The Undying (Annals of the Forsaken Book 1) by Anthony James

Author:Anthony James [James, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-19T06:00:00+00:00

17

The next day followed the same pattern as the one which preceded it. We broke camp before it became fully light and continued what I had started to think of as our pursuit. The road was still good, so I felt confident that even a modicum of light was enough to proceed safely. The defeated army ahead was unlikely to have the same impetus as we did. I knew that dejected men did not push themselves to their limits.

My scouts came and went, each time reporting the same thing. Wherever the Duke’s men were, it wasn’t immediately in front of us. My frustration built and I became ever more irritated that we had not come within sight of our quarry. In addition, I could not help but look at the sky regularly and several of the men noticed my new habit, which caused some muttering about why I might be doing so. By the evening, there had been no sign of Xoj-Fal returning to the south and I had started to breathe a little more easily at the thought that we might not have to face the beast while we were in pursuit of Warmont’s men.

We had just set up our camp for the night, away from the road again, when I noticed a disturbance as someone pushed their way through a nearby gathering of men. It was Sprinter.

“Captain Charing, I’ve found some of Warmont’s men.”

“Some of?” I questioned.

“I estimate twelve hundred, sir. They’re about twenty miles south of us.”

“South? Are you sure they’re not south-east?”

“No, sir. They’re definitely to the south.”

“What did you make of them?”

“They were all infantry. They looked organised, and marched in formation, though not at great speed.”

“Good work, Sprinter. Do you need time to rest?”

“I think I’m fine, sir. It feels good to stretch my legs.”

“Get back to them and see what they’re doing.”

Sprinter gave me a salute and headed away to obtain some more provisions before he resumed his chase. I called Lieutenant Craddock to me.

“Lieutenant, is there anything to the south of us that might interest twelve hundred men?”

“Nothing close, sir. Another twelve days further you’d come across Bunsen and Septic. Demox another two days beyond.”

“That many men isn’t enough to threaten one of those towns, is it?”

“I doubt it very much. They’re all bigger than Treads.

“Thank you, Lieutenant Craddock,” I said, dismissing him.

This news was interesting. It looked as though the remains of Warmont’s army had split into at least two parts. I couldn’t off the top of my head think why it might have happened. Even if twelve hundred men had been sufficient to take one of the towns in their path, I doubted they retained enough purpose to make strategic decisions in the circumstances of their recent losses.

An hour later, my quandary was doubled by the return of Flight. His first words gave me a sense of enormous déjà vu.

“Captain Charing, I’ve found some of Warmont’s men.”

I felt that peculiar sense of dizziness you feel when you think the conversation ahead of you has been mapped out and that you somehow know where it’s going.

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.