Lance of Earth and Sky (The Chaos Knight Book Two) by Erin Hoffman

Author:Erin Hoffman [Hoffman, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 2012-04-20T06:00:00+00:00

The Sky Knight arena was just beyond the south field, between Vidarian and his rooms. Now that they'd returned to the palace, a thousand tasks weighed on his conscience: he needed to find out more about the metal body Oneira had offered Ruby, he needed to find out more about and from Iridan, and his gut ached to know the status of the war with Qui. Admiral Allingworth and the emperor had both made it quite clear that they preferred Vidarian in the palace, but that hardly meant he had to remain uninformed.

Inside the arena, Rai barked, which meant that Brannon and his sister were likely there as well. Vidarian owed him thanks, and some kind of payment, for watching the pup while the Wind Maiden had journeyed. Part of him wished Rai had been there with him, but a more practical part was glad he had missed the journey.

A booming familiar voice, giving laughing commands, told Vidarian that the young apprentices were not alone. Caladan had returned from his dispatch. His voice was a relief—now the children would have the benefit of real Sky Knight training, instead of the gryphons' best analogies.

“Greetings, Sir Caladan. Excellent to see you again.” When they'd met, there had been some friction over Isri, which surely lingered; relief swept through him when the knight smiled heartily and extended his gloved hand. Vidarian clasped it, wondering what had provoked the change in humor. The man's eyes were on the young apprentices, who played with their steeds in a chasing game that Vidarian guessed was intended to train agility.

“Beautiful creatures,” Vidarian said. “Particularly the royals.”

“And she has you to thank, I understand,” Caladan said. So thus came the repair.

“We both have Rai to thank,” Vidarian said, gesturing to the capering wolf with his chin. Hearing his name, Rai dashed over, circled around both of them, then galloped back to his game.

“The Knighthood is in your debt,” Caladan said. The chase game had turned on Brannon, who now had to dash in an attempt to catch either of the two girls or their steeds.

“I had a rather different reception at the time,” Vidarian murmured, not wanting to cause difficulty, but feeling for where Caladan stood.

“It's not so bad as you might imagine,” he said, then lowered his voice. “Confidentially, Captain, there may as well be two Knighthoods now. Those of us who adapted—with joy—to the changes in our steeds…and those of us who did not.”

“And how many are the former?”

Caladan sighed. “Not enough.”

“Enough to protect the emperor?”

The knight's eyes turned sharply on him. “From whom?”

Vidarian looked to the apprentices, noting the speed of their steeds' growth, speculating things he did not wish to speculate. What kind of world was it, to think of bringing children into a war?

“Whomever we need to,” he said, finally. Caladan followed his gaze, his chin firm with an argument at first, before it dropped, and he nodded.

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