Disciple of War (Art of the Adept Book 4)

by Michael G. Manning

  “I have one, if that’s permitted,” said Sub-Marshal Nerrow, his voice strangely subdued.

  Will warned him with his eyes, even as he responded, “Go ahead.”

  Mark Nerrow looked at the two commanders. “How quickly will you be able to follow him?”

  Lambel spoke first. “The men are tired. They had two days of forced march, one day of rest, then today’s battle. We could potentially march tomorrow, but it would be better to wait until the day after.”

  “Have them rest now,” said Nerrow. “Call them back to camp and cancel anything except for camp duties. If I’m staying here with the entire Fifth, then we’ll have more than enough manpower to accomplish the cleanup and whatever else in the coming days. Second and Sixth can start recuperating now and then march in the morning.” He turned to give Will an accommodating glance. “Assuming that meets with your approval, sir.”

  Will couldn’t help but admire how quickly the man had gotten his emotions under control. Mark Nerrow had not only gotten past the humiliation; he’d already made a plan to hasten the aid Will would need to take on the Patriarch’s army. “Thank you, Sub-marshal. I appreciate your input. Your plan sounds reasonable.”

  They spent several more minutes ironing out details, and then Will dismissed them and sent for his horse. Lieutenant Renly had somehow regained his courage in the meantime and asked a pertinent question, “We need to pack, sir, and we should take a pack animal as well to insure—”

  “You aren’t coming, Lieutenant. I don’t need to pack.” Will summoned his sword from the limnthal, then dismissed it just as quickly. “I have everything I need. You’ll manage these things and ride with Second Division. We’ll be reunited in a few days if everything goes well.”

  Renly nodded. “Very good, sir.”

  When his horse arrived a few minutes later, Will swung into the saddle and started down the road that led back to the river and the crossroad. He was alone for the first time in months, but he also felt freer than he had in a long time. Patting his horse’s neck, he nudged her into a trot with his heels.

  Chapter 39

  He’d only just gotten out of sight of Maldon when he noticed two figures on horseback following him down the road. They appeared to be striking a quick pace, one designed to catch up to him. Will intended to ride hard himself, but he slowed slightly to let the newcomers close more quickly. Whoever it was, he might as well get the interruption over with.

  He had no intention of allowing anyone to ride along. They’d only delay him.

  After a few minutes, he could see them more clearly. One figure was relatively slight, riding a horse with a similarly light build. The other was massive, and though he rode one of the biggest horses Will had ever seen, he still made Will feel sorry for the horse. No beast should have to bear such a burden.

  Will stopped then, recognizing that the giant could only be one man: his friend, Tiny. As the two drew closer, Will could see that the smaller figure was Janice.

  He wanted to be angry with them, but he couldn’t. It just wasn’t in him. As they came into earshot, he yelled out, “Where did you find a horse big enough to carry you? Did you steal Sir Kyle’s destrier?”

  Tiny grinned broadly but waited until he was in proper range for a conversation before answering. “As a matter of fact, this is Sir Kyle’s warhorse, Thunderbolt.” The big man leaned forward to stroke the colossal beast’s neck. “We’ve become great friends, haven’t we, Thunderturnip?”

  Will almost choked. “What did you call him?”

  Janice rolled her eyes, an expression amplified by the shock of white hair on one side of her head and her startling dichromatic eyes. “Thunderturnip.”

  Tiny nodded. “He doesn’t like his real name. He prefers Thunderturnip. Don’t you, boy?” The horse neighed, tossing its head in a manner that made Will believe the animal might actually be responding to his friend’s words.

  Will shook his head in disbelief. “You realize that horse theft is punishable by death, right? I may have considerable power, but if Sir Kyle decides to press this against you…”

  “He sent me,” said Tiny.

  Janice raised her hand. “Me too.”

  He frowned then. “Why?”

  Tiny started to answer, but Janice put a hand on his arm, her expression clearly saying let me. “Do you really have to ask?”

  Will growled. “Yes.”

