Read The Dawn of a Desperate War (The Godlanders War) for Free Online Page B

skills.”
    “I’m not a soldier, Corin, but I will fight for you.”
    “How?”
    “Here. I only came to say good-bye to Aemilia. But if you will keep your promise, if you’ll commit yourself to ending Ephitel, then I’ll abandon mine. I will return to the Council and do everything in my power to sway them in your favor.”
    Corin shook his head. “I have no desire to wait for that.”
    “And I wouldn’t want you to. I only hope that when you need us, the druids will be ready to stand behind you.”
    Corin nodded, satisfied. He pushed himself away from the standing stone and caught the edge of his cloak against a sudden gust of wind. He closed his other hand around Godslayer ’s hilt and nodded to the druid.
    “Fortune favor you,” Corin said. “While you begin your work, I go hunting for a god.”
     

C orin stepped through dream and traveled all the way from the Dividing Line in southwest Raentz to the bustling heart of Aerome with just a thought. He had not visited the city often, but he knew well the place he meant to go.
    His memory and Oberon’s power brought him to a narrow hallway in a rundown apartment complex. The corridor was dark and close, and floorboards creaked even under Corin’s careful step. The pirate winced at the noise, but only out of ancient habit; he was not in Aerome for any clandestine purpose. On the contrary—he meant to get caught.
    But first he had to lay some plans, and that was why he’d come to this third-story hallway in the least fashionable part of town. He strode forward through the shadows, peering closely at the numbers scratched into the crude doorposts until he found the one he wanted. He rapped on the door.
    A woman answered; a pretty little slip of a thing. In itself, that was no surprise at all, but Corin felt a touch of shock when he recognized the girl.
    She clearly did not recognize him. She frowned out into the hall, the door opened just a slit. She clutched a linen bedsheet around her, and in her other hand she held a narrow-bladed knife with tracery in gold and silver. Corin raised his eyebrows, admiring, until she gave a quiet growl.
    He cleared his throat. “That is quite a piece of handiwork.”
    “You had better mean the knife.”
    “Oh, I do,” he answered earnestly. It was a bauble fit for a prince, but Corin had no doubt it held a perfect edge. Dwarven mastercraft.
    “Well,” she said, only slightly mollified. She hid a massive yawn behind a delicate fist. By the look of her, she’d been several days without much restful sleep, and the snippy tone in her voice suggested she was most anxious to get back to it. “Do you have some business here, or have you only come to ogle?”
    Corin swept a bow. “My dear Lilya, I have come a thousand miles to speak with Master Strunk. Please tell me he is taking visitors.”
    She pulled the door wider to gain a better view. She frowned at him a moment, then shook her head. “How do you know me?”
    He showed her a winning smile. “I have an eye for craftsmanship, my dear, and a good memory for names. More to the point, I will not soon forget the night that Giuliano Vestossi met his end, and you played a noble part in that particular event.”
    Her eyes shot wide at that. “You know? Oh, but you are him. I didn’t recognize you.”
    “Perhaps the evening didn’t register so strongly for you.”
    Another voice answered Corin, lower in register and lower to the ground. “Perhaps her eyes were full of better men.”
    Corin grinned. “Or dwarves.”
    “Or dwarves,” the other agreed. He stepped up to the girl’s side and slapped her bottom with the same care and precision he had used to make that blade. She gasped, then grinned and blushed by turns, and the rascal dwarf chuckled in reply.
    “Might as well find some clothes to keep you warm, darling. I have a feeling Corin here intends to put me to less worthy tasks.”
    “Alas, I do indeed,” Corin said. He tipped his head in a bow to Lilya. “A