Nandor (The Nandor Tales Book 2) by Martin Owton

Author:Martin Owton [Owton, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Tickety Boo Press
Published: 2016-12-05T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Faraz stood facing Lord Merrek across the rough wooden table in his private room in the headquarters building.

“I have a reply from Master Tabian,” he said. “He has sought the views of several other mages. It is their opinion that no creature such as Wiston described has been raised for hundreds of years, and that there is no-one alive capable of such a feat.”

“So Wiston was mistaken,” said Lord Merrek. “Or lying.”

“It does not sit easily with me to think either thing, my Lord. I know Wiston to be a fine soldier and an honest man.”

“Quite so. Which is why you will be joining me up into the hills. My father commends the idea of forts to protect the road and bids me to speed up the construction. We will also make a sweep of the area in force to flush out the natives. I take the point about the vulnerability of the forts and if this creature appears again, I want you to be close enough to investigate it.”

“Very good, my Lord. I’m confident the junior mages can handle the everyday requirements here.”

“Good, otherwise I would have cause to question what you’ve been teaching them.” Lord Merrek smiled.

“Yes, my lord.” said Faraz. “There is one other thing. The wards around the inner camp were breached last night.”

Lord Merrek looked up. “By what?”

“I’m sorry, my Lord, I cannot tell you that. The ward is but a simple working. It records only the passage of something through it.”

“But this has not happened before?”

“Not since I have had charge of the wards.”

Lord Merrek frowned. “Is this a threat? Something we should be concerned about?”

“I don’t know, my Lord.”

“Is it possible to set up a more sensitive warding that would tell us the nature of the intruder?”

“It is, my Lord. Anyone of the junior mages can do so. It depends on how much resource you wish to put into it. The more detailed the warding, the more information you can get, but the mage can do fewer other things while maintaining it. I could, if you desired, set one of them to maintaining a barrier to keep out all such intruders, but he would be able to do little else.”

Lord Merrek frowned again. “Thank you, Faraz. The mages have enough to do. But I do want to know if it happens again.”

“Very good, my Lord.”

“You’d best be about your packing. We leave immediately.”

***

“The whole company is deploying upcountry,” said Captain Elthorn. “We will be reinforcing the guard on the mines and protecting the new forts that Lord Merrek is building along the road in. Get packed and be ready to march immediately.” He turned and left the mess tent.

“What are we going to do?” Edith turned to Maldwyn and Aron, dismay written across her face.

“March,” said Granna, who was standing just behind them. “And get rained on, just like everyone else. That’s what we pay you for.”

“But we can’t,” said Edith. “We have to stay here.”

“You’ll march,” said Granna. “Same as everybody else.

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