  She met his gaze evenly with one blue and one brown eye, and she showed no sign of flinching under his glare. “Because you’re alone.”

  Tiny nodded. “You’re always at your dumbest when you’re left to yourself.”

  Will pointed his finger at the giant warrior. “You’re assigned to Barrentine’s company. You’re his damned squire! You can’t go traipsing off to follow me around.”

  Tiny folded his arms stoically across his chest. “He ordered it, and I obey. In fact, he told me in no uncertain terms that if I didn’t stay with you, he’d see me drummed out of the army entirely.”

  Janice looked at the big man then clucked at him. “Don’t lie. He said he knew he’d have to have you whipped for being a deserter if he didn’t send you.” The corner of her mouth quirked into a smile as she turned her face back to Will. “Then I told him he’d better order me along too, otherwise we’d both be getting lashes. To be honest, though. I think he was considering it even before we rebelled.”

  He knew he’d lost, so Will changed the subject. Staring at the big horse, he asked, “How is it that you’re riding that monster? I thought knights’ horses were trained not to accept another rider.”

  Tiny laughed. “Who do you think takes care of Thunderturnip when Sir Kyle is too busy? To be honest, I think he might even like me better.”

  Thunderturnip snorted, then gave his rider a long look with one eye. Tiny responded by reaching back and pulling a white tuber from his saddleback before leaning forward to pass it to the horse, who caught it in his teeth and crunched it up quickly.

  Will pointed. “Is that?”

  Tiny nodded. “That’s why I call him ‘Thunderturnip.’ He loves the things, though I’ll never understand why.”

  For some reason Will started laughing and despite everything, could not stop. He laughed for several minutes non-stop, until tears ran from his eyes and he began to have difficulty getting enough air into his lungs. It felt good. He’d been so tense for so long—he almost couldn’t remember the feeling of being able to relax with friends. When the laughter finally began to fade, he had to control himself to keep from crying. “Thank you,” was all he said.

  They understood.

  After riding for more than an hour, Tiny said, “I’m really glad you’re actually riding there. I was worried you might be planning to travel through the fae realm.”

  “If we ride and walk through the night, we can be at the crossroad by morning. One way or another, we should be close to them by then,” said Will.

  “It’s still a relief,” said his friend.

  “I don’t know a path through there to get us there any faster. I’d have to call my aunt and—well, it’s not worth the risk.”

  Janice looked over, touching her face unconsciously as she asked, “Your aunt? The same one we tried to rescue?”

  Will nodded. “She’s a little different now. I guess you might say she came away with her own scars.”

  “I didn’t think they could change,” said Janice.

  “She did.”

  Hesitant for just a moment, Janice asked, “Is it a good change?”

  “I’m not sure,” Will answered, trying to be honest. “But if you run into her and I’m not with you, I’d recommend you run the other way.” He went on to give them a brief description of his most recent interaction with Tailtiu.

  “That was her mist this morning, wasn’t it?” asked Janice.

  “Yeah.”

  Tiny grunted. “It was so thick I could barely see my hand at arm’s length.”

  “So, she isn’t bad,” said Jan
ice. “She helped us, after all.”

  “She helped me,” corrected Will. “That doesn’t necessarily make her your friend. I’m not even sure if she’s safe for me to be around anymore.”

  Janice pointed to the white portion of her hair. “I got this because I care about you. We’re friends and it changed me, permanently. You went after her that night because you care. She’s your family and it changed her. Probably changed you too, but she’s still your family.”

  Will had never disavowed his aunt or grandmother before, but he felt it needed saying just then. “You realize she’s not human, right? Even if her ancestor a dozen generations ago was related, she’s not really my family.”

  She didn’t back down. “Idiot. You went into a vampire-infested warehouse and almost got eaten alive, quite literally. She’s family. In fact, for that matter, I did the same for you. We’re family too. Get that into your head.”

  Tiny chuckled. “I went too. I guess that makes us brothers.”

  Will grinned. “Of course, but it started before that. Probably the first time we stood in a shield wall together.”

