Read The Grand Crusade for Free Online

friend?”
    “Because Bok is not stupid, nor a servant of the Oromise.” The puppet’s voice took on an edge. “Centuries ago, when I first met him, I knew he would be crucial to setting things to rights again. With your help, I am hopeful we can truly accomplish it this time.”
    Part of her wondered if, had she been there, Misha would yet live, but she dismissed that thought as unworthy. Adrogans, though he approached things differently from her, had never been a man to spend troops needlessly or carelessly. To wonder if she could have saved Mikhail devalued his skills and his sacrifice. He was an able warrior and leader, and to have liberated Varalorsk was no mean feat. It had never fallen before and somehow, with his spirit there to guard it, Alyx thought it never would again.
    Rubbing her thumb over the broken red wax seal, Alexia seated herself beside the fire and closed her eyes. It took her a moment to become comfortable, then she projected herself away to the Communion of Dragons. When she had done this before, she always appeared on a mountaintop and had to make her way through a cavern and down to a subterranean lake. This time, however, she appeared on the quay, beside the dark boat that would bear her to the island where the Communion members gathered.
    Though she had projected herself much closer to her goal, she smiled as golden letters appeared in the dark water.The secrets within remain secrets without, for the good of all the world. That warning appeared on the arch over the mouth of the cave, and was repeated here so she could not forget. Those things learned in the Communion could not be shared back in the physical world, though she would remember them and be able to act upon them.
    The boat onto which she stepped had been styled after a dragon, with a proud head above the bow. At the helm stood a mechanical dragonman. She nodded in his direction. “Maroth, take me forth.”
    The boat slowly began to drift away onto the black lake. That the water appeared to be a starless sky she took as a fitting omen to mark her cousin’s death. But she refused to see it as an ill omen, even though Chytrine’s forces had moved south with the power of a world-devouring storm. The Northern Empress would gobble up the stars themselves if she had the chance, of that Alyx was sure. With deliberations just beginning in Narriz, Alyx was uncertain if the world could assemble the forces needed to stop Chytrine.
    Out of the darkness loomed an island. When last she had been at the Communion, it had reminded her of a citadel akin to Fortress Draconis, but gradually its form had changed. It had become more primitive, with tall trees dominating broken towers, and menhirs mocking tumbled stone fortresses. Snow swirled over the grounds, teased by winds she did not feel or hear. Alyx wondered if the island had taken this shape because another member’s will had imposed itself, or if other constructs had been stripped away to reveal something more primal.
    The boat slipped up to a small dock and she mounted a set of crude stone stairs. She climbed to the gap in a low wall, then walked down into a snow-laden bowl. A hundred yards on she came to a circle of standing stones with two more individuals at its heart. One, the Black Dragon, she had seen there before. The other she recognized instantly, despite his being only rendered in shadow.
    She smiled broadly. “Father Ironwing!” Alyx threw her arms around the Gyrkyme and hoped the Communion would allow her to feel him in her embrace. It did, and allowed her to feel his returned hug.
    The Gyrkyme keened a laugh. “It is very good to see you here, my daughter. You are well after your many adventures?”
    “Yes, and Peri is, too. We are in Narriz, hoping the crowns will remain united to fight Chytrine.” She released him, then turned and bowed to the Black Dragon. “And you, sir, I hope you are well.”
    The man who wore a dragon’s head bowed it in return. “Better now than I had been. I was