Third time's the charm!Richard Morgan posted a third work in progress extract from his upcoming novel The Cold Commands, book 2 of the Land fit for Heroes series.
The first WIP was about Ringil, the second one about Egar and the third one is dedicated to Archeth. Richard also mentions that the novel is almost finished (still set for October so far).
The complete excerpt is on Morgan's blog.
His imperial radiance Jhiral Khimran II was executing traitors in the Chamber of Confidences when they got back.
Archeth had Anasharal brought up to the palace anyway. She’d known the Emperor since he was a child, had watched his ascension to the throne – apparently with a few less illusions than the rest of the court, because she seemed to be the only one not shocked when the purges started – and she knew he was going to demand to see the Helmsman as soon as he heard about it.
He might even put the executions on hold.
So she went, unenthusiastically, along the sculpted marble corridors in the Salak wing of the palace. Went deeper and deeper, towards the screaming, while krinzanz need scraped at her nerves like knives. The smooth-walled architecture gleamed and curved and swept, palely voluptuous around her, mostly tones of muted jade and amber, but veined through in places with stark copper or black, and studded at intervals with conquest pieces – artwork and sculpture dragged here from every corner of the Empire and jammed into alcoves or nailed onto walls that didn’t really suit the purpose.
And the shrieks and pleas for mercy echoed off the polished stone, chased each other down the corridors, ambushed her round corners, like the ghosts of the conquered dead, somehow trapped in the marble heart of the imperium that had vanquished them.
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