an unfortunate affair.”
    Horace reached for the handle, but the gate into the villa opened before him, and a man carrying a thick leather valise walked through. Mezim was his new secretary. Nearly a head shorter than Horace, with dark bronze skin, Mezim wore a long skirt of white linen with a straight red border, as befitted a member of the khalata caste of freed slaves.
    After he was named First Sword, Horace soon realized how much responsibility the post entailed. He'd made inquiries and been furnished with someone to help him navigate his duties. Mezim understood the Akeshian system of government backward and forward. Every day Horace said a prayer of thanks for him.
    The secretary bowed when he saw them. “Lord Horace, pardon my