Legacy of Blood by T. S. Church

Author:T. S. Church [Church, T. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857687593
Publisher: Titan Books
Published: 2013-12-19T19:32:00+00:00

27

Theodore raised his hand. Behind him, the twenty armed recruits came to a stop, the iron shoes of their steeds clattering on the road. He heard Doric groan as the dwarf tottered in the saddle behind him.

“Are you sure about this, sir?” Philip asked at his side. Theodore peered at the men behind him. He let no uncertainty show in his expression.

“It is the right thing to do,” he said quietly. But Philip persisted.

“I still don’t know why you didn’t have Hamel call out the guard, sir. If we face a real fight, then surely we would have been better to bring them, as well?” There was a slight quaver in his voice. None of his men had ever seen true combat before, beyond fighting in the lists, or in the melee at the Midsummer Festival.

He bit his lip in doubt and peered into the gloom that lay ahead of them, down the wide street. Several alleyways led into it, and at the end the king’s granary stood behind a low wall. Several Varrock guards, clad in yellow tunics that covered their mail, waited by the low gate and more stood upon a wooden walkway that crept up the side of the stone building. The men at the top were armed with bows.

“Sir?” Philip said, prompting Theodore to answer his question.

“If we mobilize the guard, word might reach the insurgents,” he explained. “We need to get them tonight. All of them.”

In truth, I dare not involve the guard, he thought. Someone in the palace is acting against us. Castimir’s letter makes that near certain, and what Pia overheard has confirmed it.

His back ached dully. The old war wound had never gone away.

“Squire!” Doric hissed, pointing. A lone rider rode out of one of the adjoining alleys and up to the granary’s gate. A knight in blue-tinted armor.

Instinct flared inside him. He recalled Pia’s account of the attack on the refugees.

A knight and a wizard.

He drew his sword.

“Come on!” he cried, kicking his spurs against the horse’s flank. It was no horse of Falador he was riding, for his own mare remained at Paterdomus. But the Varrock-trained steed jumped forward with a pleasing eagerness.

His men followed. Philip screamed a challenge and those behind took up his yell. He heard Edmond laugh manically as the sounds of their hooves, clattering on the cobblestones, echoed off nearby walls.

He felt Doric tighten his grip and heard him curse an unknown blasphemy in his own tongue.

The knight at the gate drew his sword. An arrow felled the nearest guard as his fellows raised the alarm.

“Sir!” Philip shouted. Theodore glanced to his left and saw a red-cloaked man at the end of the nearest alley. The figure gestured with his hands.

“Magic!” Doric yelled. The knight veered his horse to one side, away from the incoming spell. Behind him several men cried out. He heard at least two fall from the saddle as the horses reared up. Then he felt it too. A wall of air punched him, hard enough to stagger him slightly.

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