Secrets and Guardians: Devious Intentions by H. Chambers (summer beach reads txt) 📖

'You never heard of him?' asked Will.

'Sorry, no.'

'He was the old King's champion, until he lost his right arm in a fight,' said Will.

'Oh,' was all Glint could think of to say.

While they worked Will told him that there were another nine boys like him who had come to Riftdale. There had already been seventeen students and apprentices and including Glint that now made a total of twenty seven. There had also been an increase in laymen, those who worked on the land or were tradesmen. Will didn't know how many of them there were as some stayed in the surrounding farm buildings outside the wall. Then there was the two soldiers Glint had seen when they had arrived. As Glint listened it became obvious what Will thought was going on, if he was right Eldin would be furious.

After all the boxes had been unloaded Glint took the wagon and the horses around to the stables. Leaving his own few possessions in the wagon he headed over to Eldin's room on the other side of the library. Laden with Eldin’s bags, tired and hungry, Glint was struggling. When he got to the door he dropped the bags and knocked. After all these years he was not even sure if this was still Eldin's room. When no one answered, he slowly opened the door. The room was in darkness and the air smelled stale and musty, had this door ever been opened in the last five years? Glint wondered. Dragging the bags in behind him, he then opened the shutters to let in some light and fresh air. A layer of dust covered everything and the straw mattress would definitely have to be re-stuffed. He wouldn't be surprised if he found a family of mice living in there as well. He really couldn’t be bothered anymore, so just sat at Eldin's desk and stared at the cobwebs on the ceiling.

When Eldin left Glint, he was on a mission, nodding as he passed people; he did not stop to speak. Fighting, this would never do. Obviously it was time Thomas gave up his position. As Eldin considered this option he realised that he would be the most suitable person to take over the responsibility of running the place. On entering the dormitory Eldin went straight up stairs and stopped outside Thomas's room. Composing himself he gently knocked, then remembering Thomas was nearly deaf, he hammered on the door.

A barely audible, 'Come in,' came from inside the room. As Eldin entered he could see Thomas had not changed a bit. He was still the same wizened, skeletal old man, the only good thing about being in his company was that it made Eldin feel positively youthful. But had his mind changed? Belying his age, Thomas had always held on to his extraordinary intellect.

'Ah Eldin, I wondered how long you would stay in Landra after the King died. Come take a seat you must be tired after your long journey,' said Thomas.

Eldin sat opposite Thomas wondering how to broach the subject of the boys being trained to fight. He coughed slightly and was just about to begin when Thomas raised his hand.

'I can see you have something very important tell me, but if you don't mind I have something I need to discuss with you first,' said Thomas.

Eldin was annoyed at being stopped, but also intrigued.

'Of course, please continue,' said Eldin.

Thomas sat back on his chair and interlinked his bony fingers, bringing them up to his chin in a very thoughtful manner. The letter he'd received from Aberrling had been very clear, but something didn't seem right.

'Before the old King died, Prince Hylaw requested I assist him in some important matters. Then a few days ago a soldier came to ask for further help on behalf of the now King Hylaw,' Thomas paused, Eldin waited patiently.

'I need to appoint someone who has, how should I say this, the right understanding, mental agility, forward thinking attitude to take on such a role. Which may prove to be unnecessary or may prove to be historic. I have always believed knowledge gained in the pursuit of probabilities will also advance the learner in their understanding of possibilities,' continued Thomas.

Eldin looked across at Thomas and tried desperately to look as if he understood what on earth Thomas was talking about. He got the bit about wanting someone, but for what he had no clue.

'So you wish someone to help you with..?' queried Eldin.

'Formulating tactics!' said Thomas.

'Formulating tactics, now that's interesting,' said Eldin sitting back on his chair and interlinking his fingers in a similar way to Thomas. 'Please elaborate,' he said tactically.

'Before we proceed I need your reassurance that whatever decision you might make, nothing of what is discussed here goes beyond these four walls,' said Thomas.

'Of course, of course,' said Eldin impatient to find out exactly what Thomas had in mind.

'King Hylaw believes that should Kerdred and his brothers invade Daranel, the kingdom will fall, unless and this is the important part, unless we gain a tactical advantage. Kerdred has too many trained fighters and he has also very successfully trained Nefkins and dogs to fight alongside him. Kerdred is an astute leader and will infiltrate a country long before he invades. King Hylaw has asked for our most learned scholar to consider all the options available to him, should the unimaginable happen,' said Thomas taking a deep sigh, such a weight of responsibility having being placed upon his shoulders.

'I believe King Hylaw has already taken steps to prevent such an invasion. Aberrling told me before I left Princess Ami was to be betrothed to Kerdred's youngest brother Tremlin,' said Eldin pleased to inform Thomas of his 'insider' knowledge.

