Mageborn The Line of Illeniel by Michael Manning (interesting novels to read .txt) 📕

I nodded. “Where do you plan to scout next?” I asked.

“We’re going to head through the forest to the east, toward Lancaster. We’ll make our way through to the road between here and there,” he replied simply.

“There shouldn’t be any in that direction,” I commented.

“The key word is shouldn’t,” he said grimly. “It isn’t a word I like to hear when it comes to battle. That word has killed more men than any other word, except perhaps one.” He waited for my inevitable question.

I sighed and asked, “What word is that?”

“Charge,” he replied with a smile.

Dorian left after that, taking fifty riders with him. I hoped they wouldn’t find anything.

Chapter 36

The day wore slowly on. I had expected Dorian and his men to return within a short span of hours but he failed to appear on time. As each hour passed beyond the time he should have returned I grew more anxious. He wouldn’t have delayed unless something prevented him... or he was dead.

Joe stood beside me on the rampart, watching for their return. “Something bad has happened,” he stated.

While I admired the man’s tenacity, his penchant for stating the obvious was annoying sometimes. “He’ll be back,” I replied.

“How do you know?” he asked me.

“Because he has to be,” I said darkly. In spite of my optimistic words I felt in my heart that something had gone terribly wrong. Another hour dragged by and the sun was beginning to set. I was about to give up my fruitless watch and go inside when I spotted riders coming up the road.

They were too far to make out with my eyes but with my mind I found Dorian among them and breathed a sigh of relief. They were riding hard, as if the army of Gododdin was racing behind them but I saw no others on the road.

A few minutes later I met him in the yard. “What happened?” I asked impatiently.

“They’re heading for Lancaster!” Dorian shouted before I finished my question.

“What? How many?”

“All of them as far as I can tell,” he replied.

“But the other scouts report they’ve made camp in the valley,” I told him.

“It must be only their wounded. We came across nearly five thousand soldiers on the road. Barely escaped once they caught sight of us. They sent a cavalry detachment after us; chased us halfway back here. I don’t think they wanted us to know where they were headed. There’s no one but women and children there! We have to send out the men, all of them, try to draw them back.” Dorian’s tone was full of stress. I had never seen him so close to outright panic.

“Wait, let me think,” I replied.

“There’s no time to think! We have to respond immediately! Every second brings them closer to Lancaster. There are no defenders there and we’ll never lift the siege if they close around them. Not that they could keep them out anyway. They’re hauling siege engines behind them Mort!” he was shouting now.

Siege engines? Where in the hell had they gotten those? None had been spotted before now. I suspected they might have had the parts in the supply train, which had largely survived intact, but I couldn’t imagine how they had moved them so quickly. I closed my eyes, struggling to think and suppress my own panic.

“Mort! We have to move now!” Dorian shouted again.

“Shut up! Give me a moment!” I yelled back, and then an idea occurred to me. It would be a desperate gamble but the enemy clearly had an idea of my plans already. Knowing that we might be able to fool them into thinking we had more traps ready than we actually did. “How long before they reach the duke’s castle?” I asked quickly.

Dorian frowned for a moment; obviously his own mental machinery was also clouded by emotion. Finally he spoke, “From the point we left them... they should get there within an hour, possibly two. The wagons and onagers were slowing them down.”

That might be enough time, barely. “Get the men inside and make room, we’ll have a lot more people here soon. I need twenty men ready to travel with me, now!” I ran to find Penny. “Have them meet me over here!” I shouted back at him. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I found the large circle that we had used to transport the non-combatants to Lancaster and stood inside it. A second later I was in a similar barn at Lancaster Castle. I left quickly, looking for Genevieve. I shouted at the first person I saw, a woman hauling water in the yard, “You! Get everyone out here now. Tell everyone you see to come here quickly.”

She stared at me blankly for a moment until at last she recognized me, “Yes your lordship.” She resumed walking toward the keep, carrying her heavy bucket.

“Now damnit! Drop the bucket and run! There’s no time!” I shouted. She let out a startled yelp and dropped the bucket. I watched her run for the keep while I frowned. I found a second woman at work in the stables nearby. A similar tirade sent her running as well.

Within a few minutes people had begun to gather in the yard but Genevieve had yet to appear. “Get the children over here! I’m taking everyone back to Washbrook now. The enemy will be here soon,” I told them. Penny and I took the first group of children we could find and transported them back to Cameron Castle. Dorian and the twenty men I had requested were waiting there for me.

I left the children and returned with Dorian and his fighters. Genevieve had emerged when we got back and met me at the barn door. “What’s this about the enemy coming?” she asked me anxiously.

“They’ll be here within an hour, two at the most. I’m taking everyone back to Washbrook with me,” I informed her.

“But what of the food? Half our stores are here! There’s not enough room for everyone there,” she said