The Ghosts of Broken Blades Read Online Free PDF

you,” Serth’s voice said in his head. “It’s safe. I want you to get to that treasure as much as you do, my friend.”
    Still, Roubris’s instincts forced him to search the sliding door for possible traps. He envisioned something that would make the metal spikes or other adornments into deadly projectiles. But he found nothing of the sort. Not even a lock. Instead, he just had a vague notion that opening the door would also do something else in the temple. An alarm, maybe? He couldn’t tell. It was just a hunch, without evidence.
    He considered telling Karatha, but he was afraid that here, so close to the treasure, she would try to get him to leave without opening the door. He couldn’t let that happen. Not now.
    “Everything all right?” Karatha said, her voice hushed and tense.
    “Yes,” Roubris said with all the confidence he could muster.
    “Right, Serth?” He asked in his mind.
    “Correct,” the spirit replied. “I assure you that it is safe to open that door and take the treasure within. It is my payment to you for freeing my spirit from this sword.” His voice seemed impatient, but perhaps that was understandable considering the situation.
    Roubris slid open the door.
    Karatha’s magical stone sent a shaft of light into the room. Amid shelves of books, idols, and odd religious paraphernalia Roubris couldn’t recognize lay a lidless trunk. Gold and silver coins, jewels of all varieties, and solid bars of precious metals filled the box to overflowing. Roubris gasped with the fulfillment of his highest expectations.
    Behind him, however, Karatha exclaimed in tones other than delight. Over his shoulder he saw something had appeared in front of the iron altar. A doorway of red and gold flickering light. Screams of terror and pain issued from it like a wave. Almost immediately, something began to push its way through the doorway. It seemed vaguely humanoid in that it had two arms and two legs, and was girded in blackened armor. Beyond that, it resembled a fish or a toad more than a man. This creature moved slowly, as though pushing against some unseen membrane blocking the doorway.
    Once over the initial shock, Roubris said aloud, “Serth? What is that?”
    No reply came.
    “Serth? You promised me no traps. No danger.”
    “And I shall keep that promise,” the creature passing through the doorway of light hissed with Serth’s voice. “I will cause you no harm, Roubris.”
    Roubris’s eyes widened. That was Serth? Suddenly, a memory came to mind. Somewhere, someone had told him that when a powerful demon is slain in the material world, it’s not really dead. It’s just sent back to its home plane.
    Serth didn’t want to be freed to go on to some afterlife. He wanted to be free to roam the mortal world again. His spirit had been trapped in the sword like so many others Roubris had encountered, but opening the gate restored him to his physical form. And now Serth was entering the material world again. Opening the door to get at the treasure also opened the gate to whatever abysmal realm had spawned the demon.
    “Exactly how much is it worth to set Serth loose on the world?”
    Even as Roubris stood motionless, mouth agape, Karatha sprang into action. Armed with Severance and the shield emblazoned with the symbol of Iomedae, she attacked Serth while the demon was still midway through the portal. Her blade pierced his scaly flesh, but a single swipe of one of his claws sent her staggering backward, a bloody gash marring her face.
    Roubris didn’t know what to do. Serth had promised him the treasure, and seemed to be willing to let him take it without issue. But that would loose him upon the mortal world to wreak unimaginable evils. Even if he could live with that, Karatha never would. She’d die before she allowed that to happen, and as he watched the mismatched battle, it seemed as though that was precisely what was about to happen.
    Or, he could close the door to the room before him. It seemed