In the Company of the Dead (The Sundered Oath Book 1)
IN THE COMPANY OF THE DEAD
By
Ciara Ballintyne
Copyright
www.EvolvedPub.com
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IN THE COMPANY OF THE DEAD
Book 1 of The Sundered Oath
Copyright © 2016 Ciara Ballintyne
Cover Art Copyright © 2016 Sam Keiser
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ISBN (EPUB Version): 1622530306
ISBN-13 (EPUB Version): 978-1-62253-030-4
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Editor: Marissa van Uden
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eBook License Notes:
You may not use, reproduce or transmit in any manner, any part of this book without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations used in critical articles and reviews, or in accordance with federal Fair Use laws. All rights are reserved.
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only; it may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return to your eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination, or the author has used them fictitiously.
The Sundered Oath
In the Company of the Dead
On the Edge of Death
To Make the Dead Weep
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The Seven Circles of Hell
Confronting the Demon
Stalking the Demon
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ciaraballintyne.com
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What Others Are Saying about Ciara Ballintyne’s Books:
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In the Company of the Dead:
“Some of the most notable fantasy authors create powerful reads with slower beginnings that lead up to a crescendo of gripping action—such as this story... Much like the acclaimed fantasy writer Patrick Rothfuss’s productions, In the Company of the Dead evolves slowly for the first few chapters... perfect for the fantasy fan seeking depth, who appreciates a slow build-up before the fiery action begins. Such an audience will find this perfectly fits the definition of an epic saga: sweeping, complex, and ultimately engrossing.” ~ D. Donavan, Midwest Book Review
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Confronting the Demon:
“Ballintyne's work shows flashes of inspiration from Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery stories as well as the works of more traditional epic fantasy authors.” ~ Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews
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Stalking the Demon:
“...a fitting successor to Ballintyne's brilliant debut novel... It's most highly recommended.” ~ Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews
We’re pleased to offer you a Special Sneak Preview at the end of this book. In that preview, you’ll enjoy the First 4 Chapters of the second book in the award-winning THE SUNDERED OATH series, On the Edge of Death. Just click on the link below the image to get your sneak peek.
SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW: On the Edge of Death by Ciara Ballintyne
For Mum, who never read fantasy books—ever, at all—but has read every one of mine.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Other Books by Ciara Ballintyne
BONUS CONTENT
Dedication
Chapter 1 – Premonition
Chapter 2 – Embracing the Goddess
Chapter 3 – Burning Bridges
Chapter 4 – Gift of the Goddess
Chapter 5 – Aut Agere Aut Mori
Chapter 6 – Dark God
Chapter 7 – The Elusiveness of Truth
Chapter 8 – The Memory That Couldn't Be
Chapter 9 – Naphtha in a Bottle
Chapter 10 – The Sleepless
Chapter 11 – Sabotage
Chapter 12 – A Raw Wound
Chapter 13 – Virulence
Chapter 14 – The Lesser of Two Evils
Chapter 15 – The Value of a Soul
Chapter 16 – The Order of Ahura
Chapter 17 – Dead Man Walking
Chapter 18 – The Theft of Death
Chapter 19 – Over the Wall
Chapter 20 – No Good News
Chapter 21 – Red on White, Black on White
Chapter 22 – Fractured
Chapter 23 – Second Guesses
Chapter 24 – Confession
Chapter 25 – Arrow to the Heart
Chapter 26 – The Second Arrow
Chapter 27 – Another Woman
Chapter 28 – Chained By Passion
Chapter 29 – Dead Man in a Box
Chapter 30 – All That Is Dangerous
Chapter 31 – Arrow to the Mind
Chapter 32 – Suspects
Chapter 33 – Dead End
Chapter 34 – A Knocking in the Walls
Chapter 35 – Confrontation
Chapter 36 – Toxic Draught
Chapter 37 – An Explosive Attack
Chapter 38 – With Clear Vision
Chapter 39 – Resolved
Chapter 40 – Shattered
Chapter 41 – To Flee What Cannot Be Outrun
Chapter 42 – I'm Here
Chapter 43 – Recognition
Chapter 44 – The Chancellor
Chapter 45 – Justice, Not Revenge
Chapter 46 – To Pierce the Heart
Chapter 47 – Death, Life, Love
Chapter 48 – Vows of Blood
Chapter 49 – Cold Death
Chapter 50 – The Dead Army
Chapter 51 – Rahmyrrim
Chapter 52 – The Day My Apprenticeship Began
Chapter 53 – Haunted By Death
Chapter 54 – The Bitter End
Chapter 55 – Dead Twice Over
Chapter 56 – The Only Thing To Cling To
Chapter 57 – The Breaking
Chapter 58 – Let It Be Just
Chapter 59 – Nothing To Keep
Glossary
Acknowledgements
About the Author
What's Next?
SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW: On the Edge of Death (Book 2)
More from Evolved Publishing
Only a fool would split hairs with a god, least of all the goddess of death, but Ellaeva would count herself such a fool and consider it worth it—if she could get away with it.
