Read Jonathan Moeller - The Ghosts 09 - Ghost in the Surge for Free Online Page B

with thick walls to contain any fires. Fortunately, in the two years since Ark had purchased it, there had been no major disasters. A wide courtyard surrounded the building, partly to serve as a fire break, and partly to provide storage for ore awaiting processing. The double doors stood closed, and a man slumped against them, his blood pooling around him on the hard-packed earth…
    Ark cursed and came to a stop, drawing his sword.
    For years he had carried a Legion broadsword. This sword was lighter, thinner, and longer than the sword of the Legions, but it was far stronger. It was storm-forged steel, created by the stormsingers of New Kyre and carried into battle by a stormdancer. 
    At least, the sword had been carried by a stormdancer, until Ark had killed him. 
    Muravin drew his own weapons, and Ark hurried to the corpse. The dead man was Tarzain, a Saddai-born veteran of the Legion and one of Ark’s workers. Tarzain had been a robust and boisterous fellow, able to make even the grimmest veteran crack a smile at his jokes. 
    Yet someone had opened his throat with a single vicious slash. 
    “He died painfully,” said Murvain, scimitar in his right hand and trident in his left.
    “Aye,” said Ark, gazing at the wound. He had seen quite a few cut throats in his time, but this one looked different. It was ragged, frayed, as if had been made with a serrated blade. 
    A serrated blade. Why did that tug at his memory?
    “Go find an officer of the civic militia,” said Ark. “We must report this.” And Ark would need to speak with the Ghost circlemasters of Malarae. Tarzain had been a Ghost, as were most of Ark’s workers, and his death might have been an attack upon the Emperor’s eyes and ears. Theodosia and Shaizid would have to warn the others. “I will check to see if the murderer is lurking within.”
    He felt a surge of fear. Tanya and his children might be in their apartment at the foundry. Still, the apartment had only one entrance with a secure lock, and at this time of day Tanya would likely be at the market with Nicolai and Natasha. 
    “Do not be foolish,” said Muravin. “I will go with you. Then we shall go to the civic militia together. Wandering alone around the foundry would be unwise.”
    “Yes, you’re right,” said Ark, rebuking himself. He had not been in a serious fight since Marsis, but that was no excuse for making foolish decisions. “This way. We’ll cross the foundry and depart through the back doors. Then we’ll check my rooms in the outer wall, and go to one of the militia towers to report the murder.”
    Muravin nodded. “Lead on.”
    Ark pushed open the doors and stepped into the foundry. Wide windows high overhead admitted sunlight. Massive furnaces lined the walls, glowing sullenly with their banked fires. Brick trenches lined the floor, and chains and steel buckets hung from the ceilings. Workbenches stood near the doors, holding completed pieces of arms and armor – broadswords, helmets, throwing javelins. 
    Five dead men lay motionless upon the floor, blood trickling into the trenches.
    Ark moved forward, raising his sword in guard. All five of the men were his workers, and all five had been Ghosts. Their throats had been cut in the same grisly manner as Tarzain, though many of the men bore sword wounds. 
    “This was a fight,” said Ark. “They still have weapons. And their other wounds are in the front.” He looked at the splatters of blood. “They tried to fight as a group, but something overwhelmed them.”
    “If five Legion veterans could not overcome a foe,” said Murvain, “we surely cannot. I suggest we seek the aid of the militia at once.” 
    Ark nodded. “After we check on Tanya and the children. We…”
    A boot clicked against the brick floor. 
    Ark whirled, bringing up his sword, and Murvain raised his trident to throw. A figure moved through the gloom between two of the furnaces, throwing a dark shadow over the bloody corpses. 
    “Name