Children of the Sword and Wand by Joel Newlon

Author:Joel Newlon [Newlon, Joel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silver Eel Publishing
Published: 2023-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

“Are you sure it will work?" Ardith asked skeptically, examining the fruits of the builders’ day-long labors.

"Of course it will work!" Lord Rane snapped back, offended.

"But the blocks are so heavy, and the—"

"Listen!" he interrupted hotly. "The gods are just. When they gave us the weakest bodies, they made up for it by giving us the strongest minds. Everything you see here was laid out by the sacred language of numbers and will do exactly what you asked. Simply pull this pin here as I have shown you." He pointed at the small peg protruding from one of two stacks of large blocks standing beside the damaged section of the outer wall.

"And what about this?" she asked, looking to the mixture of timbers and masonry covering the damage.

"That is just as you asked for as well. Not strong enough to hold for long, but strong enough to convince them that we made a real attempt. But again, I feel I must voice my doubts on that. The Doppelbeasts well know our skills. They will not believe we failed to fortify the breach."

"That is why I had you leave the gaps in the repair work. With me showing my face and offering taunts to them from within, they will stop at nothing to break through."

As if to illustrate the use of these gaps, a builder inside climbed up and, peeking out, announced, "All is finished in here, Lord Rane."

"Very good," he grunted. Then, turning to the workers around him, he yelled, “Quickly, gather your tools and go inside. Evening is nearly upon us."

"Leave your things where they are," Ardith countermanded. "It will sell the notion that you ran out of time to make proper repairs," she explained to the head architect.

"Yes, yes, leave everything as it is and go inside," he ordered after an irritable pause. She could tell he didn’t like his orders being questioned but couldn’t find fault in her reasoning.

As the builders filed in, Gethin and his men came marching out, leading a group of butchers carrying dressed carcasses on poles between them. Their mannerisms communicated that they didn't want to be near the meat at all.

"Were the healers able to make poison for you?" she asked, though she could already guess the answer.

"Yes, it's drenched in it. But they said it wouldn’t work," Gethin replied.

"Yes and no," Ardith replied, watching the imps carry their deadly cargo out to the pen where it was traditionally left. "It will not hurt them, no. Their beastly noses will detect the tainted meat with ease. But yes, it will serve our purposes of making them even more enraged and thrown off their balance."

Their task completed, the butchers jogged back into the gates. A few moments later, four women wearing the green scarves of healers came out. In shock, Gethin shouted, "The sun is nearly down; you should not be here!"

Ardith raised a hand to silence him. "I asked them to come,” she explained. Gethin looked up at her in confusion. "Listen to me, all of you.

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