Prince of the Icemark by Stuart Hill

Author:Stuart Hill
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Scholastic Australia
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Redrought and Kahin spent the night in the citadel of Bendis, but despite the King’s earlier complaints about not being invited into the city after the battle, the next morning they withdrew to the military camp outside the walls. There was a sort of unspoken mutual agreement that two courts sharing the same limited space was a strain on everyone, so a little geographical distance would relieve the pressure.

Throughout the day, work parties of both the Hypolitan and Icemark armies were clearing the enemy dead from the battlefield and digging huge pits to act as mass graves. Their own dead had been removed already and the remains of several pyres still smoked gently on the wide plain that surrounded the city. Soon burial mounds would be raised and a fence of spears driven into the ground around them.

But now the allies had to decide what to do after their victories. The werewolf army had been smashed, the trolls destroyed and Their Vampiric Majesties defeated, even though they had managed to retreat in good order with their own army intact.

Faced with military issues, rather than social questions involving girls of his own age, Redrought became competent again and put aside his boyhood. He called together all of the highest-ranking officers from both the Hypolitan and the Icemark, dubbing it a Council of Leaders, and he scheduled their meeting to start two hours after sun-up on the following day.

Further supplies had arrived from Frostmarris through the Great Forest to help feed the Hypolitan after the siege, but also to provision Redrought’s increasingly sophisticated camp. Amongst all the carts, crates, packages and parcels had been a large marquee, which was now set up to act as the chamber for the Council of Leaders.

Redrought awoke early in the discomfort of his personal tent, and tried to decide whether to get his own breakfast and washing water or risk the incompetence of soldier servants. Kahin would insist that he maintained the dignity of his office and use servants, but he wasn’t sure. The thought of some battle-hardened veteran trying to serve his breakfast and set up a washstand without tripping over the furniture or dumping hot food in his lap was more than he could stand.

The young King kept his eyes firmly shut, but Cadwalader wanted to be fed, and purred noisily while rubbing his face across Redrought’s chin. “All right, all right, I’ll get you something . . .”

“There’s no need, My Lord, your breakfast and Cadwalader’s are almost ready.”

“Uh? What . . . ?” The King rubbed his eyes and peered at the figure that stood in the shadows. “Grimswald . . . ? Grimswald, how did you get here so quickly?!”

“I see it as part of my job to be with you at all times when possible, and as soon as possible after we’ve been parted, Sire,” the body-servant said, stepping forward into the light. “I’ve looked after you since you were a very little boy.”

Redrought swung his feet out of the bed and sat staring at the neat little man.

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.