Daughter of the Dark: Shadow Through Time 2 by Louise Cusack

Author:Louise Cusack [Louise Cusack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781743340141
Publisher: Momentum
Published: 2014-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Tulak, new Guard Captain of the House of Be’uccdha, stood in the forests below Volcastle Mountain, a six-day march from the comforts of Be’uccdha. The mists were thin this day and he could clearly see a hundred paces away the Verdan force his searching party had come upon an hour earlier. Their tents were dirty from the Plains and their bodies unwashed, as though their lord had driven them on relentlessly.

From his vantage point behind a stand of crusty-trunked bread trees, Tulak could see the Verdan lord moving among his men, taller and more solid than most. His warriors wore padded battle jackets and carried no provisions, and from this Tulak surmised they were preparing an assault on the Northmen outside the Volcastle.

It was time to confront this lord, and to give him The Dark’s message. Tulak had only hesitated to assess Verdan, to see if some benefit or status for himself could be forthcoming from the exchange. Any longer and the Verdan forces would begin to move.

Tulak turned and gestured to his men, who rose and formed behind him. They strode from concealment onto the shaded trail, crunching dry leaves underfoot. Verdan Guardsmen closest to them turned in alarm and then word went up the ranks. Before they had even reached the outskirts of the camp the Verdan lord was striding towards them. Tulak’s shaven head drew comments from the Verdan warriors, for it was exceptional among the traditionally braided Be’uccdha warriors, but it had served The Dark’s purpose well in elevating Tulak’s status among his older and more experienced peers.

‘Be’uccdha,’ the Verdan lord called, seeing their uniforms, dark brown with the black swirling emblem of their house on the upper left chest. His eye counted their number, only a small scouting party and not the reinforcements he would undoubtedly have preferred. ‘Where is Mooraz?’ the Verdan lord asked, nodding at the black epaulet that marked Tulak a Guard Captain.

‘Injured, My Lord,’ Tulak replied, ‘and retired from service. I am Tulak, our Lord of Be’uccdha’s new Guard Captain.’ At this he bowed low.

The Verdan lord waited until he had risen, his attention focusing on Tulak’s shaved head. ‘How fares The Dark?’ the barrel-chested lord asked. ‘Is his castle under siege?’

‘My Lord, the invaders have not ventured so far south,’ Tulak replied. ‘Our castle is safe, although the Maelstrom incites the ocean and unwieldy tides have breached the Cliffdweller and Altar caves.’

‘The Dark is unharmed?’

‘My Lord, The Dark bids you join him there and be reunited with your sister.’

‘Ellega!’ The Verdan lord stepped forward and grasped Tulak’s arm. ‘She is at Be’uccdha?’ His courtly manners of a moment ago were lost as his wild eyes searched Tulak’s.

‘The Lady Ellega is safe under the protection of The Dark, My Lord,’ Tulak replied, and said no more as he had been instructed.

The Verdan lord put a hand to his heart. ‘Then my prayers are answered.’ He said nothing for a moment and Tulak saw that he had difficulty controlling his passions. At last he turned to his own Guard Captain.

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