Secrets and Guardians: Devious Intentions by H. Chambers (hot novels to read txt) π
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Eldinβs thoughts wandered back to the battle plans he was supposed to be devising. The bottom line was that despite his best efforts, some of which had proved useful, he knew King Hylaw could not beat Kerdred. Kerdred could raise a far bigger and better trained army. No one actually knew exactly how many were waiting in Korin to sail over, but the numbers were thought to be huge. Kerdred also had the Nefkins. King Hylaw's army numbered only a few thousand and many of them were untrained men and boys from towns and villages around Daranel, it would be a massacre if they came face to face. But the alternative was just as bad with Kerdred in Brinkton and according to Nathe, Tremlin expected to arrive in Landra any day soon, it would only be a matter of time before they took over the rest of the country. Aberrling's plans had been good and had given King Hylaw time, but as it stood at the moment, the end would still be the same. Eldin needed to think; he began snoring.
'Eldin,' said Rona quietly, trying not to give him a fright.
Eldin opened his eyes and was surprised to see a very old woman sitting on his chair facing him. She gave him a smile, revealing somewhat less than a full set of teeth.
'I'm here to help you with some of your problems,' Rona said quite seriously.
'And you are? And my problems are?' asked Eldin.
'I am Rona and your main problem is Kerdred,' replied Rona simply.
Eldin looked down at his book he had been reading then across at Rona.
'Are you some sort of creation from my imagination, a dream?' asked Eldin trying to find a logical explanation as to why an old woman would be sitting in his room after dark. He glanced at the candles, still burning brightly. He could only have dozed off for a few minutes, although if this was a dream, those might be 'dream candles' and it could be the middle of the night and pitch black in his room.
Rona cackled and shook her head. 'I definitely haven't been created by you, what an idea!'
Rona looked down; her expression changed.
'I am a witch, a very old witch who should have died a long time ago. What you are looking at now is my spirit, my body lies hidden in the ancient forest,' Rona stopped, her shoulders sagged. 'My body will not last much longer, each time I return to it, it gets more difficult, I rely on others to bring me food and water,' sighed Rona.
'Why do you keep living? Youβre a witch, give yourself some potion or something,' said Eldin confused as to why anyone would want to live past their natural death day.
'My daughter was killed by Drumlin, my granddaughter was killed by Kerdred and my great granddaughter was taken by Kerdred as his wife,' said Rona almost hissing as she spoke.
Eldin was taken aback by the hate he felt from her, her anger filled the room with a malevolent energy.
Recovering, Rona calmed herself, 'I'm sorry, I've carried too much hate for too long'.
Eldin looked at Rona, he had been telling himself for weeks now he had to think differently if he was to come up with anything that would tip the scales in King Hylaw's favour.
'You said you would help me?' questioned Eldin.
At that Rona smiled, a wicked smile.
'Oh yes, I can help, but you will have to totally trust me,' said Rona.
'The best I can do at the moment is try,' said Eldin honestly.
'Good,' said Rona, 'Let's talk about fear'.
They spent most of the night talking, arguing, agreeing, thinking and even occasionally laughing. When Rona told him about what she had been doing to Kerdred over the years, he nearly felt sorry for him. Kerdred was terrified of her. Eldin wanted to know why she hadn't just killed him. She explained that when she was out of her body, she couldn't really hurt anyone and demonstrated the fact by coming over to him and giving him the hardest punch she could. He felt it, thought about it, and asked her to do it again. This time he closed his eyes, after the next punch he understood. Looking at her carefully he realised she was not actually sitting on the chair. He had always understood the idea of a ghost being the spirit of someone who had died, but it had never occurred to him that that also meant he was just a ghost still in a live body.
Their discussions got really weird after that and by the time Rona left, promising to return soon, Eldin was totally spooked out. Well at least he was thinking differently.
It wasn't until midday that Eldin arrived back at the camp. Nathe was not with him.
'Sorry I'm late, I have been talking to the prisoners, in particular Jed, Burrell and Decker, very interesting,' said Eldin taking a seat next to Ebblin.
Bella, Ghale, Ebblin and Breaker had just been discussing the Tree Guardians. Bella had told Eldin last night that the prisoners must have eaten something in the forest that had made them hallucinate. It was always difficult to know what people in Daranel would and would not accept. Fortune telling, visions, dreams, nightmares didn't seem to faze most people. Ghouls, ghosts, demons, walking trees were told about to children, but adults had a strange relationship with them. Some believed, some managed to believe and disbelieve at the same time and some thought all spooky stuff was absolute rubbish. Those who thought it was rubbish tended to consider anyone claiming to have seen 'something' a bit of a nut case. The troupe had decided Eldin was in the 'rubbish' category and had agreed not to mention certain things to him. They were in for a surprise.
'I would like to hear everything you can tell me about Lowe and what she can 'see'. Everything about Rona and last but not least the Tree Guardians,' added Eldin looking hopefully at each one of them.
