(eng) Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory - Dragon Prophecy 02 by Blade of Empire

Author:Blade of Empire [Empire, Blade of]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

RAIN MOON: A MONTH FOR WAR

In those days, leading the Otherfolk to war was like going on a picnic—you took a blanket and as much food as you could carry and trusted to luck for the rest. When the Otherfolk attacked, they attacked like roving bands of brigands. Drunken brigands. Their tactics were those of small war bands and their notions of strategy were vague at best.

They were also very effective.

—Runacar Warlord, A History of the Western Shore Campaign

When Runacar pledged himself to King Leutric he’d been certain the High King’s army would come again by the next War Season.

It didn’t.

Five Wheelturns, and everything east of The Sanctuary of the Star was emptied of Elvenkind. Four more, and Farcarinon, Ullilion, and everything to the banks of the Angarussa belonged to the Otherfolk. And each time Leutric asked when Runacar would give him the Shore, Runacar smiled and said: “Soon.”

In the ninth Wheelturn of Runacar’s exile, Leutric asked him when he would give him the Shore. And Runacar smiled and said: “Now.”

* * *

The Goldengrass—what the Children of Stars called the Grand Windsward—had once been the home of Leutric’s people, and when Runacar had scoured the Western Reach clean of Elves, Leutric had moved his throne rooms from the Flower Forests to open ground where the sun could warm his old bones. It gave him the greatest of pleasure to make his place in the stronghold of his enemies and to take the sweets they had once commanded for his own. In the middle distance stood what had once been Cirandeiron Great Keep, now utterly empty but mostly intact. Nearly everything about it affronted his sensibilities, but it was too big to burn and too massive to topple, and stone didn’t rot overnight. It was just going to have to sit there, Grass and Star alone knew how long.

He turned his thoughts to happier things. The orchards had gone from blossom to leaf over the past sennight, promising apples, cherries, and peaches in due time, and the spring day was bright and warm. The archivists and message bearers necessary to a court on eternal and unending pilgrimage moved fearlessly and contentedly over the open ground. There was no need to fear the alfaljodthi. Not here.

Much had changed.

The Centaurs were expanding the acreage under tillage and there was talk of building towns. The Dryads were working to expand the Flower Forests and the Bearwards were doing much the same for the less-magical forests. And after centuries of having to hide in their own rivers, the Selkies would soon be able to once more make their pilgrimages to the sea.

None of that particularly called for any King-Emperor management. The only thing that really required Leutric’s attention at the moment was the plan for the new Minotaur city. The western slope of the Mystrals was only lightly forested and it had been agreed that it would be given to his people, as the Mystrals and Medharthas would be given to the Folk of the Air.

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