Mages' Exile by Kyra Halland

Author:Kyra Halland [Halland, Kyra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy western
Publisher: Kyra Halland
Published: 2019-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

SILAS VOLUNTEERED TO take a turn on watch, but Jasik and Torrin told him he looked like half-baked death and insisted on taking his shift. As he eased his weary body into the blankets on the other side of the children from Lainie, he had to admit he was looking forward to getting a full night’s sleep. He reached over and squeezed Lainie’s hand where it lay atop the children. No doubt she needed a good night’s sleep even more than he did.

It seemed like no sooner had he closed his eyes than a sudden commotion of voices and movement jerked him awake. He sat up abruptly, reaching for his gun. “What is it?”

“Soldiers,” Akkim said, breathing hard as he walked his horse, whose sides were heaving. Akkim must have been out on patrol and returned to the camp at a full gallop. “Twenty or more, coming from downriver, less than a league away. Most are on horses, some are on foot. It looks like they have a cart with them.”

Silas scrambled to his feet to join the other men, who were readying weapons and peering into the darkness along the river. “They must have been waiting in the trees around the next bend. We didn’t see anyone when we were crossing the river.”

“I assume the cart has the weapon on it,” Mazendias said. “If it’s as heavy and slow as I understand it to be, we should be able to outrun it.”

“The ones on horseback will catch up with us,” Silas said. “And we’ll end up fighting anyway, after tiring ourselves out running.” There was a time to run and a time to fight, and Silas’s gut and instincts told him this time it was better to fight. Anyhow, he was sick of running from the bastards and welcomed the chance to stand and fight.

“But what about the weapon?” Mazendias asked. “Even if the mounted soldiers catch up, the weapon will be left behind, and we won’t have to worry about it.”

“Not far enough behind,” Silas said. “Not if they’re less than a league away already. Maybe half a league by now. It’ll catch up while we’re fighting the others.”

“Anyhow, I’d like a chance at it,” Mik said. “See if my idea works.”

“And if it doesn’t, we destroy the weapon,” Jasik added. “There’s enough of us, and we’re good enough. If we stand fast, we can beat them.”

“What about your family, Vendine?” Mazendias asked. “You don’t want them in the middle of a fight, do you?”

Silas already knew what to do. He turned to Lainie, who was sitting up now, her eyes alert, her face lined with worry. “Take the children and head north as fast as you can,” he told her. “The rest of us will stop them and catch up with you when we’re done.”

She pressed her lips into a grim line as though biting back an argument, and nodded silently.

“I don’t like the odds,” Mazendias said. “I still think it would make more sense to draw off the ones on horseback.

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.