Nicholas Raven and the Wizards' Web - Volume 1 Read Free Page B

adventure. Maybe just a little excitement until I do settle down.”
    Maynard chuckled understandingly. “I know. So tell me what you have in mind. More schooling in one of the larger cities? Maybe start your own business? That might impress Katherine Durant.”
    Nicholas looked up. “ What ?”
    “I’ve seen how you look at her in the village.” Maynard grinned. “And on more than one occasion lately you’ve found an excuse to go to the Stewarts’ household in hopes that she might be working there, or so I’ve heard.”
    “Don’t believe everything you hear,” he replied with a guilty smile, quickly changing the subject. “But more book learning isn’t exactly my plan, or starting a business either.” Nicholas stood and climbed a few steps closer to Maynard, speaking softly as if revealing a long-held secret. “I was thinking about traveling to Morrenwood to join up with the King’s Guard. What do you think?”
    “ Hmmm ,” he said, stroking his chin. “I didn’t expect that answer.” He looked directly at Nicholas. “That would surely impress Katherine.”
    “Be serious!” He playfully punched Maynard in the arm. “What do you think? Your opinion means a lot to me.”
    “Well, I appreciate that you value my musings so much,” he replied. “And though I could dispense enough advice to fill up Neeley’s Pond, the final decision is yours alone. What you think deep inside your heart is what you’ll ultimately do.”
    “A hint of an opinion from you would be nice though.”
    Maynard nodded. “What position do you see yourself holding in King Justin’s army? A guard in the Blue Citadel? Maybe work yourself up to an advisory post? Or do you just want to be a grunt soldier going out on maneuvers throughout Arrondale?”
    “To be honest, I’m not sure,” Nicholas admitted. “I remember when the King’s soldiers passed through two months ago to register new recruits. Five more had signed on. I knew two of them. When they all marched off for Morrenwood three weeks later, I felt they were doing something special. Made my life here seem kind of dull.”
    “They might wish they were back here again if Arrondale ever gets involved in the war down south. You’ve heard the talk.”
    “Who hasn’t?”
    “War isn’t a glamorous adventure, Nicholas, though it may appear so to a pair of impressionable eyes far away from the fighting.”
    Nicholas walked on the porch and sat on the edge of a railing. “I’m not eager to fight in a war I don’t know much about. But there must be other jobs a soldier is trained for. There must be something else out there in the world for me!”
    “I’m sure there is.” Maynard stood and stretched an ache out of his shoulder. “And we’ll discuss it over a bowl of stew. Now let’s go inside before my dinner boils away.”
    Nicholas nodded and followed him inside, closing the front door to keep out the chilly night air.
     
    Adelaide Cooper joined in the debate two nights later while seated around the dinner table in Maynard’s kitchen. Adelaide lived directly across River Road from his farm and felt it was her duty to keep an eye on Maynard and Nicholas in a motherly sort of way, though neither really minded her well-intentioned intrusions on most occasions.
    “Bad times are on their way,” Adelaide said between sips from a mug of hot spiced cider. “I can feel it in my bones.” She patted Nicholas’ arm uneasily, capturing his gaze with her steel blue eyes. Adelaide was several years older than Maynard, but her short, thin frame topped with curls of gray belied the fiery spirit inside her. “What makes you want to traipse about the countryside all the way to the capital? Doesn’t the King have enough soldiers? And during autumn besides? I’m frozen to my toes thinking about it!”
    Nicholas took her hand and gently kissed it. “You’re worrying yourself to pieces, Adelaide. I haven’t even packed my traveling gear yet.”
    “Then you’ve chosen a