She leaned across the knife-scarred timber of the tavern table.
“Are you sure?” she asked, her tone even and barely loud enough to be audible over the noise of the flute and the zither. Her work on behalf of the goddess Ahura, adjudicating the small war here in Dayhl, could only be abandoned in favour of a greater threat. If she was going to chase off after the man who killed her parents, she needed to be sure her arguments stacked up. The pursuit of personal justice wouldn’t be enough.
Is it justice or revenge?
No time to worry about that now. She tugged her black hood farther down over her infamous face, even though deep shadows blanketed the common room corner. She’d chosen a table far from the tallow candles mounted in their stag-horn chandeliers. There was no point taking chances; the black hair and porcelain skin of a Tembran would be remarked here among the platinum-haired Dayhlish. Besides, someone might recognise her.
“In Ahlleyn, sure as the spring comes after winter, Holiness.” The narrow-faced man across from her grinned, baring teeth more brown than yellow. Th
e acrid smoke from the candles didn’t cover his pungent breath.
She half-stood, making an urgent, negating gesture as she glanced around, but the hubbub of chatter from the patrons and the music covered his slip. No one even glanced their way. On the far side of the room, away from the two blazing hearths, tables were pushed aside for dancing. She dropped back into her seat, her black robes fluttering around her booted feet.
Ahlleyn lay on the other side of the continent, months of travel by horse. If her informant was right and a Rahmyrrim priest had been dispatched there, he would likely be gone long before she arrived—unless she begged a favour, but she’d not do that for a lark of her own. However, if it meant catching the man who killed her parents, well then maybe she could come up with an argument that would hold water for a god. Old grief and anger, stale from a decade or more, stirred in her gut, and her fingers curled around the edge of the table.
Releasing her grip, she reached to the inner pocket in her robes where rested the smudged charcoal drawing of a man. Hard work and luck had helped her obtain that picture of the man she believed killed her parents—a man she knew to be a priest of Rahmyr. If she decided to act against her standing orders, then she needed to be sure it was the man she was after, and that he was involved in some act heinous enough to attract her goddess’s attention.
“Did you get the name of this priest? Or his description?” An unknown number of priests served Rahmyr, but she knew six by sight—six still alive anyway.
The thin man shook his head. “Nobody mentioned. I got the impression he’s already there, or on his way leastways.”
She scowled. No way to be sure then that this was the man she wanted. Begging favours of Ahura for her personal satisfaction was a risky business, especially if she neglected her duties, and perhaps it would all be for nothing.
With one hand, she flattened the map that curled on the table between them. The patrons behind them exploded with laughter at something unheard. Ignoring the noise, she stabbed her finger at an unmarked portion of the map in the foothills of the Ahlleyn mountains. If he didn’t know who, maybe he knew the what. “There, you say? What possible interest could Rahmyr have there? There’s nothing of interest at all.”
She lowered her voice even further as she uttered the name of the goddess of decay, and glanced around again. That name spoken too loudly would bring unwanted attention. But nearly all the tavern patrons were busy whirling on the impromptu dance floor or lined up to watch the dancers, their backs to her.
The nameless man leaned forward, treating her to another stomach-clenching blast of foul breath, and touched a spot perhaps half an inch away from her finger. A tiny, unlabelled picture marked something there.
“Here, Holiness.”
She squinted at the picture, letting his lapse slide. The image represented a holy place. There was an old shrine to Ahura somewhere in the Ahlleyn Borders, wasn’t there? And a castle built over it. “Caisteal Aingeal an Bhais.”
“That sounds like the name,” he agreed. “Never could get my mouth around them Ahlleyn words. Pink castle, I heard.”
She grunted. That was the one. “There’s still nothing there.”
Nothing of interest to Rahmyr anyway. The shrine wasn’t particularly important, and the castle held no political significance.
“What’s there,” the man said, “is Lyram Aharris.”
The premonition went through her like a blast of icy wind, stiffening her in her chair as the hand of the goddess brushed against her mind. A light caress, but from a giant, and so it sent her mind reeling. She clutched the table for support. Lyram Aharris’s reputation preceded him the length of the continent: eight years ago, at the age of twenty-seven, he’d brought an end to the centuries-long conflict between Ahlleyn and Velena through a series of brilliant military manoeuvres. He’d survived the Siege of Invergahr against near-impossible odds, brought the crown prince safely clear of the conflict, and fought the Velenese to a standstill using their own guerrilla warfare tactics against them. As a novice, she’d covered the tactics thoroughly as part of her studies. The man was a military genius. That he was third in line for the throne of Ahlleyn was the least there was to know about him—at least it was, until his king dismissed him from court. The rumours on everyone’s lips said he murdered his wife, even if no one could prove it.
What did Rahmyr want with him?
The answer didn’t really matter. Any plot that interfered with a man who stood so close in the succession of a throne and who possessed such military genius was more important than the minor civil war in the north. The valkyr could deal with that adequately in her absence, with a priestess to serve as arbiter of justice. No one but Ahura’s Battle Priestess could handle a Rahmyrrim priest targeting a highly ranked noble.
