A Solitary Journey Read Free Page A

‘Where?’
    ‘The latest report is that he fell during the battle to stop the Kerwyn forces from crossing the river onto Broadfields.’
    ‘And the retreat? How far have the Kerwyn come?’
    Goodman paused before announcing, ‘The full army is already marching onto Kangaroo Plains, Your Majesty.’
    ‘Warmaster Waters? Where is he?’
    ‘The Warmaster is leading the royal army to meet the Kerwyn, Your Majesty. The messenger reported that Warmaster Waters is confident that your army will stop the enemy and drive them back.’
    Goodman watched cautiously for the Queen’s response. Her temper had become increasingly volatile in recent days as the plight of her kingdom worsened, and he did not want to witness another hysterical outburst. He was relieved when she retained her calm demeanour to ask, ‘Is that everything?’
    ‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ he replied.
    ‘Good. Deliver my responses,’ Sunset said.
    ‘Will Your Majesty be wanting company later?’ he asked prudently.
    ‘No,’ she curtly replied. When Goodman left the chamber she slammed her hand down against her hip and swore. She cast a quick glance at the Elite Guards at attention by the door, but they acted as if they hadn’t heard her royal outburst. Frustrated, she went to the window and looked over the palace grounds at the Jarudhan temple. The Seers were again refusing to help her defend her kingdom. They had refused ten years earlier when her son led his first rebellion against her, using the worn-out argument that political matters of the temporal world were not their concern. Their stand infuriated her because she knew that her son and King Ironfist were being actively supported by colleagues of the Seers—priests who wanted her replaced by a man.
    She sighed and left the window to study a map of her kingdom on the chamber’s central table. Ten years earlier she had thwarted the Seers in their first bid to overthrow her and control the kingdom through her errant son, and simultaneously stopped the invasion from Beranix the Butcher, but only because chance had brought Lady Amber to her—Meg Farmer, the naive girl from a small northern village. The girl inexplicably possessed the fabled Conduit—an amber gem that gave her magical powers far exceeding the Seers’ magic. Lady Amber defeated the Queen’s enemies before perishing in a brutal and terrifying confrontation with Seer Truth at Whiterocks Bluff.
    Sunset walked from the map across the long stretches of sunlight pouring through the windows towards the door. Lady Amber had come and gone, but the kingdom remained. As queen she would order the Seers to defend Western Shess from the enemy or she would throw them all in the Bogpit until they changed theirludicrous thinking. The problem with men was that they never knew when they were beaten. She was queen. She had supreme authority, not Jarudha, and the Seers would accept that or spend their last days grovelling in the depths of the Royal Gaol.
    Lightning flashes, white puffs of cloud and thunderous booming from the ranks of the Kerwyn army startled Warmaster Waters’s horse and all of the horses of his retinue. The Warmaster fought his mount to a standstill and stared from his low hill vantage at the decimation of his front ranks. ‘Warmaster!’ Marchlord Carpenter gasped above the unsettled murmuring among the Shessian leaders. ‘The enemy use magic!’
    Waters fixed the frightened young Marchlord with a firm stare and replied, ‘They’re called thundermakers. Send an order to the men to hold their ground.’
    ‘But Warmaster,’ Carpenter began to protest, holding his tongue when he saw the grey-haired Warmaster’s stony resolve. ‘At once, Warmaster!’ he confirmed, and wheeled his horse to personally deliver the message to the Marchlord leading the battle.
    Waters watched the Marchlord ride down the hill towards the troops. Carpenter was a new promotion, too young and too inexperienced for the command because a wiser man would have