“And beautiful,” added Selene, her tone neutral.
Uh oh. He gave her an innocent look. “How did I get in trouble while I’m away and you’re with her? Plus, she’s in love with Tiny.”
Selene pointed at her eyes, then at him, but she cracked a smile at the end. “You’re lucky I trust you, especially since you conveniently sent Laina back to Klendon.” Then she switched subjects. “Did things go well with the trolls?”
He tried not to wince and forced a smile instead. “There’s twelve with me now. We’re southeast of you and traveling as fast as we can. I think we can be there in two days or less.”
“Twelve—is that enough?”
“It was the most I could negotiate for,” he prevaricated. It was a small lie. In truth, he’d considered trying for double that number, but after the first round of excisions he couldn’t bring himself to repeat the process.
Her eyes narrowed. “You sound strained. What did you have to promise for their help?”
“I’ll explain later,” said Will. “Suffice to say, I’ve already paid for their assistance, so there’s no debt hanging over my head.”
She never looked away. “You’d better be telling the truth.” Then, before he could make excuses, she continued, “Things are bad here.”
“How bad?”
“Mark’s here now, and we’re close to Myrsta, but the demons have been out in force.”
“What does that mean?”
Selene glanced down, then back up again. “They’ve been sending out warbands, raiding the surrounding areas.”
“Warbands? Why would they raid? They can just wait for the spell-engine to do its work.”
“Your father thinks they’re doing it for multiple reasons. The demons get information about what’s going on in the area, and they simultaneously create fear and chaos. Mark thinks they’re also trying to keep us from organizing effectively.”
“How big are these warbands?” asked Will.
“Big. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of demons,” said Selene. “I would have called them armies, but your father says they’re too disorganized to deserve the name. We fought and eliminated two groups as we approached Myrsta. We’re trying to encircle the city now, so we can stop them from terrorizing the farms and villages in the area.”
Will nodded. “I’m glad to hear that. They’re our people now. We should help them.”
“They’re helping us,” countered Selene. “Several smaller units of the former Darrowan army have joined us since discovering that you recruited their marshal.”
“Maybe the lords will understand what I was trying to do now,” said Will. “If we had taken a hard line with the locals, we wouldn’t have any help now.”
Selene pursed her lips. “Just so you know, I never disagreed with your philosophy. Even so, I’m not sure it will be enough. Mark is under a lot of stress.”
He frowned. Will had never seen any sign of weakness in the veneer of calm control that always concealed his father’s true emotions. “Is he all right?”
She nodded. “For now, but I can tell he’s worried. He’s afraid that encircling the capital will spread our forces too thin, that that’s what the demons want. He’s also worried something will happen to you before you return.”
“He should know better than that.”
“Should he?” she asked. “Despite what you think, he’s just a man, Will. I know you have your reasons, but you’ve always been too hard on him.”
Will gaped at her.
“I’m serious. You give him too much credit for the image he presents. Maybe he projects strength and confidence, but he’s only human. That’s how he was raised. Underneath, he’s struggling. We’re facing a demon invasion and you’re not here, so he’s left holding the bag and he knows he can only hold it together for so long before everything comes apart.”
“Did he say that?” asked Will.
“No, Will. Pay attention. I’m translating for you. That’s how he feels inside. It’s what he won’t say, not to me, not to anyone.”
“Damn,” said Will. “You’re doing better than me if you can tell all that from just looking at him. I usually draw a blank.”
“You’re too close.”
“We aren’t close at all,” said Will.
She sighed. “No, you’re too invested. He’s your father, and you’ve got a lot of strong emotions tied to him. That’s why you can’t see him clearly.”
He couldn’t really argue with that. Before he could agree, Selene surprised him with another revelation. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you before you went to find the trolls, but after you left Cerria, I started a full audit of your accounts. You’ll never guess what I found.”
The change of subjects confused him. Will stared at her for a moment before replying, “Money?”
She sighed. “I found a particular transaction not long after you were granted title to the Arenata estate. You made a large donation to the Mothers of Terabinia in the amount of five thousand six hundred and thirty-five gold crowns.”
“I did?” Now he was even more confused.
“No, dummy,” she said, exasperated. “You didn’t. That’s the point. Doesn’t that number sound familiar?”
It did. Frowning, he asked, “Wasn’t that the amount that someone left for the Doster family to find? The assassination money?”
She nodded.
“Are you saying someone in your charity wants me dead?”
Selene rolled her eyes. “There are only a few people with access to the charity accounts.”
Will squinted at her suspiciously. “Are you sure none of them are out to get me?”
“I can assure you that neither I nor Laina wants you truly dead, though you do have your moments.”
“Oh.” That set him back. “The two of you can’t be the only ones with access, though.”
“You’re right, but the fact is that the money was never received. I checked the books myself. The log entry in your account book was fraudulent.”
“So, who did it?”
