A Boy Without Magic (Missing Magic Series Book 1) by Guy Antibes

Author:Guy Antibes [Antibes, Guy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Casiepress LLC
Published: 2018-06-23T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

~

T HE ROAD TO WORRIER’S FLAT WAS MOSTLY DOWNHILL once they climbed another pass exiting Oak Basin. Sam kept putting on and taking off his spectacles, looking at the difference in the countryside. The spectacles’ gold coating reduced the glare from the sun, but it also dimmed his view when they passed through dark forests. Sam considered it a worthy tradeoff.

Now he could see the pollen covering that Harrison used to protect the back of the wagon. He fondled the curious fake straw pouch that they had discovered in Fussel’s Ford.

“This is a work of art,” Sam said. “Now I can see why you knew whoever was behind the drug trade was a master pollen magician.”

Harrison nodded. “I’d like a few words with Chief Constable Bentwick about now. We’ve been leaving a trail of clues and reports for him.”

“This is bigger than a village thing, isn’t it?” Sam said. “I mean, it might be more than just drugs. A person won’t get rich selling herbal potions to miners, will they?”

Harrison stopped the wagon. “Now that is a very good observation. If it was miner to miner, one could think it was a coincidence, but it has persisted among the mountain villages. I don’t know why someone would be targeting ex-miners, though.”

“Maybe we do some more interrogating at Worrier’s Flat. Do they have old miners there?” Sam said.

“That they do,” Harrison said, snapping the reins to get the horses walking again. “I will give you the task of finding and talking to ex-miners. Don’t talk to them about drugs. Find something else to ask them. If you talk about drugs, you might become a target for another assault.”

Sam smiled and nodded, looking at the world through golden spectacles.

“Make sure you feed the birds the Oak Basin constables gave us. I have a feeling we will need to send a few more.”

~

Worrier’s Flat was what the name described. The village was at the bottom of an old bowl, mountains surrounded on all sides. A creek ran along one side, digging into the flats, which looked like Havetta had filled up the valley and leveled off the dirt. The side where the creek exited the valley was wide and flat, tilting downward, keeping the valley from looking like Oak Basin.

Trees dotted the flats, which were covered with lush grass. Sam spotted many flocks of sheep. There must have been thousands of them.

“I don’t recall so many sheep before,” Harrison said. “What do you think?”

“The flock at Horner’s Rest? Could they have ended up here?”

“The valley won’t support that many sheep for long,” Harrison said. “We will be sending a bird when we stop.”

“That makes one less bird to feed,” Sam said. “How much land does it take to support sheep?”

“Remember the vale north of Riverville? That place might support two or three hundred sheep. What we have here is probably three or four times the space with twenty or thirty times the animals. Whoever has amassed this many intends to sell or slaughter all kinds of them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.