Wizardborn: Book Three of 'The Runelords' by David Farland

Author:David Farland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, epic, Action & Adventure
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2007-04-01T03:19:41+00:00

Chapter 31

RIDERS BEFORE THE STORM

In no contest in life does the advantage accrue to the unprepared.

--Mendellas Val Orden

Gaborn could sense danger rising around Iome. The attack against her was very close.

For a day now, he'd felt it stirring.

He checked the perimeter of his guard. He'd quietly stationed eighty men around the camp. Most of them lounged about--squatting on logs to sharpen axes, or pretending to snooze. A hundred yards away, Sir Borenson and Myrrima made a big show of packing their goods, as if in a hurry to be file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...20Farland%20-%20Runelords%2003%20-%20Wizardborn.htm (226 of 452)20-2-2006 21:21:13

Wizardborn

off for Inkarra, yet, as asked, Borenson let his keen blue eyes stray to the trees along the creek bank, as alert as any five men.

But nothing Gaborn did seemed to allay the threat.

He wandered close to Skalbairn. He'd asked the man to stay near Iome, and the big knight did. But for the moment he had a staff and was sparring with Baron Waggit. It was rough work. Sweat coursed down the baron's face, and soaked though his tunic. He'd ripped a sleeve in his sparring. His blue eyes gleamed with anticipation. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.

Skalbairn spoke amiably to the baron. "Ah, you should come with me to Internook," he was saying as the baron tried in vain to bash him with his staff. "It's not so damned civilized. A man like you would do well there, put his past behind him."

"Keep sharp," Gaborn whispered to Skalbairn.

"Always," Skalbairn said under his breath.

Gaborn made one last search of his perimeter, sauntered over toward Iome and Averan, who sat together. Iome's arm was wrapped around the child.

Averan's glazed eyes stared inward. The child looked deathly ill.

Perspiration poured from her.

Gaborn squatted next to Averan and Iome. "Well?" he asked gently, expectantly. "Any word?"

"It wasn't Waymaker that I ate," Averan said. "It was only some..."--

she searched for the right word--"worm herder."

Gaborn squinted at her curiously. "Worm herder?"

"Like a shepherd or a farmer, only to worms and other animals," she said. "I warned you that you're fighting peasants."

She spoke sincerely, but the reavers were up to something, whether Averan knew it or not.

Could the danger actually come from this child? he wondered.

He didn't want to believe that. Averan was an apprentice Earth Warden after all, dedicated to preserving life. Yet right now he wondered if she wasn't...deranged. He had to test the theory.

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"Iome," Gaborn asked. "Come here for a moment." He purposely walked a hundred yards from Averan, stood with his back to her. He rested a foot on a lichen-covered stone, saw that there were small holes in the ground around it where mice made their burrows. A cricket sang nearby.

He briefly studied the reavers' movements on the rock.

They'd climbed all over it, and now had begun to work. A couple dozen glue mums began chewing down the great trees at the center of the rock, while blade-bearers pushed over the walls of the ancient towers, sent them cascading from the cliffs in ruins.

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