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

  A member of the Osprey Group

  Lace Market House,

  54-56 High Pavement,

  Nottingham,

  NG1 1HW, UK

  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

 


 

  Paul S. Kemp, Egil & Nix 02 - A Discourse in Steel

 


 

 
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net

Share this book with friends