I Read Stories: Iron Phantom by Bader M Alsadeqi
Iron Phantom by Bader M Alsadeqi in Swords And Sorcery
King Korvyn seized the throne of Alusia a few years back, a Soltanean warrior of peerless prowess he now has to contend with court politics. A certain ruthlessness and decisiveness aids him. Now though a strange occurrence; a master blacksmith in the royal forges has been killed in a bizarre, outlandish manner, limbs splayed beyond what living men can manage. He had been working on a commission – but that is missing.
Korvyn has his followers investigate, and a strange creature attacks places. In the archives they learn of the Forged Kings, from ancient history. When Alusia was ruled by iron creatures filled with divine spirits. Does someone want to bring back this forgotten old order?
And can even Korvyn, a supreme warrior, defeat a metal monster?
The set up may sound familiar to those with knowledge of Swords And Sorcery – Conan, a Cimmerian barbarian seizing the throne of Aquilonia for example; though here Robert E Howard was cribbing his own work with Kull of Atlantis as king of Valusia, names that are echoed here. Yet this isn’t a simple pale copy or pastiche. The Iron Phantom itself brings to mind a golem, but that’s not how it’s defeated – Korvyn has learned something of the art of ideas and kingship and that’s where the clues are. If it has obvious bones from the classics, they’re good bones and clothed in new flesh.
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