undying legion 01 - unbound man

• Title Page
  
• Maps
  
• Dramatis Personae
  
• Prologue
  
• Part 1: The Falling Pebble
  
• Chapter 1
  
• Chapter 2
  
• Chapter 3
  
• Chapter 4
  
• Chapter 5
  
• Chapter 6
  
• Chapter 7
  
• Chapter 8
  
• Part 2: The Comfort of your Tears
  
• Chapter 9
  
• Chapter 10
  
• Chapter 11
  
• Chapter 12
  
• Chapter 13
  
• Chapter 14
  
• Chapter 15
  
• Chapter 16
  
• Chapter 17
  
• Chapter 18
  
• Chapter 19
  
• Part 3: To Wake in Darkness
  
• Chapter 20
  
• Chapter 21
  
• Chapter 22
  
• Chapter 23
  
• Chapter 24
  
• Chapter 25
  
• Chapter 26
  
• Epilogue
  
• About the Author
  
• Dedication
  
• Acknowledgements
  
• Copyright
  

The Unbound Man

Book 1 of The Undying Legion

Matt Karlov

Imago Mundi Press

Maps

Dramatis Personae

In Spyridon

Arandras,
a former Quill linguist, now poor-quarter scribe

Tereisa,
his wife, deceased

Mara,
a seeker of lost treasures

Druce,
a thief

Jensine,
a sorcerer

Onsoth,
an officer of the Library

Yevin,
a Library scribe

Sten,
a trader of antiquities

Grae,
a courier

Leff,
a ditch-digger

Wil,
his son

Of the Quill

Damasus,
governor of the Anstice schoolhouse

Narvi,
a sorcerer and researcher

Katriel,
a child, Narvi’s daughter

Bannard,
a researcher

Senisha,
a librarian

Ienn,
leader of a field team

Halli,
a sorcerer

Gord,
a researcher

Derrek,
leader of a field team

Cal,
a sorcerer

Rawlen,
a researcher

Of the Oculus

Clade,
overseer of the Anstice unit

Garrett,
his adjunct

Sinon,
a sorcerer

Kalie,
a sorcerer

Meline,
a sorcerer

Rathzange,
a sorcerer

Sera,
a newly-bound sorcerer

Niele,
a deserter, deceased

Estelle,
a Councillor

Weneth,
a Councillor

Azador,
a god

Of the Woodtraders

Vorace,
Guildmaster

Laris,
Trademaster

Pel,
her adjunct

Eilwen,
a trader

Kieffe,
a trader

Tammas,
a hired sword, deceased

Havilah,
Spymaster

Ufeus,
a spy

Brielle,
a spy

Caralange,
Guild Sorcerer

Orom,
a sorcerer

Soll,
Treasurer

Phemia,
Seneschal

Ged,
house steward

Others

Isaias,
a trader of rare items

Jasser,
a trader

Peni,
a trader

Qulah,
a Tahisi trader

Dallin,
a moneylender

Terrel,
a mercenary captain

Hosk,
a mercenary

Yuri,
a mercenary

Noash,
a boy

Jon,
his brother

Prologue

When a phoenix is about to die it builds a great nest upon a rock. Surrounded by twigs and leaves, it settles down among the tinder and there it gives itself over to immolation. The phoenix burns, the nest becomes ashes, and an ember is formed from which a new, younger bird will arise.

Sometimes the flame is too weak. The nest smoulders. The ember cools. The phoenix dies, yet its new self is not born. The ember hardens and dims and lies dormant, like a seed awaiting a spring that will never come.

But sometimes the flame is strong, so strong that the nest cannot contain it. It leaps and burns: a tree, a hillside, a forest. The fire spreads, and other embers that have long been cold and lifeless are kindled at last. Slowly, slowly, they awaken and remember what they are, and what they are to be.

When the fire is done, all is cloaked in ash. And who can say what embers now glow beneath the desolation, or when they might at last give birth?

So it is when empires die.

— Tiysus Oronayan
Histories
Third Volume

They were being followed, and Derrek was weary of it.

He lay back on the patchy grass and gazed at the glittering twilight sky. The evening was cooler than usual for summer; the breeze had turned that morning and now wafted down from the north like a whispered benediction, mild and refreshing, rustling the leaves of the trees surrounding the clearing. Somewhere in the dark, a nightbird called to its companions.

The sky had been clear the past three nights, ever since they found the small urn buried among the ruins of a modest, long-dead temple. There’d been nothing to suggest that anyone else had been there for centuries, still less that very day; but Derrek had felt eyes watching them as he pulled the urn from the earth, and again that evening as they made camp. They’d set a watch, despite the complaints — and, in the end, the somnolence — of Rawlen, but the dawn had arrived without incident.

Yet the feeling of being watched remained.

“Watch what you’re doing, boy! If I want your foul tea poured all over me, I’ll do it myself!”

Derrek sat up to see Callidora wiping ineffectually at her boot with a handful of grass. Cal was short and round, and had difficulty reaching her feet at the best of times. Rawlen stood frozen before her with the pot in hand, face flushed with embarrassment. Another trickle splashed over the back of Cal’s hand and she yelped. “Put it down, you fool boy, before you throw the rest of it over my head!”

Jolting into motion, Rawlen lowered the pot clumsily to the ground. His mouth opened and closed until at last he turned away, stumbling around the campfire and throwing himself down with a frustrated sigh. Derrek forced himself not to glare after him.
A newborn foal would hinder us less.

He rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the persistent ache in his back. Walking all day through a forest or sleeping on the hard earth had rarely bothered him before. Once, a long time ago, it had even been exciting. But lately he’d found himself missing the comfortable schoolhouse beds, the generous meals, the opportunities to just sit quietly for a while and read, or think, or do nothing at all.
You’re getting old,
he told himself.
Old and soft.
The thought would have been distasteful even a year ago; now, it was merely resigned.
Of course it is. Submission to the inevitable — another characteristic of age.

Even the thrill of finding their goal had been muted. He’d tucked the urn beneath his leather jerkin with barely a second look, heedless of its unblemished condition. It was made of metal — pewter, Derrek thought — its mouth sealed with a cap. But if either the urn or its contents possessed the sorcery of the long-dead Valdori, it was subtle enough to be indiscernible.
Just an antiquated trinket, no doubt. Pretty enough to look at, but nothing more.
The find would doubtless delight a Quill historian somewhere, but before long it would disappear into the archives, making its final home among the countless other inconsequential relics of the past.