'Rona?' asked Bella.
'Ah yes, she came to see me late last night, most enlightening, she had some very interesting ideas. Not the sought of thing I would normally have considered, but may be just what's needed,' said Eldin.
'Well I have to say I never expected this from you, thought you were in the non-believer camp,' said Ghale.
'It doesn't matter what I believe, what matters is what Kerdred believes. Rona and I spent a long time discussing terror and playing on a personβs fears. I have spent weeks trying to find Kerdred's weakness and it was staring at me all the time,' said Eldin sounding quite excited by the discovery.
'Did you realise your three prisoners have convinced themselves you are really demons and such like?' added Eldin.
'I did notice they were very quiet after Bella had her vision,' said Ghale.
'Jed seemed to be a bit taken aback by how easy you took control of his dogs,' said Ebblin to Breaker. 'And all that just adds to their encounter in the forest,' he added.
'It would not take much to nudge their minds a little further,' said Eldin intriguingly.
They all looked at each other, ideas forming, some slightly absurd, others comical. Bella came out of her thoughts.
'Just how much of a little nudge were you thinking about?' she asked.
'Enough so when they escape and tell Kerdred, they will believe Riftdale harbours all manner of strange and magical creatures,' said Eldin grinning broadly. 'Rona has been tormenting Kerdred for years, she has agreed to appear in Jed, Decker and Burrell's dreams. They will believe she also lives here in Riftdale. This will make their story more real to Kerdred. Kerdred hates anything to do with the supernatural and detests Rona with a passion,' said Eldin.
'I want to be a wizard,' said Ebblin.
'Actually I was hoping to be the wizard,' said Eldin.
'This could be quite fun, must not get too carried away though,' said Bella.
'Why not? I'm sure we could come up with all sorts of ideas,' said Ebblin beginning to think he would make a good tree guardian.
'Because if we take it too far we could actually make them insane. It wouldn't be any good if they ended up gibbering wrecks,' said Bella.
Breaker had been listening quietly. 'Why do you want Kerdred to believe Riftdale is full of witchcraft?' he asked.
They all looked at Eldin.
'Letβs just say for the moment, the more we tip him mentally over the edge, the more we tip the scales in our favour,' said Eldin.
'You have other ideas?' questioned Breaker.
'I am willing to consider anything and everything even if that includes taking advice from an apparition that appeared in my bedroom last night,' said Eldin.
Just then the dogs began to growl and pull on their restraints. Snapper bounded past them, jumped onto Breaker's lap and began smothering him in wet kisses, wagging his tail frantically. The rest stood up and waited for Lowe, Glint, Mankin and Princess Ami to appear. They didn't have to wait long. Soon everyone was hugging each other and all talking at the same time, except for Eldin.
'I'll go and organise some food and drink,' he said to no one in particular.
Glint heard and walked over to him. Standing awkwardly in front of him, he didn't know whether to give him a hug, shake his hand or what? Eldin surprised him by grabbing hold of him.
'I've missed you lad, let me know the next time you decide to run off to rescue some Princess,' said Eldin.
When Eldin let go, Glint was so stunned he just stood there.
'Right food, you look like you haven't had a proper meal in days,' said Eldin. 'Iβll have some sent out to you,' he added and headed back into the town.
When the initial excitement died down they sat in a circle and told each other of their adventures over the last few days. The journey through the forest hadn't been that eventful and therefore didn't take long to tell. Bella said, from what Jed, Decker and Burrell had told them, Snapper must have disturbed a rabbit burrow, sending the dogs into a frenzy chasing rabbits everywhere. The story about the Tree Guardians had Lowe clapping her hands with delight.
'They must have been the ones that got the medicine for me!' she exclaimed.
Eldin returned with the same boys that had brought the food the night before. As they approached Ami stood up staring at them.
'Will? Will!' she shouted and ran over to him. He put down the jug and swung her around in his arms laughing. Glint wasn't laughing. Bella, Ghale and Ebblin looked at Glint questioningly, Glint just shrugged his shoulders.
Grabbing Will by the hand, Ami dragged him over to the rest.
'Why didn't you tell me Will was here?' asked Ami.
'I didn't know you knew him,' said Glint trying not to sound as annoyed as he felt.
'Our fathers were friends, we used to play together when we were young,' said Ami still holding on to Will's hand, Glint noted.
'Will did say his father wanted him to marry you, but I thought he was just joking,' said Glint wanting to tell her about Willβs affair with his motherβs maid.
'Come letβs get this food,' said Ghale noticing the anger building in Glintβs eyes. 'And I hope that jug you were carrying has something stronger than water in it,' he added.
Will went back and picked up the jug of mead and then sat next to Ami.
After everyone had finished eating the conversation returned to Jed, Burrell and Decker. It took the rest of the afternoon
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