Rusk still didn’t understand why the witches had arranged an attack on the guild. He supposed the red-haired witch had been hurt somehow when Rusk had murdered the old Upright Man in her tent. So she and her sister had enspelled Egil and Nix to take their vengeance, and things had escalated from there.
Rusk eyed the tat on his hand, the new eighth blade it had grown.
“Bitter taste to let Egil and Nix live over this, Eighth Blade,” Trelgin said. “They killed a lot of good guild men.”
“They did, but they were as enspelled by both those witches as were Varn and Mors. And they’re going to pay compensation to make good. They’ll be grateful we treated them square and that’ll be useful to us someday.”
“As you say, Eighth Blade,” Trelgin said, sucking drool, and Rusk liked the way the title sounded on another’s lips. When they cleared the swamp and broke out into the Meander-proper, Trelgin spoke over his shoulder, his diction sloppy with palsy.
“My loyalties are always to the guild and whoever wears the eighth blade. I know we had some words on this deal, but I hope you can respect that.”
Rusk didn’t bother to respond, instead letting Trelgin stew.
After a time he smiled and said, “Seventh Blade’s a shite job, Trelgin. Get used to it.”
About the Author
Paul S. Kemp is a lawyer. That is bad.
He is also the million-selling author of the Erevis Cale sword and sorcery stories and several Star Wars novels. That is good. Very good.
He has appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list three times (twice on the hardcover list, and once in the mass market list).
It's a little known fact that Paul has maimed eight men and three llamas using only an unsharpened pencil and a stick of Wrigley's gum. Now you know too. He does not hum show tunes. Ever.
Paul lives in Michigan with his wife and twin sons.
paulskemp.com
Also by Paul S Kemp
Tales of Egil and Nix
The Hammer and the Blade
The Sembia Series
The Halls of Stormweather
Shadow's Witness
The Erevis Cale Trilogy
Twilight Falling
Dawn of Night
Midnight's Mask
The Twilight War
Shadowbred
Shadowstorm
Shadowrealm
Star Wars
Crosscurrent
Riptide
Deceived: A novel of the Old Republic
Anthologies and Collections
Ephemera
Realms of Shadow
Realms of Dragons
Realms of War
Sails and Sorcery
Horrors Beyond II
Worlds of Their Own
Eldritch Horrors: Dark Tales
ANGRY ROBOT
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www.angryrobotbooks.com
An Angry Robot paperback original 2013.
Copyright © 2013 by Paul S Kemp
Cover art by Richard Jones of Artist Partners
Distributed in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York.
All rights reserved.
Angry Robot is a registered trademark and the Angry Robot icon a trademark of Angry Robot Ltd.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Sales of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If this book is coverless, it may have been reported to the publisher as "unsold and destroyed" and neither the author nor the publisher may have received payment for it.
ISBN 978 0 85766 253 8
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Table of Contents
A Discourse in Steel
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
About the Author
Also by Paul S Kemp