'Ah yes, the betrothal was not to stop an invasion, that was a tactic to make Kerdred believe King Hylaw believed it would stop an invasion,' Thomas said, smiling at Eldin. 'Now I need someone I can trust to commit themselves totally. An enormous task I admit, but Penn and I have made a start.'

Just then there was a knock at the door.

'Come in,' called Thomas.

Eldin noted that the knock on the door had not been that loud, nor had Thomas showed any sign of deafness while they had been talking. A tactic? Thought Eldin beginning to enjoy the idea.

Penn came into the room followed by two young boys, one carrying a tray of freshly baked scones and clotted cream and the other a tray with a large jug of mead and three goblets.

'Perfect timing, I think it would be a good idea to resume our discussion tomorrow when you are well rested and then Penn can go over what we have done so far,' said Thomas.

'I have asked for a clean mattress for your room,' said Penn. 'It should be there by the time we have had something to eat, now tell us all about your time in Landra.'

Glint was still staring at the spiders webs on the ceiling, the spiders had long gone, when the door opened and in walked Will with one end of a mattress followed by another younger boy with the other end.

'This room smells,' said the younger boy.

'It's OK, Glint's been travelling for days, he hasn't had time to have a wash,' joked Will.

Glint raised his eyebrows in mock anger and got up to help get the old mattress off the bed. When they were done they all headed for the dining room for something to eat.

'Oh nearly forgot,' said Will, 'Penn told me to tell you that he will being seeing to Eldin's meals and things for now, he’ll let you know if he needs anything'.

That evening with a bit of reshuffling in the boys dormitory Glint ended up with a bed next to Will. The long room was filled with beds on either side and personal belongings had to be stored underneath the beds. The older boys were nearest the door and were expected to help out any younger ones who were unwell or missing home. Will was obviously popular and went around the room checking on them before he settled down himself. Tomorrow Glint was to spend the morning with Will helping Penn sort out the books Eldin had brought back and in the afternoon he was going to have his first lesson in swordsmanship.

The following morning they turned up at the library, Penn had two boxes waiting for them to be taken to Eldin. Unable to help themselves they sneaked a look at what was in the boxes before knocking on Eldin's door. They had expected just to find books on whatever Eldin had decided to study next, Glint had thought possibly the Far East as he remembered how fascinated Eldin had been when Bella had told him about her time there. Instead they were shocked to find diagrams, maps, plans as well as a host of other documents all seeming to have a connection with war. They looked at each other, they would talk about what they had just seen later. When they knocked at the door Eldin appeared almost immediately, he must have been waiting.

'Just put those over by the table,' said Eldin. 'Right, thank you,' he added hurrying them out of the room as soon as they had put the boxes down.

As they walked back to the library Glint told Will that he could not believe Eldin would be interested in anything that even had the slightest connection with fighting. He hated that sort of thing, Glint had even expected Eldin to refuse him to train with the other boys in the afternoon. In fact Glint secretly hoped Eldin would stop him. He was not adverse to people fighting, just as long as it did not involve him.

When Eldin closed the door he stood for a moment and looked at the boxes. Did he really want to do this? He had hardly slept, his mind trying to sort out his feelings. In one respect the idea appalled him. Not just his potential involvement but the idea that he could be faced with a sword ready to draw his blood, that the Riftdale might be destroyed and that everything which gave his life meaning could be lost. On the other hand he saw it as a game, a puzzle requiring knowledge of logistics, statistics, economics, history, geography, so many skills.

He would need to read everything about Thantos, about Drumlin, about his sons. He would read about other battles to understand how they were fought. There was so much that intrigued him. He knew he would not be able to concentrate on anything else now the fire had been lit in his mind.

Later that day a knock at the door brought him out of his world of putrid carcasses being catapulted over battlements, of burning oil raining down on terrified soldiers, the stench of rotting infected flesh of the injured. It was Penn bringing some bread and smelly cheese. Thanking Penn, Eldin who usually loved cheese only ate the bread.

'How are you doing,' asked Penn looking over Eldin's shoulder to see what he was reading.

'There is a lot to get through,' replied Eldin, who had spread the contents of the boxes over every available surface including his bed and part of the floor. 'You and Thomas seem to have done a lot of research,' added Eldin.

'We have been collecting our own information, but a lot of this came from Aberrling in Landra,' said Penn.

'Aberrling and I were good friends, I wonder why he didn't ask for my help while I was there?' said Eldin.

'It was Aberrling who asked that we approach you when you returned, he had not wanted to involve you when you were in Landra, said it was too dangerous,' explained Penn.

Eldin looked back down at what he had been reading. He didn't want to just devise yet another method of killing. He had to find their weaknesses or something Kerdred and his brothers would not anticipate.

Glint stood opposite Will with