  Tiny turned to wink at Janice. “I suppose that makes you my little sister, eh?”

  She frowned. “Don’t put that in my head! I don’t want to be your family in quite that sort of way.”

  Tiny puckered his lips and winked. “Give us a kiss, sis!”

  “I’m never kissing you again if you keep that up, you great lout!” she snapped. She used the reins to slow so she could drop behind them, then she kicked the mare forward so that she was riding on Will’s other side, away from the squire. Then she returned to her previous point, “What I’m trying to tell you is that you wouldn’t have taken such a risk if she wasn’t already an important part of your life.”

  He sighed. “I get what you’re trying to say, but I don’t think you understand how truly alien she is.”

  “I’m not saying she isn’t dangerous,” said Janice. “But change comes from connection.”

  Will almost stopped his horse. He could feel a deeper importance in Janice’s last line. “Explain that.”

  “People change each other through their connections. Strangers don’t really affect one another. Connections come from emotions, from relationships, and they’re fundamentally based on love or hate, which is sort of the same thing really. You’ve told me in the past that the fae don’t change, but just a minute ago you said she did. All this time you’ve been insisting that she’s your aunt, even though everyone told you otherwise. Today’s the first time you said she wasn’t, and it didn’t sound believable. You made it real. You made her your family, even if it was just through stubbornness.

  “The fae can’t change. That’s what they taught us, and it was true until now. The vampires didn’t change her, you did. Somehow you touched her heart,” finished Janice.

  Will let the words sink in. He’d have to think about it more. Glancing over, he saw Tiny looking proud. While Janice was looking away from him, his friend mouthed a few silent words at Will, ‘She’s smarter than you.’

  An evil thought came to Will, and he didn’t waste time acting on it. Holding his friend’s gaze, he took on an air of outrage. “Damn, Tiny! What are you staring at? Don’t leer at her like that!”

  Janice’s head whipped around, and Tiny’s face went red as he stammered and tried to defend himself, “I-I wasn’t! I swear!” For a split-second his eyes darted toward Will, promising painful retribution.

  “What were you looking at?” she asked, already fully aware of his innocence. Janice loved to torment Tiny, and she wasn’t about to pass up the chance Will had given her.

  “Not you!”

  “What then?” she demanded.

  Tiny’s eyes roamed about for a moment, then settled lower.

  “My hips?” suggested Janice.

  “Your horse!”

  Will snickered and Tiny glared daggers at him. “Look at her withers,” Will enthused. “You don’t see lines on a mare like that very often.” He let his eyes linger on Janice’s horse, or perhaps her legs, making his gaze deliberately ambiguous as he affected a lewd expression. “A lovely filly indeed.”

  Thunderturnip snorted and tossed his head, seeming to agree.

  Tiny gave his mount a confused look. “You aren’t helping.”

  “So, it wasn’t the mare?” asked Janice.

  “It was,” declared Tiny.

  “You find my horse more interesting to look at than me. Is that what you’re saying?” she teased.

  Tiny growled in frustration, and Janice couldn’t keep up the act any longer. She laughed, Will laughed, and Thunderturnip nickered along with them.

  Chapter 40

  Night fell, and they continued to ride. “You really intend to ride all night long?” asked Tiny for perhaps the fifth time.

  Will’s lips formed a quiet smile. “You didn’t have to come with me.”

  “Don’t make me knock you off that pony,” returned his friend.

  Will’s horse was not a pony. She was a plain brown mare of perfectly average size, the same horse he’d primarily ridden since losing his first horse to the trap on the mountain road to Klendon. They’d tried to convince him to take a more hot-blooded courser for speed, or even a destrier, similar to the one Tiny now rode, but Will had refused. He had no intention of running races or taking his steed into battle. He had no idea what the mare’s name had been originally, but he called her Plum for reasons he couldn’t identify.

