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

you and Penelope don’t forsake your bond. However, I am a servant of the king.”

I mentally double checked my shield; things had the potential to go wrong quickly. “You seem to have a conflict of interest then. What do you propose to do?” I responded, giving him a hard stare.

The older warrior did the last thing I expected, something I had rarely seen him do… he laughed. “You’ve grown a lot since I met you,” he said.

The compliment did little to improve my mood and I was impatient to be done with the conversation. “I’ll make this easy for you. You can return to the king if you wish… or you can attempt to exact justice on his behalf right now. If you decide on the former I won’t stop you, if you try for the second I’ll have more blood on my hands. I’d much rather have your help with this war though… I’m not sure if we can afford to lose your assistance,” I responded. I kept my voice calm but I could feel the blood pounding in my temples. My anger was dangerously close to the surface now.

Cyhan could probably sense my deadly intent, but if so he didn’t show it. “I have been thinking along similar lines. If I had decided to act against you we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” He made it a statement of fact, as if people discussed cold-blooded murder every day.

“So you’re going to stay and help. Excellent… what was the point of this conversation then?” I started to walk around him but he put his hand on my shoulder. I looked at it and then met his gaze, the question in my eyes.

“I just wanted to make sure we were clear about where we stand,” he continued. “I think you have a chance in this war, or I would have removed your head already. If you lose, the king’s justice will not matter; if you win your case with him will be between the two of you. I will abide by his decision at that point.” He removed his hand.

I stared at him for a moment longer. “I think we understand each other perfectly then,” I replied before walking away. I could feel his eyes on my back until I had left the courtyard.

***

My mother found me the next day. Miriam had always been a quiet woman, except when she was arguing with my father, which wasn’t often. She found me that day working in Royce’s smithy. I was trying to melt our remaining scraps of iron down, to cast a few more iron bombs.

“I spoke with Penny this morning,” she began.

I winced inwardly. I could see where this was headed. “Did she send you to talk some sense into me?” I asked.

“No, but she told me how you feel about your father’s death,” she replied.

“Surely you don’t think I’m wrong?”

“I do. Your father made his own choices, the only thing he would have changed is how you feel about it now,” she answered.

I grimaced. “I can’t help how I feel mother.”

“Do you think your father would want you to feel this way?” she responded.

“If he were here I would ask him, but he’s not,” I said. Anger and sadness were warring within me, but I held them back. Miriam was the one person I couldn’t lash out at.

She walked up and put her hand on mine, forcing me to stop my work. “Look at me Mordecai.”

I did. Her cheeks were wet. I started to say something but she put her finger on my lips, “Do you know why I’m crying?” she asked.

“For Dad?”

“No. He lived a good life. I’m weeping because now that he’s dead, my son seems to want nothing more than to die himself. I cry for the loss of your smile and the joy it always brought me.” A tear traced a lonely line down her cheek.

I stared at her for a long moment and something broke loose within me. She held me as my own tears started again. An age passed while she held me, and I cried like a lost child, deep sobs wracking my chest. If anyone saw us standing there they were kind enough to pass on without interrupting.

Chapter 32

Spring came at last, bringing with it warmer days. The snow in the mountains began to slowly melt, swelling the Glenmae River. I was forced to add more stones to keep it from overwhelming the dam. I began to hope the enemy would arrive soon, if they waited too long the river would overwhelm the retaining wall and the artificial glacier I had created. I smiled at the irony of that thought.

My mood had improved, which was a great relief to Penelope, though I did have to do quite a bit of apologizing. It was worth it however, the making up did even more to cheer me up. I still held a dark seed of anger and grief within though. I kept it down, dark and deep, where even I was largely unaware of it. I focused my conscious mind on more pleasant matters, few as there were.

Two weeks after spring had ‘officially’ begun the riders returned with word that scouts had been seen. The scouts were light cavalry men, riding in pairs to explore the valley and road. We left them alone; I had no plans to interfere with them unless they decided to go near where the dam was located. Fortunately they didn’t go that far, stopping ten miles into the valley before returning.

The river at the end of the valley they were entering through was small; we were only allowing a small flow to pass from the dam downstream. I worried they might be suspicious at the low level of the river. Not being native to our valley I was taking a chance they would be ignorant of how powerful it normally became in the spring.

I found Dorian the evening after the scouts had been spotted. “Are the