And maybe, just maybe, the one sent to deal with a man as important as Lyram Aharris was also her quarry.
“Your information, as always, is good.” She pushed a gold Dayhlish dariz, the highest denomination of coin, across the table to the man.
He waited until she released the coin before snatching it up. Even a man brave enough to spy on the servants of the black goddess of decay hesitated to touch her, such was her reputation. After all these years, the over-cautiousness stung only a little.
Ellaeva climbed to her feet, drawing her black robes around her, as the informant vanished into the crowd as quick as his feet would carry him. She followed more slowly, winding her way around drinkers who instinctively avoided bumping into her even though they were ignorant of her identity. Most would take her for an ordinary priestess of Ahura, a common enough sight in any town or city where they served as magistrates and judges. One pair of dancers almost waltzed into her, the man jerking aside at the last moment and nearly knocking his partner off her feet. He stared as Ellaeva passed, while his partner scolded him loudly.
She needed to find somewhere less crowded than this tavern. If the goddess had deigned to give her a premonition, surely she would consent to speed her journey—and for that, Ellaeva required peace and silence enough to prepare the holy sword for mystic transit.
When she finally spilled out into the silence of the night-shrouded street, the noise of laughter from behind only heightened the empty ache of loneliness in her soul.
Dust rose into the sky, painting the sunrise red with a shepherd’s warning.
On the castle parapet, Lyram lowered the eyeglass and frowned. Beyond the ruined, outer wall of the keep, the terrain turned to densely wooded hills and then into mountains, but that much dust meant men and horses, and lots of them. No merchant caravans came past the remote Caisteal Aingeal, and he expected no supply train until the spring thaw reached the mountain passes, which would be two weeks or more. He turned to his aide-de-camp.
“Have any of the scouts returned yet?” The stiff wind whipped the words from his mouth and his auburn hair into his eyes.
Everard stood straight and stiff alongside him, impeccable in formal court jacket and kilt marked with the insignia of his rank. Before he could answer, a shout rose from further down the castle wall. A soldier pointed at the old gate.
Lyram pressed the glass back to his eye and swung to look, his basket-hilted broadsword banging against his leg at the sudden motion. With no trouble over the winter, and no reason to expect any, he wore only his gambeson and a leather tabard. The rest of his armour remained in his room—a lack that left him distinctly uneasy now.
A horse raced through the crumbling gate in the old vine- and grass-covered outer wall, the rider clinging to its neck. It galloped up the narrow dirt path that cut straight from outer gate to moat. This close to the tail end of winter, no cattle grazed in the waist-high grass between the two walls.
A hushed stillness spread along the soldiers lining the battlements. Tension squeezed a tight knot into Lyram’s gut. Nearly twelve months he’d waited here in exile, twelve months wondering if Drault would be true to his word—if he dared.
Now it began.
&n
bsp; “Open the gates.” Lyram spun towards the gate-tower stairwell and hastened down the spiral steps to the triangular courtyard.
As he stepped from the darkness of the stairwell, the sound of hoof beats on timber echoed off the walls. After a long moment, the horse burst from the shadows of the barbican and clattered onto the cobbles of the inner courtyard, sweat-darkened chestnut flanks heaving and its rider half-hanging from the saddle. Lyram rushed forward, caught the falling man, and lowered him to the ground.
Everard appeared at his side, his glasses pushed hard to the bridge of his nose and lips pursed. A ring of faces pressed around them, the soldiers’ brows creased beneath their helms.
Galdron shoved through, helm in hand and the sun gleaming on his balding pate, and the soldiers fell back to allow their captain passage. He squatted alongside Lyram with a cursory “sir”.
Lyram eased the man from his grasp and onto his back on the cobbles. He sucked in a breath. Maddok. Though the young man was a farmer’s son, and Lyram was a duke’s, they’d known each other since boyhood and even played together a time or two. Blood slicked the partial cuir bouilli chest and shoulder harness he wore over his chainmail, its metallic stink filling Lyram’s nostrils. A crossbow quarrel had punched through the mail where the boiled leather plate ended and stood upright in Maddok’s chest, buried almost to the fletching.
Lyram met Galdron’s eyes, and the grizzled captain shook his head slightly. No rib had stopped that arrow from going in, only coming out. No doubt the arrowhead pierced the lung. Lyram closed his eyes momentarily and took a steadying breath. There was nothing to do except ease the lad’s passing to Ahura.
Everard handed a waterskin to Galdron, who lifted it to the scout’s lips.
Maddok sucked greedily, and water leaked down his chin. Sweat plastered thin blond hair to his skull.
“Sir?” The scout’s eyes fluttered open, seeking and holding Lyram’s gaze. “Sir.” Relief stained the words this time. “An army, commander. An army comes.”
“What? Here?” Lyram scooted closer, taking Maddok’s hand. “Stupid question. Of course here. There’s nothing else for miles except trees and the odd cow.”