  Plum wasn’t a standout in any particular way. She wasn’t nervous or flighty like a courser, nor did she amble with a smooth gait like the expensive palfrey Janice now rode. Plum was what the stablemen called a ‘rouncey,’ a simple all-rounder who did well whether you put her in front of a cart or used her for riding. She wasn’t old, being only five, but she had a calm disposition that made her suitable for the elderly and safe enough for children.

  Since Will hadn’t been raised atop horses the way most of the nobility had, he found the mare to be exactly what he preferred—simple and no-nonsense. Plum also possessed an uncommon level of stamina and endurance. She might not be the fastest runner, but over the long haul she could outperform most equines, except mules and asses.

  Tiny had to walk beside Thunderturnip for at least as much time as he rode, perhaps more, to keep from winding the great beast, and though Will did the same for Plum, it wasn’t really necessary. He could tell she still had plenty of reserve to carry him further if need be. Maybe. After all, he wasn’t a horse expert by any stretch of the imagination.

  The main reason for walking the animals was simply because they wouldn’t be stopping for the night. At a slow pace, the horses could manage at least eight hours with a rider, but to last twenty-four hours or longer was a significant challenge that required either regular rest stops, or periods with the rider walking alongside on foot.

  Janice’s palfrey was bred for easy riding, and with the light load, she had the easiest task, while poor Thunderturnip had to carry a giant. It was a testimony to the charger’s strength that he could bear Tiny’s weight at all, at least in Will’s opinion.

  “The moon sets well before dawn tonight,” Tiny reminded. “It’s going to be hard to see.”

  “We’ll walk then. I’ll lead Plum, and you and Janice can follow me in a line. If it’s too dark to see at all, I have a rope you can hold onto to keep from getting lost.”

  “Can you really see if it’s that dark?” asked Janice. “What if it’s cloudy and there’s no starlight?”

  Will nodded. “You followed me through the sewers, remember? I can see even if there’s no light, such as in a cave.”

  “How?” she asked. “I understand you can change how sensitive your eyes are, but surely there has to be some light.”

  “There is,” said Will. “There’s a lot more different types of light than people realize. There’s light created by the heat of our bodies, or even the warmth of inanimate objects. There are other kinds of light that p
ass through us all the time, some of it only partially, and some of it without being affected at all. Some types of vision are disorienting, but I’m never really in the dark.”

  Looking ahead, Will spotted something sitting motionless on the road before them, a cat. He might have noticed the animal sooner, but its lack of movement had made it harder to spot. He pulled back on the reins until Plum stopped. His friends did likewise, giving him odd looks as he dismounted. “Something wrong?” asked Tiny.

  “No,” said Will. “There’s someone on the road ahead of us that I need to talk to.”

  Tiny squinted, looking forward into the gloom. “I can’t see anyone.”

  “He can see us already,” Will replied.

  “Non-human then,” offered Janice.

  He nodded. “Non-mortal, but he’s a friend of sorts. I’ll be back in a few minutes. He won’t talk if there’s anyone else nearby. Stay on your guard.”

  “He’s dangerous?” asked Tiny.

  “He is, but not to us. I’m more worried about the vampire following me. He might try something funny while I’m not with you.”

  Tiny’s sword left its sheath in a smooth motion. “Where?”

  Will shrugged. “I don’t know. He stays far enough away that I can’t see him, but Tailtiu warned me a while back and I’m sure he’s probably still out there. Just be wary.”

  Janice lifted one hand and three brilliant yellow orbs drifted up and away, lighting the terrain around them in every direction for fifty yards or more. Will saw the goddamn cat moving farther away to avoid being seen. “I don’t think that was really necessary, but I won’t fault you. I’ll be a short way out of sight. Don’t worry.”

  “That’s not wise if there’s a vampire out there,” warned Janice.

  Will laughed. “Don’t worry. The one I’m going to talk to is more dangerous than a whole pack of vampires. I’ll be safe.” He started walking before they could argue more.

  Thanks to Janice’s overachieving light spell, it was almost five minutes before he was completely out of sight, and the Cath Bawlg allowed him to draw close. “I’ve been wondering if you would show up,” announced Will.