Warden (Blade Asunder Book 3) Read Free

forget, our ancestors are one and the same and we share their bloodline. We cannot turn our heads to our own.”
    “What will you do, my son? We have lost so many of our people to the Queen’s cause, do we really want to go to battle so soon?”
    His mother spoke wise words, but he could not turn his back on the Duchess. She had helped Myriam’s cause and she was clearly in danger.
    “Tomorrow, I will travel to see the forest dweller, Hendon. Together we can contact the Queen and I will tell her of my fears. Go to your bed, mother, you will stand in my stead whilst I am gone. I can’t help but feel that our people are involved in the Duchess’s life. I bid you a good night’s sleep for what is remaining of the darkness. Soon I will pack and will be gone before you awaken.”
    She hugged her son. Always, she trusted his judgment, just as he trusted her wise words. He had been trained all his life by her brother, Chief Clay. He would make the right choices for his people.

4
    Linz took one other person with him as it is not wise to be alone in these forests, even though he had lived here all his life. All manner of dangers lurk in the shadows. If one is injured, then the other can seek help. If both are injured then all they can do is pray.
    Wyatt was a brave warrior, tall and strong, and he seemed always to be stuck by Linz’s side. He must have taken it upon himself to guard the new Chief, or his uncle had allocated him the chore before this death. Whatever the reason, Linz liked Wyatt and trusted him to accompany him on this mission.
    Soon they were passing the large summer house that belonged to the Stapleton family, on the edge of forest Cefinon, but this time he did approach it. When they had stopped here before, the foreman had not been too friendly.
    Their trail then takes them back into the depths of the forest and across a creek. Linz remembered, this was the stone bridge where they had first come across Hendon, the strange forest dweller who can talk with nature.
    It was not until later that they discovered they were all related via the D’Anjue bloodline, and that was Hendon’s special skill bestowed upon him by the stones of Berghein. Linz’s skill was more subtle, never realizing he had it for most of his life as it seemed so natural. He could sense how to find things or trails that were important, so he knew he would be needed on the quest to search for the Duchess.
    His duties to his people would have to wait. His mother, trusted and admired by the Lake people, would rule well in his absence. Hopefully the quest would be a short one and he could return to resume his duties. The Lake people were learning the history of their ancestral link to the D’Anjue family. Blood ties are always important to his tribe, so he felt certain they would approve of his mission.
    A few hours later they arrived at the log house that was Hendon’s home, but there were no signs of anyone there. The door was not locked and the insides looked undisturbed. The bed had not been slept in for a while.
    “Maybe he goes to see new Queen,” Wyatt suggested.
    “That’s exactly what I was thinking, Wyatt, and if two of us think this, I believe it must be so. We will sleep here tonight and rest the horses.” He was certain that Hendon would not deny them the shelter of his home. “First thing in the morning we will depart for Castle Villeroy. I must relay my news to the Queen before she organizes a wider search for the Duchess.”
    ***
    Hendon sat in his room. He always missed the forest whenever he had to leave his home. The castle gardens were pretty enough, but they did not compare with the tall trees and the wild animals of his home in the Cefinon forest.
    He picked up his staff, turning it in his hands, feeling the rough wood under his fingertips. He was faced with a sudden vision of riding his horse, Bartok, out in the hills. This pleased him because he thought his horse magnificent, yet why had Bartok suddenly come into