Spear of Destiny James Baldwin (free romance novels .TXT) 📖

fifteen minute break before everyone arrives.” I opened up the KMS and sent a dispatch to Istvan. “Get some food and water into you. We’ll meet you there to receive the report.”

“Yes, my lord.” All six of them drew their heels together and saluted, then moved off toward the Great Hall.

Suri sighed, and looked down at Kitti. “You ready?”

“Yes. Can they come?” Kitti replied, nodding toward the pair of men who trailed her everywhere, Letho and Gruna. They were both big, hulking brutes, with the shaven heads, mustaches, and forelocks of Vlachian warriors. I was pretty sure they were twins. Letho was surlier and Gruna liked to wear red, but they were almost identical otherwise.

“Sure.” Suri gave her a nod. “C’mon, Hector. Let’s go. Good luck, Karalti. Looks like you’ll need it.”

“Thanks a lot,” she grumbled. But as we left her with Vash, I felt her satisfaction at a job well done. She was ranting to blow off steam. Underneath it was passion for the craft she was learning, and a strengthening core of self-discipline.

I shook my head to myself as Suri and I followed the exhausted scouts at a quick walk.

“Something eating you?” Suri asked.

“Nah.” I jammed my hands into my pockets as I caught up to her. “Still thinking about what happened with Ororgael. It’s got me wondering.”

“About?”

“About what he and my brother knew about Archemi that Jacob doesn’t.”

Chapter 20

A quarter of an hour later, me, Suri, Kitti, Rin and the commanders of my army gathered around the dining table offside the Great Hall, listening as the scouts delivered their report.

“The biggest problem is this road,” Corporal Bognar said, pinning a thumbtack to the map in front of her: a canyon that formed the official border between Racsa and Bas. “Gallo has taken Peacemaker’s Bridge, the only direct land route between Karhad and Solonovka. He has not attempted to cross. Instead, he repaired the damage done to it during the Demon War, building fortifications here and here.”

She drew red circles on two small rises that flanked the bridge on the Bas side.

“We also noted entrenched positions in four locations along the river. They have staffed these positions with concealed siege or artillery equipment, partially masked from aerial surveillance.” She marked the narrower sections of the canyon. “Our assessment is that they have thoroughly prepared this area and know it well. Gallo’s forces deploy patrols and spotters along the ridgeline. They have checkpoints at other crossings, here and here. It was just as well we made the survey at night.”

“Repairing the bridge is an odd strategy,” Taethawn remarked, stroking his claws through the fur of his chin. “One would think he would destroy it, the better to head ussss off.”

“I would bet my firstborn that bridge is rigged to explode if we try to cross it.” Wing Commander Vasoly sealed his lips into a flat, disapproving line. Like all the quazi-riding Ravensblood Dragoons, he was small and wiry, barely taller than Rin in his high-topped cavalry boots.

“I can’t believe that, Commander. Those entrenchments and patrols point to him wanting to hold the bridge against a land invasion. The fact he hasn’t blown it already means he’s getting something out of leaving it intact.” Suri, standing beside me with her arms folded over her chest, shook her head. “Could be that he’s still receiving supplies from smugglers via the Trade Road. Could be that he’s sending units into Karhad.”

“But he has to know we have more engineers than he has spotters, right?” Rin asked. “Can’t we snipe them off the canyon and just build our own way over?”

“Yes, but that would take longer than we have to stop him before the harvest,” Captain Vilmos said. The big Warden was on my other side, twisting the tip of his mustache as he frowned down at the maps. “He may be counting on us wasting time at the bridge while he masses forces close to the city. Runners will send word back that we have arrived, and he will have ample time to prepare. Even if we send an air force in, he’ll have half a day to implement whatever traps he has laid for us.”

“I think all of you have good points,” I said. “There’s no reason you can’t all be correct. Yes, the bridge is probably rigged to blow if he thinks he’s going to lose it. He could either do it while the army’s on it, and cost us a lot of lives, or blow it after we’re in Bas and make leaving difficult. We could find ways over, with effort, but the strategy Captain Vilmos just suggested is probably right on the money. But until Zoltan sees a need to trigger his plan, he’s probably using Peacemaker’s Bridge to run supplies.”

“He must be probing into Racsa,” Istvan said. “We know he wants Lady Hussar. I’m honestly surprised we haven’t caught anyone at the castle yet.”

“We might have. Have we?” Kitti’s eyes flicked nervously to her bodyguards. Gruna grunted in the negative. Letho shook his head.

“Well... you do have some ten thousand cat-men yowling outside your doors,” Captain Vilmos said, glancing at the Meewfolk. “No offence, Commander Taethawn.”

“None taken, ape-man.” The Meewfolk flashed him a stiff, toothy grin.

Corporal Bognar glanced between the two officers. “Anyway, to continue. We passed over the bridge and flew to Solonovka to assess the city’s defenses. On the way, we scoped out some unusual landmarks. Ardeshir?”

One of the Yanik men lifted his head. He nodded, turned to Istvan, and rattled off details in his native tongue. Istvan listened, grunting now and then. When Ardeshir finished, he gave a brief nod, and began to mark out locations between the bridge and Solonovka.

“Ardeshir says that the land between here and Solonovka shows characteristic signs of the Demon’s foul magics.” Istvan pointed to one of the stars he was