The Realms of the Gods Read Free Page A

do not object, I’ll take the knowledge of the route to your village from your mind. You’re in no condition to ride.”
    â€œI’ll pack for us both, and give the word to Tkaa,” Daine said. “Meet you at the stables soonest.” She turned to go. A hand grabbed her sleeve. Puzzled, she looked at the king. “Be—careful,” he said, giving her the parchment letter. “These Skinners sound like nothing that anyone has encountered before.”
    Daine smiled at this man whom she had served with love and respect for the last three years. “Numair will set them to rights, Majesty,” she said. “Just make sure you’re still here when we come back.”
    â€œI think we can manage that much,” the king replied, and released Daine’s sleeve. “Unless they get reinforcements, we can hold them all summer if we must.” He and Daine tapped their own skulls with closed fists, their version of knocking on wood. “Look at the bright side. It’s Midsummer’s Day—maybe the gods will throw some luck at us!”
    â€œMidsummer—do you know, I’d fair forgotten?” Daine smiled wryly. “Maybe I’ll look in a pond along the way and find out who my true love will be.”
    Jonathan laughed. Daine grinned, bowed, and trotted off, waiting until she knew he could no longer see her before she let her smile fade. With Numair’s magical Gift to hide their presence, there would be no problem in leaving the city—it was how they’d entered it in the first place. Her concern was for the king—and for the queen, commanding at the embattled capital; for Alanna the Lioness, the King’s Champion, in the far north since the spring; for the many friends she had made all over Tortall.
    We need Midsummer luck for fair, she thought, returning to their rooms. All along the enemy’s known what we’re about before we do it. We need luck to counter him, and luck to find his spies. I don’t know where it’s to come from, but we need it soon.

    They left Port Legann separately. Numair rode his patient gelding, Spots, carrying his pack and Daine’s. While two of the three roads that led into the city were still open, they were unsafe; he cloaked himself and Spots magically, as he’d done on the way into Legann. Daine herself flew out in the shape of a golden eagle tosee if she could find the Skinners and get an idea of what she and Numair were up against.
    She soared on columns of warm air that rose from the land. From the upper reaches, the walled city and its surroundings looked much like a wonderfully detailed map. The enemy’s main camp lay a few miles off the north road. On the road itself, a mixed band of enemy soldiers and immortals was camped. On the eastern and southern roads, soldiers in Tortallan colors had dug in to keep the way open for help and supplies. From aloft, she also saw the motley fleet that waited outside Legann, thwarted from entering the harbor by the great chains stretched across its mouth.
    In her years in Tortall she had lived among warriors and mages, and could read a battle situation like a book. What she read now gave Daine hope. The enemy army was about equal to Legann’s; if they had any magical surprises, they would have used them before. With armies that were matched, and neither side having the advantage in magic or weapons, the battle on land and at sea was a stalemate. The king was right: Legann might hold all summer, particularly if they could keep at least one road open.
    She wheeled, turning her eyes east. Twenty miles from the city, a wide swath of pale brown, black, and gray, naked of greenery, straddled the east road. Trees stripped of leaf and bark thrust into the air like toothpicks. As she approached, she saw, and smelled, corpses—most of them animals—bloated and stinking in the heat. They came in all sizes, from the smallest mice to cows and sheep.