Larkspur Mittel: The Lark & Owl Trilogy

18 - Such an Unlikely Foe

While Hero, Ivan, Adelmus and Aggie were giving chase to the dragonfly below ground searching for a way out, a different kind of chase was occurring above ground.

The sun would rise in another half hour, but it was still dark outside. The lark singers had just begun their morning song. The mist rolled back out towards the desert over the Ru River, and the soldier with the raw wound in his cheek (the blood was now dry and crusted- his fine linen handkerchief ruined) walked out of the dismal, grey stone home for lost lark children after questioning the two old women.

The hag with the ugly face hidden in her shawls was useless, wouldn't say a word. The soldiers thought she was a sorceress and would curse them.

The one the children called Boer Mam one spun circles. If she knew anything about the girl, she would not say, even after they threatened to feed the smallest child to the deguls. She had remained mute, feigned ignorance. Told them only a few details which were not helpful to their mission now.

She said the girl was called Hero. Was brought to the home by her mother when she was small, left at the front gate with a note and the satchel she still carried.

'Why would a mother leave her child here?' He had asked.

'Maybe she couldn't feed the child? She knew she'd be cared for here. Mind you, it twasn't long after the Peat Wars and people had not much to eat,' Boer Mam replied tersely.

'What did the note say?'

Boer Mam had hesitated.

'Look after me wee princess. You will be rewarded some day.'

'Princess?!'

'A figure of speech I warrant. The child was hardly a real princess, dressed in rags the way she were!'

'And have you heard from the mother again?'

'I have not.'

There was something not quite right about the story, but Dagur Minstry who was First Consul to Grimsoll Bolvekr had no time to ponder it now.

He turned to the men who'd followed him out of Wobash Cynders.

"Return now to the Citadel and ask for the tunnel maps. I will join you shortly."

The men left gladly, raising a furious dust down the road with their galloping steeds. Minstry mounted his own gelding who had waited patiently for his return, and walked him at a steady pace back to the Citadel.

He needed time to think.

He'd arrived in Larkspur Mittel more than a fortnight ago with a tally of men who were skilled mercenaries eager to wage battle. But the promised war had not yet come, and in the meantime his men were growing careless. They felt their time was wasted in searching for a young lark girl carrying a satchel. In the beginning, their instructions were to patrol the city and provoke the population. Now they were told to just find the girl. His men didn't ask why, but Minstry knew they felt that such an unlikely foe was beneath their talent as fearsome, angry Hummerlad soldiers.

Minstry had just seen the girl. He put his hand to his cheek where the wound smarted at his touch. She was surprisingly handy with a slingshot and arrow. Perhaps she'd been trained? She also must have had help in opening that droll tunnel, from the Owl Council no doubt.

He would find out. 

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The story turns a little here to give some wider perspective in what is happening in Larkspur Mittel overall, while Hero and her friends are on the run! What do you think of Dagur Minstry? Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to vote!:)