Mageborn The Line of Illeniel by Michael Manning (top novels of all time TXT) 📗

Dorian frowned, “Why? Is Rose alright?” Leave it to Dorian to immediately think of her. Unfortunately in this case he might be right.

“She’s fine,” I lied. There was no force on earth that would keep him here if he thought I was concerned about her, and I couldn’t afford to have him elsewhere. “I have an idea to speed up the transfer of materials between here and the capital. If it works I’ll be back within a week.”

“It takes almost a week just to get there Mort,” said Dorian dryly.

“Trust me,” I winked at him.

“I hate it when you say that. It usually means you’re about to do something stupid,” he grumbled.

I gave him a looked of wounded innocence, “Have I ever let you down?”

“Yeah remember when you stole those berry tarts?” When we were ten I had stolen three tarts from the kitchen in Lancaster. Dorian’s bedroom had seemed the safest place to hide them while they cooled. No one would suspect him I had reasoned.

“Well... technically that wasn’t my fault,” I protested. It had been Marc’s idea, and he had taken another three without me realizing it. The cook had been so incensed they interrogated every boy in the keep.

“The hell it wasn’t! You showed up and hid them in my room, ‘trust me’ you said. Remember what happened? I still have the scars. I couldn’t sit for a week,” Dorian’s eyes lit up. He loved telling a good story, even if it involved childhood pain.

I didn’t bother arguing. We’d have gotten away with it if he hadn’t blown our cover. As soon as the duchess put him to the question he had frozen up. Eyes wide and face pale they had immediately known he was guilty of something. It was the only time the duchess ever taken a switch to me personally.

“It will be fine,” I reassured him, but I had to wonder. If things went wrong this time I would get much worse than a switching. I went back to my room, I had a lot of work to do before we left in the morning and I needed a certain book.

Chapter 26

The wagons rolled steadily toward the gates of Albamarl. Joe was driving the lead wagon while I sat beside him. I was carrying a crossbow and dressed as a guard. I had no plans to announce my identity as we entered the city. I couldn’t be sure what might have happened since I had been in the city a month past but if Lord Arundel had reached the king’s ear my reception wouldn’t be warm. Caution seemed the better course.

Penny rode beside the driver of the second wagon and was similarly attired. A woman guard was a bit unusual but shouldn’t attract too much attention, unless they were expecting me to return. If they had been alerted to look for a man traveling with a female warrior she might arouse suspicion, but Penny hadn’t taken up that role until after we had left. Hopefully it wouldn’t have occurred to them. I didn’t think they would expect me to try to sneak in to Albamarl anyway. As far as the king knew I should be back at home, preparing for a hopeless defeat.

The guards at the gate let us pass with only a few questions. So many empty wagons attracted attention but they could find no reason to stop us. A few minutes later we were rolling down the streets of Albamarl. “Where to first?” Joe asked.

“The Lancaster house, it should have the space we need. I’ll have to make some preparations before we do anything else,” I answered him.

The gates to the Lancaster estate were open when we reached it, something that seemed unusual. On my last visit they had been closed and guarded. We rode in and I got off the wagon. “Take the rest behind the house. There should be enough room back there for the wagons,” I told Joe. I walked to the front door and opened it.

The house seemed empty so I began searching, hoping to find someone who could explain what had happened. I found James sitting in the breakfast room, he looked tired. The room itself had been crudely repaired and was yet unfinished.

“Mordecai!” shouted James, leaping up from his chair.

“My lord,” I answered, “you look rather glum.” In fact the good duke looked downright depressed. It was rare to see him so worn looking, he was generally a man of uncommon health and energy.

“Heh,” he said. “You might be right there. If you had been here a few hours earlier you would understand why.”

“What happened?”

“The king forced Hightower’s hand. He showed up with the royal guard and confiscated everything Rose had bought and stored for the next journey. They took considerably more besides... to be certain they had it all,” he told me.

“I noticed there was no guard at your gate.”

“They arrested everyone Rose had hired, including my retainers. I thought for a moment they might take me as well, but apparently I am still in the king’s good graces,” he said.

“I imagine Rose will be a terror when she finds out,” I commented.

“Lord Hightower was commanding the guardsmen, he took Rose with him.”

“Willingly?” I asked.

“He had her trussed up like wild game, she was far from willing.”

“Where is she now?”

“I expect she’s under lock and key at her father’s house. I rather suspect that’s why he took a personal hand in the matter, to prevent her from being locked up in the king’s jail. The rest I don’t know.” James sat down, placing his head between his hands.

“We’ll have to do something about that,” I remarked.

“Such as? In case you didn’t realize it the king has declared you an outlaw. You’re to be locked up as soon as they get their hands on you.”

I had expected as much. “He can declare whatever he wants, it won’t make a difference,” I said.

“What are you planning?”

“I’ll explain soon. I have to run an