She smiled. “I took it all the way to the Royal Bank and insisted on seeing their records. The coin was paid out of your account and the log entry in their book was obviously forged. Such a large sum would require the approval of one of the bank’s senior directors, but none of them signed it. That leaves us with only a few possibilities.”
Will was tired of the game and wished she would just give him the answer, but he continued to play along. “Which are?”
“Only the bank chairman or the deputy chairman could get access to those books and authorize such a sum be released without being forced to put his name on it. Even then it would probably cause rumors that would reach my father’s ears.”
He whistled. “You think the king gave approval for it?”
“Or simply turned a blind eye,” said Selene. “That’s very much his style. I would bet everything that it was either the chairman or the deputy chairman who actually hatched the plan. Both of them are senior officers and greater peers of the realm.”
“Who?” he demanded, tired of waiting.
She told him, and Will felt a shock go through him. “That can’t be right. One is impossible and the other—I trust him! He wouldn’t.”
Selene shook her head sadly. “It could have been either of them. Think about it. There’s nothing we can do right now; Lustral is dead and the other can’t be confronted until later.”
He gave her a dour look. “Thanks. How am I supposed to sleep? I’ll be turning this over in my head all night.”
“This will keep your brain busy,” she announced, holding up a sheet of parchment covered in neat writing with a tidy diagram in the center.
The spell looked complicated, but less so than Will had expected. “Is it sixth-order?” he asked.
She nodded.
“I thought it would be harder.”
Selene smiled. “The first version was eighth-order, maybe more, but there were several repetitive sections.” She pointed to one pa
rt of the spell formula. “See here? I routed it back to this portion twice to keep it shorter and more efficient.”
Will had to study it for a minute to get a feel for what she had done, then he whistled in appreciation. “You really are the best,” he told her.
“Get your journal out,” she replied, cheeks glowing. “You should start learning it now.”
“I’ll be using it beforehand,” said Will. “And I could keep a backup prepared if need be.”
Selene’s expression was firm. “Write it down and start learning it. I’m not taking chances. If something goes wrong and you have to cast it on the fly, I want you to know how to do so.”
He wanted to argue, but she was right. “I’ll start memorizing it before I sleep tonight.” Will summoned his journal and began transcribing the page she held up. “Aren’t you tired?” he asked as his pen moved.
She nodded. “A little, but I’m absorbing turyn much faster now. It gets better every day. Before long, I’ll be able to use magic as easily as I did before.”
Will’s pen stopped while he stared at her for a few seconds, admiring her inner determination, as well as her outer beauty. How did I get so lucky?
“What are you doing?” she asked, noticing his pause.
He resumed writing. “Nothing,” he replied, hiding a smile.
Chapter 57
The next day, they came to the end of the marshes. They’d already found the river and once they began following the river, they soon found the road. The trolls were beginning to slow down considerably though, and Lrmeg complained constantly of hunger.
Will knew from experience that human soldiers could last days without food. Water wasn’t negotiable, but food wasn’t nearly as critical an issue. They wouldn’t be happy, but they could march, and they could fight. Trolls were not the same. They had only been one full day without food and already they were sluggish and irritable.
When they came across a flock of sheep grazing near the road, Will lost control of them. He protested that they should wait for him to find the shepherd and negotiate a price, but his complaints fell on deaf ears. In less than ten minutes half the flock was gone, each troll having devoured two or three entire sheep—fur, bones, skin, and hooves. They ate the animals without leaving anything behind.
The rest of the flock scattered in terror, and Will saw no sign of a shepherd. He felt terrible about what had happened, since losing such a large portion of a flock would be a devastating blow to the owner. Summoning a travel-disk, Will scouted the nearby area and eventually found a house, but though there were signs of recent habitation he couldn’t find anyone in the vicinity.
They might have been killed or driven off by recent events in the area, or perhaps they’d seen the trolls. He couldn’t be certain. Feeling bad, he left several gold marks on a table and returned to his now-sated companions.
Their energy returned soon afterward, and the trolls once more began traveling at speed. Now that he was in more familiar terrain, Will was able to make a better guess at how quickly they were traveling. Though the trolls weren’t running, moving at a brisk pace with their long legs propelled them along at a pace similar to that of a horse moving at a trot.
The big difference was that horses couldn’t keep up that sort of speed all day long, but the trolls did. Will imagined that if they were running, they could probably catch all but the fastest of horses, and even if they couldn’t match a racehorse for speed, they’d quickly run it into the ground with their incredible endurance. Arrogan was right, thought Will, these things would be a nightmare if they got loose and started multiplying in our world.
While they traveled, Will took advantage of the time and studied the spell Selene had given him. He’d gone over it a few times the night before and he felt he was close to having it fully memorized, so he began working on forming the construct while studying his notes. The jostling motion of the basket he rode in made it more challenging, but he accepted that difficulty as an opportunity—if he had to construct the spell while fighting, he’d probably have worse distractions.
