Abuse of Power (Rise of the Mages 1) by Brian W. Foster Read Free Book Online

he followed. Several of the catcher’s men flew past the opening before realizing their targets had not continued on the road. The confusion widened the gap.
    So far, so good, but for his plan to work, Auggie needed even more distance between him and the pursuit. About a mile later, he took the lead. Soon after, they entered the clearing. Thirty of the duke’s soldiers held the horse thieves at sword point.
    Blue-and-gold-liveried men stirred to action at the sight of the approaching riders, and several, including the apparent commanding officer, broke off to intercept the group.
    With his two companions close behind, Auggie reined to a stop just shy of the soldiers. “Lieutenant, we’re being pursued. By order of the crown, delay them!”
    The soldiers lowered weapons to salute, and Benj and Alaina darted past them into the woods, leaving comically stunned expressions in their wake. Auggie followed before the officer had time to do more than offer a hasty salute.
    Emar would be able to bully his way free, but it would take time. The only question was whether it would be enough.
    For fifteen excruciating minutes, they slowed to a crawl through thick forest before the terrain cleared. A hard gallop over open ground with sparse trees brought them to the top of a rocky outcrop where they dismounted. While Benj unloaded their provisions, Auggie began filling an empty saddlebag with stones.
    “Whatever are you doing?” Alaina said.
    Auggie closed the first bag and started on a second. “The hope is that our pursuers will follow the tracks without giving this cliff a second glance. That’s what Benj and I did.”
    “Okay. But why the rocks?”
    With three sets of provisions laid out beside the cliff, Benj joined Auggie in filling empty bags. “A good tracker can judge how much weight a horse carries by the depth of a hoof print. We don’t want the lack of riders to be obvious.”
    Five minutes of all three of them working together resulted in two weights—heaviest for Auggie and lightest for Alaina—tied to the saddles of each of the three horses. Benj slapped each horse’s backside, sending them galloping off.
    Benj lowered himself to sit on the edge of the precipice with his legs dangling. “See you at the bottom.” He disappeared below the ledge.
    Auggie stood well back and peeked over the side. The sun had burned through the clouds, giving him enough light to see. Unfortunately.
    The jagged, vertical cliff dropped two hundred feet down and ended at a wide expanse of sharp rocks that waited to impale a careless climber. And they couldn’t even use ropes without leaving evidence of their passing behind. What idiot had decided they needed to scale it?
    Oh, yeah. Him.
    Benj descended rapidly, swinging from rock to rock as if he didn’t have a care in the world. As if a single slip wouldn’t send him tumbling to his death.
    Such a bad idea.
    Auggie couldn’t watch any longer and focused on the scenery instead. A dense hardwood forest stretched for miles until yielding to fields and farm houses. A village sat in the center of a patchwork of greens, browns, and yellows.
    Several minutes later, he forced himself to look again. Benj had made it to the quarter-way point.
    Auggie turned to Alaina. “Can you do this?”
    She eased onto the ground. “Heights never bothered me.”
    If only he could say the same. She looked so tiny and frail next to the huge, hard rocks. “Alaina, wait.”
    “What?”
    “Be careful.”
    She looked at him like he’d grown a second head before launching herself downward. Auggie sighed. What the blast was he doing? Be careful? Really?
    She scampered over the rocks like she was born to them. When she made it fifty feet down, Auggie took a deep breath and swung his feet over the ledge.
    Of all the things he didn’t want to do, climbing down a cliff was at the top of his list. Marriage. Sure. Sign him up. Being the duke. Great. Sit him on his throne and let the lectures on road maintenance