The Shadow

Chapter 19

Lord Canmore smiled, shaking away whatever iciness had coated his face mere seconds ago. "On the contrary, you're right on time. It seems that we have all arrived early."

His face grew sterner. "I have gathered you all to the royal council room so that we might discuss our next moves following the siege. In case you are not already acquainted with each other, this is Ser Ademar, Captain of the city watch." A large man who must have been in his fifties nodded his acknowledgement. Kai distantly recognized him; he must have caught a glimpse of the man at the siege.

Lord Canmore continued. "Lord Simmond is Treasurer of Aria, and Duke Odger and Duchess Odger are here on behalf of our king." Lord Simmond was a large, middle aged man who proudly displayed his delicately brushed handlebar mustache.

The Duke and Duchess both had handsome faces, if rather worn with age. They seemed smarter—and more dangerous—than the rest of the Lord's and Ser Ademar, in a way that Kai could not describe. Perhaps it was the coldness of their eyes, or the small smile perpetually splayed across the Duke's lips.

"Moving on to the matter at hand," Lord Canmore said, "enemies have invaded our lands. We do not know who they fight for, or even where they came from—not specifically. We believe that there is another force, and we must expect it to be much larger than the army that attacked Aria. Without more men, the army could not have pillaged so many towns and cities, not when most of the soldiers that we have seen were on foot rather than horse. Hardly two days ago I received a pigeon." He sighed.

"It was from Myles Foucaud—Lord of Sleetshire. He sent the letter from his ship, which has likely reached Northshore by now. He warned of the approaching hounds, which may have been useful, had the beasts not moved so quickly. His warning is of little use now—his pigeon must have gotten stuck along the way here. We at least can now be certain that much of Sleetshire evacuated." He turned to Harper and Kai, clearing his throat. "If not for Lady Harper and her...friend...we would not have had time to prepare for the army that nearly broke its way into the city." He said the word friend with unmasked disdain, but the rest of the men around the table—and the Duchess—nodded their thanks toward him and Harper nonetheless.

"We have won this battle," Lord Canmore continued, "But there will be more to come, and we must be prepared for them. I saw things at that siege that I had never before believed to exist on this planet."

Ser Ademar nodded gravely.

"We must be ready for our opponent's next strike," Canmore said, "but we know far too little about the enemy to prepare accordingly."

"What of the prisoner?"" Kai asked him. He had not even thought of the wounded soldier until now.

Lord Canmore shook his head sadly. "He died of his wounds before we could get anything useful out of him."

"And the men at the siege? Surely we captured some after the battle ended."

He shook his head again. "Any wounded soldiers atop the wall killed themselves as soon as they realized the battle was lost, as did the stragglers that our cavalry caught after the battle."

Kai's eyes widened at that. Only one thing could make men do such a thing. "They're scared of something," he muttered, half to himself.

Duke Odger guffawed. "I would be scared too, knowing what devices lie beneath this castle."

Kai sighed, dismissing the man's mocking tone. "They weren't scared of torture—men don't think that far ahead, not before doing what they did. Besides, if they'd given away their secrets, I'm sure that Aria would have spared them from much pain. Torture can't be it."