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

Winter passed slowly, with a growing sense of trepidation. I added another teleportation circle to the road near Arundel, so I could more easily check on that end of the valley. I also started regular patrols along the western end of the valley. Our plan would be for naught if the enemy came early and caught us unprepared.

By midwinter I had produced more than two thousand of the iron-bombs, each with its own glass activator. Marc, in a moment of inspiration suggested we create a large wooden table, covered with a map of the valley. It took several weeks but once it was complete we added small depressions to it, marking the locations where the bombs would be. As each piece of iron was hidden along the road the glass stone to activate it was placed on the table at the spot the bomb was located.

The change in our dam building strategy freed a lot of men up from laboring there. The smaller retaining wall was much easier to build. The temporary housing had already been completed as well, so I set the free men to digging a massive ditch. As they dug a massive earthen berm was created alongside it. We built a flimsy wooden palisade atop that. As defensive structures went, it was poorly made, but we had no time to build better. If things went as I hoped we wouldn’t have to defend it from very many attackers anyway. Pits were dug in the area behind the earthworks and filled with massive stone blocks before being reburied. I had run out of iron, but I had a plan that would require them to be there, should the worst befall us.

Through it all my mother and Penny watched me carefully. I felt their eyes on me as I went about my tasks. Penny in particular had to be by my side nearly constantly. In her face I could see worry, she didn’t like the changes she was seeing. “When was the last time you smiled Mort?” she asked one day late in the winter.

I considered the question seriously, “Hmm, probably the day my father died. Why?”

“You’ve been quiet. You never smile, or talk... except to give instructions. You seem obsessed with the coming war,” she answered with a frown.

“Obsession is a good thing when you’re planning a war. I don’t have time to be planning dances and parties,” I replied sarcastically.

“It isn’t that exactly. You just seem unhappy, as if the world has gone dark. There’s a shadow in your heart and it makes me sad,” she said softly.

“What am I to be happy about? I killed my own father Penelope, and soon I’ll kill a lot more people, including you. What part of that should give me joy?” I was gritting my teeth as I spoke.

Penny flinched at my words but she didn’t give up. “You didn’t kill Royce, Mort. Stop blaming yourself, please.” As she spoke she put her hands on my shoulders, trying to rub the tension from them.

I pulled away. “I did. I took them to Albamarl. I killed the king’s guards and started that damned fight. My pride insisted we take back what the king had stolen, and my pride refused to leave any of it behind. My own arrogance and self-confidence caused me to remove that shield from him, not knowing it was my own father. It was my anger that sent me back to kill the king’s men, and my weakness that forced him to bring me back...”

She started to interrupt, “Mort listen that’s...”

“No! You listen!” I shouted. “He walked out to snap me out of my shock. That’s why he was shot. And after we had returned I could do nothing for him... because of this gods cursed bond! I might have been able to save him then, but that choice was already made. In the end all I could do was help him die.” I started walking away. “Exactly which part of that wasn’t my fault?” I said coldly.

“None of it dammit!” she shouted at my back. “Stop obsessing over it. We still have a few months left to us. Why spoil it blaming yourself for things you couldn’t control? Why waste your time thinking only of deaths we can’t prevent?”

I whipped back and gave her an icy stare, “Prevent? I’m not trying to prevent any more deaths Penelope. Oh no! History conspires to make me a murderer... but that’s fine with me. I’ll kill more people this spring than anyone in history,” I said fiercely.

“That’s not why you’re doing this,” she argued.

“It is now! I plan to kill every... single... damned... soldier... that enters this damned valley! And when I’m done, I’ll make sure I’ve finished off any of the bastards that were lucky enough to survive, assuming I live that long,” I said finally. I left her then, an expression of shock on her face. I could hear her crying before I had gotten out of earshot. One more thing I’m guilty of, I thought to myself, but I couldn’t go back.

***

I ran across Cyhan in the castle yard. Considering my conversation with Penny I was in no mood to be chatting, which normally wasn’t a problem where he was concerned, but something about his stance told me he had something to say. I stopped a few feet away and waited.

“We need to talk about a few things,” he began.

“I can tell,” I replied stoically.

“You raided the king’s warehouses while you were in the capital,” he said, as if that were enough to tell me his thoughts.

“I reclaimed my property. I’m sure the king will give me his thoughts on the matter when he gets around to it,” I answered bluntly. “Is that a problem?”

“Perhaps,” he said, pausing to consider his words. I had rarely seen him put so much effort into diplomacy. “My orders don’t pertain directly to acts of banditry. I’m here to make sure