Sovereign of the Seven Isles 7: Reishi Adept Read Free Page B

Blackstone Keep. His brother-in-law was addressing a formation of troops arrayed before him.
    “ Lord Reishi,” Erik said when Alexander appeared beside him.
    “Hello , Erik. I’ve come to warn you,” Alexander said. “Rake has secured a powerful magical staff and he’s headed this way. You have about four days before he arrives.”
    “I have a re giment here,” Erik said. “We can defend the Keep from within, but we can’t hold out for long in a siege.”
    “Do you have horses for all of your men?”
    “And then some.”
    “Good . Put a small unit of men in the Keep to hold the bridge. Make sure they have plenty of arrows. Use the rest of your men to keep Rake occupied until my father can send help.”
    “Understood, Lord Reishi,” Eri k said, hesitating for a moment, worry rippling through his colors.
    “She’s alive , but Phane still has her.”
    Erik nodded, looking down at the ground.
    “I’m going to get her back,” Alexander said. “No matter what.”
    Erik nodded again, swallowing hard.
    Alexander flickered out of sight and appeared in a command tent near Headwater.
    Duncan looked up from the map he was studying and smiled. “It’s good to see you, Son.”
    Alexander spent a few minutes providing his father and Hanlon with a thorough report on the state of affairs as he understood them, then listened while his father offered an equally detailed yet succinct report on the progress being made against the Lancers now that t heir force lances were useless.
    “In short, we have the Andalians on the run,” Duncan said. “Even after I send a regiment of Rangers to bolster Erik’s forces, I expect to have northern Ruatha secure by early summer. By then, Talia will probably control half of Andalia.
    “I’ m more concerned about Abel and Ithilian. Ruatha won’t have much of a crop this year. Without food shipments from Ithilian, a lot of people will go hungry.”
    Alexander nodded. “I’m going to have a look at Abel’s situation right after I see Lucky and Kelvin.”
    “Be safe, Son. I love you.”
    “ I love you, too,” Alexander said before vanishing. He moved with a thought to Glen Morillian, projecting his image into Lucky’s workshop, finding the rotund alchemist working at a table filled with bubbling and sputtering glassware. His colors were flaring with power as he directed his will and magic into his creation.
    Alexander waited quietly, not wanting to disturb his old tutor lest his work be ruined. After several minutes, Lucky held up a small glass beaker, swirling the contents and sighing wearily as he shook his head.
    “Hi , Lucky,” Alexander said.
    He turned with a start. “Oh, my boy, it’s good to see you,” he said, looking down a moment later and shaking his head. “I’m afraid my success has been quite limited. It took twenty-three tries before I was able to produce a single batch of Wizard’s Dust, and while my rate of success has improved, I still fail far more often than I succeed.”
    “I’m glad you ’ve stuck with it,” Alexander said, smiling. “Most people would have quit after the first failure.”
    “But I’ve only succeeded three times,” he said, shaking his head again.
    “ That’s three times more than anyone else in the past two thousand years,” Alexander said. “What you’re doing is difficult, and it should be. That you’ve succeeded at all is wondrous. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Lucky.”
    “ But we have seventeen good candidates for the mana fast, and I was hoping to have enough Wizard’s Dust for all of them by now.”
    “Even one new wizard would help us,” Alexander said. “Just keep at it.”
    “I will, of course.”
    “Good,” Alexander said, then spent several minutes recounting all that had happened since they’d last spoken. Lucky listened intently, smiling broadly when Alexander told him about Mithel Dour and the Lancers, but shedding a tear when he learned that Isabel was still in Phane’s grasp.
    “Any word