He wished he could complete the construct and use it, to test it out, but that wasn’t practical. If it worked properly, it wouldn’t be safe to use anywhere near friends or allies. Or even near myself, he thought somberly. Anyone in the vicinity would regret being there—if they survived. And if Selene had made a mistake in the design, or if he mis-constructed the spell, he probably wouldn’t live long enough to even know it had gone wrong. He wondered if there would even be enough left of him for someone to find his remains.
They kept up the ground-eating pace all day and as the sun began to set Will spotted smoke on the horizon, coming from multiple places. It wasn’t the thick clouds one might expect from a burning town, but more the small familiar wisps that came from hundreds or thousands of campfires. The army was ahead of them, though it would be hours more to reach them.
His allies didn’t complain. Will adjusted his vision for the gloom, and the trolls just kept going. Their eyes were better adapted for dim light than those of humans, since there was rarely direct sunlight in Muskeglun. The trolls weren’t nocturnal, but the light of the stars and a waning moon was more than enough for them to see by.
Will spotted the telltale turyn that marked the wards at almost the same time the trolls stopped. Lrmeg turned toward him. “Humans close.”
He nodded. “Wait here. I don’t want to cause a panic. I’ll return in an hour with food.”
Smoothing his turyn to avoid notice, Will walked forward but didn’t cross the wards when he reached them. He could have easily snuck through, but he had decided not to do so. A lot of people were waiting for him, and though he wouldn’t be able to see or meet with most of them, it would be a relief for everyone to know he had returned. The easiest way to put their worries to rest was to let his arrival be announced in the normal fashion.
Moving down the line, he found the closest set of sentries and let them see him while at the same time greeting them. They jumped slightly, but he had given them enough distance that it wasn’t too startling.
They asked several questions, and he was told to wait while one of them ran back to notify the watch captain. A few minutes later, the officer arrived with no less than a squad of soldiers. The captain inspected him carefully, being alert for illusions or other trickery before giving them the order to let him pass, and then Will was able to enter—with an escort, of course.
It took a lot longer than simply sneaking in, but Will was impressed by the adherence to protocol. Half an hour had gone by, and although he hated wasting time, he decided to take care of the trolls before returning to the command tents. “I need to see the duty quartermaster,” he announced to the captain beside him.
“Right now, sir?” asked the captain, obviously puzzled.
“Here and now,” said Will. “I returned with some unusual allies, and I need to see them fed and cared for before I do anything else.” There’s no way I’m going to relax before making sure of that. His journey had taught him an important lesson. Trolls might be great allies, but only if they were well fed. There weren’t many things he could think of that would be more disastrous than a hungry troll.
Nothing happened easily. He had to explain what he needed to several more officers before things began to happen, and even after that, he wound up having to take a group of them out to meet the trolls. It seemed like the wise thing to do.
The trolls scared the hell out of them, but it was better than having a patrol find them without warning in the middle of the night. Eventually, all the sentries and duty officers were updated and informed to prevent any disastrous misunderstandings. After that, the quartermaster found three precious cows that could be diverted to take care of their new allies’ appetites.
A crowd of senior officers had gathered at the main command tent by the time he arrived, and among them were both Mark Nerrow and Selene. Despite the fact that everyone was anxious to speak to him, they deferred to the princess and
waited until she had greeted him first.
Meeting Selene with an audience watching was an odd experience. She seemed to glide forward and took both his hands in hers, almost as though they were meeting at a formal event. As they faced each other she turned her head, offering him her cheek. “I missed you,” she said audibly when he leaned forward to kiss it. More quietly, she added, “What took you so long?”
“Had to feed the trolls,” he whispered back before straightening up and smiling at her.
His father greeted him next, and soon after that an impromptu meeting began. He’d expected as much, though this one was different from those in the past since Selene was present. Though she had no formal role in the military structure, she was still the heir presumptive to the crown. A fresh place was made for her at the table, and though she said little, Will could tell that the officers were more self-conscious in her presence.
Her previous insistence that he meet the officers alone made more sense to him now. If she had come along when he had first begun meeting with them, he never would have been able to assume command. Even now, just the presence of a royal caused everyone to glance nervously in her direction before making their reports to him.
As the second in command, Sub-Marshal Nerrow gave the main summary. “We’re within three miles of the southern gates, and we’ve had no further sign of resistance from the Patriarch’s forces. In fact, the only contact we’ve had with Darrowan forces over the past two days is when some of them have come to join our coalition. We’ve seen nothing but demons leaving Myrsta, and we’ve fought several battles with such groups…”
It was a summary meant mainly for Will, as he was the only one to have missed recent events. Minutes passed as Nerrow described the situation, and eventually he got to his plans for the near future. “…our focus has been keeping the damage localized by preventing the demons from escaping into the surrounding countryside. Tomorrow we should be able to encircle the city, although the northern side of the city could be a problem if the demons are guarding the river bridges the same way we would have expected the Darrowans to do.”
Disciple of War (Art of the Adept Book 4) Page 50