Read Ascendant's Rite (The Moontide Quartet) for Free Online Page B

of which was now resting against his belly. The others erupted with fury, but the threat of the blade kept them in check.
    Hessaz still held the infant, and didn’t appear at all moved by the men’s aggression.
    Malevorn kindled blue fire in his left hand. ‘I don’t know how to use the Scytale,’ he said. ‘There are probably fewer than two dozen people in the world who do. But I know one of them.’
    ‘Who?’ Huriya demanded.
    ‘Adamus Crozier, the man who led the hunt.’
    . . . and sacrificed me, Raine, Dominic and Dranid. I’ll destroy him for that .
    ‘He’ll still be hunting us. Perhaps it’s time he found us: on ground of our own choosing.’
    He watched Huriya consider, while Tkwir and the other men backed away.
    ‘How many men will this Adamus Crozier have?’ Huriya asked.
    ‘A Fist: ten Inquisitors.’ More than enough to deal with your rabble.
    ‘Can he be separated from them?’
    ‘Potentially. We have no chance if we can’t.’
    ‘Our current weakness isn’t permanent,’ Huriya said. ‘We have other kindred, other packs. Can you find him?’
    ‘Yes, provided I can use a relay-stave to contact him.’
    ‘You know we don’t have the skill to make such trinkets.’
    ‘But I do,’ he said pointedly. ‘I need living wood, two feet long, three inches wide, the straighter the better. Are there any trees at all in this Kore-forsaken land?’
    ‘There are forests on the slopes of the Nimtaya Mountains, northeast of here,’ Hessaz replied, ‘tall trees that are always green.’ Her harsh voice took on a wistful tone he’d not heard before. ‘Also in the highlands of my country.’
    ‘We’re not going to rukking Lokistan,’ one of the men grumbled.
    ‘There is a pack of our Brethren in Gatioch, in the forests south of Ullakesh, near the Valley of Tombs,’ said another man, a greasy-haired Vereloni named Toljin. ‘My sister is mated to one. I could lead us there.’
    ‘I know the pack,’ Huriya replied. ‘Or Sabele did. If we go there, how long would it take you to create this relay-stave, Inquisitor?’
    ‘Two weeks? It’s exacting work, you know. But it’s the only way a non-clairvoyant can reach another mage over long distances.’
    ‘And you really can’t decipher this thing yourself?’
    ‘In time, perhaps, but I’d need access to an Arcanum library. Have you got one?’
    Huriya scowled at him. For a pretty face, it could pull a lot of ugly looks. ‘Then we must go to Gatioch. Tomorrow. Tonight we rest.’ She surveyed the men, appearing to come to the same conclusion as Malevorn: that she’d been left with the dregs of the pack.
    ‘What of this child?’ Hessaz asked, holding up Nasatya.
    Malevorn tried to work out what that something was in her voice, then remembered Hessaz had lost a child as well as a husband.
    ‘We keep him,’ Huriya said. ‘Knowing we have him will keep Ramita in her place. And he will have strong gnosis when he grows into it: that will be a valuable bloodline for us.’ She patted the infant’s head uncomfortably. ‘You tend him. I want nothing to do with the whining thing.’ She lost interest and sashayed away.
    Huriya really isn’t the mothering kind , Malevorn noted. But Hessaz didn’t look displeased as she clutched the infant to her and hurried after Huriya.
    Malevorn was left eyeing up the six men, gripping the hilt of his scimitar. ‘Well?’ he challenged. ‘Try me, if you think you’re up to it.’
    ‘Go rukk yourself, Inquisitor,’ Tkwir muttered as they backed away.
    I might as well; there’ll be no other fun to be had amongst this lot.
    *
    They travelled northeast, skirting the immense mountains from which rose the springs that fed the Imuna. They raided the few villages they found for food, striking the thatched mud-brick huts like a hurricane; their gnosis meant they had no fear of pursuit or retribution. In two weeks they reached the highlands south of Ullakesh, the chief city of Gatioch. It was a rugged, arid