The Sorcerer's Ring: Book 05 - A Vow of Glory Read Online Free PDF Page B

room
broke out into a horrified murmur, shouts arising, until finally a councilman
slammed his iron staff several times and screamed for silence.
    The
room quieted, but barely.
    Gareth,
already shaking with fear and rage, stood slowly from his throne, and the room
quieted, as all eyes fell on him.
    One step
at a time, Gareth descended the ivory steps, his footsteps echoing, the silence
so thick one could cut it with a knife.
    He
crossed the chamber, until finally he reached the ruffian. He stared back at
him coldly, a foot away, the man squirming in the commander’s arm, looking
every which way but at him.
    "Thieves
and liars are dealt with only one way in my kingdom,” Gareth said softly.
    Gareth
suddenly pulled a dagger from his waist and plunged it in the ruffian's heart.
    The
man screamed out in pain, his eyes bulging, then suddenly slumped down to the
ground, dead.
    The
commander looked over at Gareth, scowling down at him.
    “You
have just murdered a witness against you," the commander said. "Don't
you realize that that only serves to further insinuate your guilt?”
    "What
witness?" Gareth asked, smiling. “Dead men don't speak.”
    The
commander reddened.
    "Lest
you forget, I am commander of the half of the King’s army. I will not be played
for a fool. From your actions, I can only surmise that you are guilty of the
crime he accused you of. As such, I and my army shall serve you no longer. In
fact, I will take you into custody, on the grounds of treason to the Ring!”
    The commander
nodded to his men, and as one, several dozen soldiers drew their swords and stepped
forward to arrest Gareth.
    Lord
Kultin came forward with twice as many of his own men, all drawing their swords
and walking up behind Gareth.
    They stood
there, facing off with the commander’s soldiers, Gareth in the middle.
    Gareth
smiled triumphantly back at the commander. His men were outnumbered by Gareth’s
fighting force, and he knew it.
    "I
will go into no one’s custody,” Gareth sneered. “And certainly not by your
hand. Take your men and leave my court—or meet the wrath of my personal
fighting force."
    After
several tense seconds, the commander finally turned and gestured to his men,
and as one, they all retreated, walking warily backwards, swords drawn, from
the room.
    "From
this day forward,” the commander boomed, “let it be known that we no longer
serve you! You will face the Empire's army on your own. I hope they treat you
well. Better than you treated your father!”
    The soldiers
all stormed from the room, in a great clang of armor.
    The
dozens of councilmen and attendants and noblemen who remained all stood in the
silence, whispering.
    "Leave
me!” Gareth screamed. “ALL OF YOU!”
    All
the people left in the chamber quickly filed out, including Gareth’s own
fighting force left.
    Only
one person remained, lingering behind the others.
    Lord
Kultin.
    Just
he and Gareth were alone in the room, and he walked up to Gareth, stopping a few
feet away, and examined him, as if summing him up. As usual, his face was
expressionless. It was the true face of a mercenary.
    "I
don't care what you did or why,” he began, his voice gravelly and dark. “I
don’t care about politics. I'm a fighter. I care only for the money you pay me,
and my men.”
    He
paused.
    “Yet I
would like to know, for my own personal satisfaction: did you truly order those
men to take the sword away?"
    Gareth
stared back at the man. There was something in his eyes that he recognized in
himself: they were cold, remorseless, opportunistic.
    “And
if I did?” Gareth asked back.
    Lord
Kultin stared back for a long time.
    “But
why?” he asked.
    Gareth
stared back, silent.
    Kultin’s
eyes widened in recognition.
    “You
couldn’t wield it, so no one could?” asked Kultin. “Is that it?”
    “Yet
even so,” Kultin added, “surely you knew that sending it away would lower the
shield, make us vulnerable to attack.”
    Kultin’s
eyes opened wider.
    “You