Fleeting Victories: book 3 in the epic fantasy series (Power & Empire) by Hutton L. J

Author:Hutton, L. J. [Hutton, L. J. ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wylfheort Books
Published: 2019-07-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Sad Necessity

Brychan: late Imbolc – Spring-moon

Tancostyl glared into Helga’s eyes.

“I don’t give a decomposed rat’s arse what Masanae wants!” he snarled at her. “If you think I’m haring off to Bruighean the minute my feet touch solid soil you can think again!”

His tortuous journey across the Inner Sea had done nothing to improve his temper. He was still furious with all of the female Abend for not warning him of the glamour they had attached to the New Year’s storm, but of all of them he reserved a special fury for Helga. After all, she had been the one who had been supposed to be helping him. She had been the one in contact with him. At what stage had it not been possible to forewarn him?

Had Calatin still been amongst the living, Tancostyl would have been having strong words with him too. Back in Rheged, with the army he had hoped would escort him overland culled to next to nothing, there had not been time to vent his full ire on his fellow war-mage. Yet it still festered inside that Calatin had made such a dog’s dinner of getting hold of the Scabbard. How could one of the sublime race, and of the elect amongst them, be so irredeemably stupid as to let a bunch of the lowlife Islanders get the better of him to such a disastrous degree?

As he had lain incapacitated on the ship, Tancostyl had come to the conclusion that Calatin had allowed his attention to wander too far off course, as he was ever wont to do. Too much dreaming and not enough action, Tancostyl thought with a sneer. Well Calatin had paid for his folly, which was something Helga had not even started to do. Yet here she was daring to give him orders like she was one of the Abend’s leaders!

With feline fury the two of them locked eyes and refused to back down. The air around them positively crackled with untapped Power, and all but the other Abend had long since put as much distance as they could between themselves and the internecine battle going on in the Great Hall in Arlei. If Tancostyl was weaker due to the dire effects of so long travelling over brine, he nonetheless still had control of the Helm. However furious Helga was, she was still wary of pushing him so hard that he would use it, not only for the strength it would lend him, but because Masanae and Quintillean were bound to feel the Helm in use. Geitla and Magda were standing to one side, but there was no doubting the fact that they were solidly on Tancostyl’s side at the moment, and would not hesitate to jointly lay the blame for any fight at her feet alone if questioned by the two leaders.

“Oh do stop it, Helga,” Magda interrupted, sounding nothing but bored by the proceedings. “You’ve made your play for power and lost, so stop being a spoilt brat! You stand to gain more by working with us than hoping to catch the crumbs from Masanae’s plate.

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