Blood Burden: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Magelands Dominion Book 4) by Christopher Mitchell

Author:Christopher Mitchell [Mitchell, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781915978219
Publisher: Brigdomin Books Ltd
Published: 2023-11-02T16:00:00+00:00

After eating dinner together in the crowded little dining room on the ground floor, Elbannon escaped upstairs to the roof of the tower so that he could get away from the racket Belle was making. She had decided that the new arrivals had to be greeted appropriately, and had barked at the three acolytes from the Depository as though it were her life’s mission.

Once on the roof, Elbannon sat down, his legs dangling over the edge. The sun was just above the mountains to the west of Tell Hoard, and he watched as three carriages formed up by the main entrance gates. Boarding them were most of the staff from the Chronicon Conservatory, as well as a few from the Rector’s Rooms. Several soldiers were hanging around by the gates, their hands on their crossbows. All departing members of staff had been thoroughly searched before being allowed to board the carriages, and more than one acolyte was in tears. The bodies of the three who had been shot by the soldiers had been cleared away from in front of the Conservatory, but their blood was still staining the dusty ground where they had fallen.

‘I hate this,’ said Gallea.

Elbannon turned, and saw his oldest and only friend standing on the roof behind him, a bag over her shoulder.

‘What do you hate?’ he said.

‘Seeing Tell Hoard being ripped apart,’ she said. ‘Seeing the faces of the young acolytes forced out of their homes. Knowing that, after one and a half thousand years of work and study, this is the end. How I wish my carriage had arrived before the soldiers did, then I would have been spared seeing this sacrilege take place. May I join you?’

He nodded. ‘I promise not to push you over the edge.’

She gave him a look as she sat down next to him. ‘What will you miss the most?’ she said.

‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘I’m not leaving.’

‘Are you still keeping up the pretence that you will be allowed to remain here when every other prefect and acolyte has gone?’

‘It’s not a pretence. As soon as my ale is ready, then I intend to sell it to the soldiers for pennies. I have a few contacts in the local villages. I might also bring in some other things the soldiers might need, so that I will be useful to them.’

‘And then you will continue with your work?’

‘Of course.’

‘I have noticed that you have been unable to dig up any Tempest ore recently,’ she said. ‘You must be running low on stocks by now.’

Elbannon shrugged. ‘All I have to do is outlast the soldiers. They won’t be here forever.’

‘You have no idea how long they will be here,’ she said. ‘They might decide to garrison Tell Hoard permanently.’

‘Why would they do that? This place is in the middle of nowhere.’

‘The Dominion has to put their soldiers somewhere. And, let’s face it, the Seventeenth Battalion of the Inopei Reserves is hardly an elite unit; perhaps the authorities wished to place them in an out-of-the-way location.

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