The Crown's Dog (Golden Guard Trilogy Book 1) by Elise Kova

Author:Elise Kova [Kova, Elise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: k'12
Publisher: Silver Wing Press
Published: 2016-11-21T16:00:00+00:00

14. JAX

THE MIDDLE-AGED MAN behind the only desk in the small guard office of Oparium was unfazed by the disgruntled royal before him.

“What do you mean you can’t have a guard come to the manor?” Baldair asked incredulously.

Jax had expected a lot more from the guard of one of the biggest cities in the South. The building they stood in, while fortified, wasn’t much to write home about. There was one desk behind which the captain sat, a man by the name of Brut. Before him were messy stacks of yellowed ledgers and sheets of paper with labyrinthine scribbles entrapping peoples’ names and corresponding times. The rest of the room stored weapons, a narrow bookshelf of records, and a varied but simple assortment of vials, salves, and weapon-care supplies.

It was nothing compared to the wide, dusty training grounds of the palace or the rows of personal offices for the majors of the Empire. Jax realized his perception of what a city guard was, and should look like, had been vastly altered from living in the home of the Empire’s militia.

“Forgive me, my prince, but I’m afraid there simply aren’t enough to spare today.” The captain clearly didn’t enjoy refusing the prince. But he was a military man, a veteran of the War of the Crystal Caverns. He understood refusal did not always mean insubordination, especially when it was the tough choice of pleasing a prince or protecting his city.

“Why not?” Baldair demanded.

Brut opened one of the books, thumbing to a page. He pointed at a long list of names. “All these men and women—soldiers—they were sent to the capital a week ago.”

“Why?” Erion asked the question that hung on Jax’s lips before he could so much as breathe a syllable. “Some kind of training?”

The man shook his head. “We received the Imperial summons just before...” Brut produced a sheet of paper after some shuffling. “Skirmishes along the Northern border, potential troop reassignment to ensure the overall safety of the Empire.”

Jax’s eyes scanned the page. It didn’t say much else. But the Emperor was demanding an awful lot of troops for some skirmishes, especially when the West had no shortage of magical and non-magical manpower local to the Waste. He straightened away from the desk, glancing at Erion. They both had been born from a conquered land, and the Empire was merely one nation shy of owning the entire continent. It wasn’t a far leap for the two of them to jump to the same conclusion.

“How strange…” Baldair hummed, clearly not making the same potential connection Jax had arrived at so easily.

“When was the last time you heard from your father?” Erion asked.

“Not since we arrived and I wrote to let him know the journey had been no trouble.” Baldair shrugged off the suspect letter demanding military force.

Jax let it drop. Erion said nothing further as well.

You do not question the will of the Emperor. The nagging voice worked its way to the surface at the mere mention of the Emperor Solaris.

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