The Might of Magic by N. M. Zoltack

Author:N. M. Zoltack [Zoltack, N. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-30T22:00:00+00:00

42

Prince Marcellus Gallus

The guards stood before Marcellus with blank expressions. Only the tightness around their eyes and mouths alerted Marcellus to the fact that they had terrible news to give him.

“What is it?” Marcellus asked wearily. His father slumbered yet, but Marcellus had been awake for an hour already. The sun had barely risen, but Marcellus had led exercises for most of the legionaries to the north of the town. Whenever possible, Marcellus tried to stay outside of the town. It felt wrong to have displaced the mayor and his family, and Marcellus did not like to sleep in their son’s bed while his father had taken the mayor’s.

All of this felt so very wrong, but Marcellus was the prince, which meant he held no true power, and he never would.

“The horses…”

“What about them?” Marcellus asked sharply.

“Their tethers… they frayed…”

“All of the ropes? The horses can be retied… Or did the horses run off?”

The guards maintained their silence, staring at him without blinking, and Marcellus burst past them, almost plowing them over. He headed to the west, where the horses had been kept.

Not one single horse remained in sight.

The guards trailed behind him as he stalked over to the nearest tree. The rope had fallen to the ground, and he crouched down to pick it up.

“You can see that it frayed,” one of the guards said as Marcellus scrutinized the bit of rope with a critical eye.

“Did you two remain awake during your entire watch?” Marcellus asked, still staring at the rope threads.

“Ah, we…”

“You both fell asleep.”

“Yes,” one of them admitted.

“At the same time?”

“I woke first,” the shorter of the two cried.

“And you noticed about the horses.”

“Yes.”

“And you only told me about the horses now? Why did you wait?” Marcellus demanded as he straightened. He glowered at the guards. How incompetent could they be?

“Ah…”

“You only just woke up yourself, woke him, and then came to see me.” Marcellus suppressed a groan and shoved the rope into the chest of the late sleeper. “It was masterfully done, but it was cut. I’m sure there others are much the same. Not all of our horses would have broken free by themselves. One or two perhaps, but for them to have all fled? No, someone did this purposely.”

The guards exchanged a glance.

Marcellus ignored them and wandered about, looking at the grass, hopping for some kind of sign. A glint of something brown caught his gaze, and he crossed over and picked up a clay cup. A small speck of brown liquid remained inside, and he sniffed.

“Tea? You two consumed tea?”

“We, ah… A serving girl brought it over to us.”

“I see. And you fell asleep after?”

“Yes.”

“How long after you consumed the tea?” Marcellus asked through gritted teeth.

The two guards eyed each other.

The taller one shrugged. “I don’t think it was the tea. It had to have been… an hour…”

“If not two…” the other one said.

Marcellus harrumphed. The tea was suspicious, but had the guards the right of the time? If the serving girl had

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