“What Khazduri scholar would not? But that was not all. Do you recognise the metal the rune is inlaid with?”
Kormak shook his head.
“It is an alloy of netherium.” Kormak found he was holding his breath. Netherium was the metal the dwarves had taken in payment for the forging of blades like the one Kormak carried.
“That cannot be.”
“I assure you it is.”
“The Order scoured the world for netherium over a thousand years ago. It found none. The dwarves refused to make any more blades because the Order could not pay them.”
Karnea sighed and once more he felt like a slow student. “No. They made no more blades because they could not. Netherium and its alloys are an integral component of the creation of such weapons.”
Kormak understood now why the Order of the Dawn had sent him. No such blades had been forged in a thousand years. The dwarves could not even repair some of the ones that were damaged. The merchant had indeed no idea of the treasure he had sold, but then how could he? Very few had encountered the metal in the last millennium.
“You told the Grandmaster this?” Kormak said.
“I visited Mount Aethelas before I came here. I spoke with Darius.”
Kormak remembered gossip from when he had been an initiate, that Karnea and the Grandmaster had been lovers back then. Of course that was before Darius had risen to the heights of power he now occupied.
“And he put me at your disposal,” Kormak said. He was unable to keep the sourness from his voice. He had been pulled from protecting human beings from the powers of Shadow to aid this woman in her quest. Despite his resentment excitement grew within him. If they could find what she was looking for…
“It was not quite that way,” she said. “If I could have done this without telling anyone, I would have. If word gets out, there are those who would kill to prevent such knowledge being rediscovered.”
The Old Ones certainly would. And there were those who would wish to keep such lore as the Rune of Firebinding to themselves if they knew it existed. It would grant them a tremendous amount of power. Indeed the Order itself would probably take steps to secure such potent secrets. Perhaps that was why he was really here.
“So why can’t you do this yourself?”
“Because there are strange monsters lurking in the depths of Khazduroth.”
“You are a sorcerer, and by all accounts a powerful one, could you not guard yourself?”
“I am a scholar not a war wizard.”
“So you need the aid of a man with a dwarf-forged blade.”
“Darius thought it would be better to direct a single Guardian here in secret rather than send a force.”
“He did not want anyone to realise the importance of your quest, you mean.”
“Your grasp of the situation is sound.”
“What have you done so far?”
“We have been awaiting your presence before proceeding with inquiries,” she said.
“You have gold?” Kormak said.
She nodded. “Solari disks and letters of credit drawn on the Oldberg Bank in Vermstadt.”
“I doubt anybody would be too interested in taking those here,” Kormak said.
She gave him a sharp smile. “You might be surprised. A number of reputable merchants have representatives here. A surprisingly large amount of money passes through this place.”
“The scavengers?” Kormak said.
“I believe the preferred term is prospectors,” Karnea said.
“They are picking the bones of a dwarf city,” Kormak said.
“It is better than letting all the treasures never see the light of day,” she said. She shrugged. “If you want the truth I am pleased to join their ranks. I have long wanted to see a Khazduri city.”
Kormak wondered if the woman was entirely sane. The ruins of Khazduroth were a famously dangerous place, full of ancient traps, crumbling stonework, hideous monsters, and prospectors who would cheerfully slit their own mother’s throats at the prospect of profit. Since the gates of the city had been rediscovered five years ago countless people had died there. She did not seem to find the idea of going there at all intimidating.
“Would it not be better to send someone else to find what you seek?”
She looked suddenly shifty. “It’s not that I don’t trust you or Boreas, Sir Kormak, far from it. But I will know what I am looking for when I see it. It would take me years to explain all the little details to you and still you might make mistakes. No, I think it best that I lead this expedition in person.”
Kormak weighed her words, hearing the evasiveness in them. It might be as she said. It might be that, like many another sorcerer, she had no wish to share her secrets. Or it might just be that she was excited by the prospect of visiting Khazduroth and did not want to pass up the opportunity.