Spook's: The Dark Army (The Starblade Chronicles) by Joseph Delaney Read Free Book Online Page B

were a few frowns. Prince Stanislaw raised his eyebrows and Prince Kaylar of Wayaland spoke in a deep booming voice, tugging at his beard in some agitation.
    ‘Prince Kaylar does not think that a wise move,’ Grimalkin translated. ‘He believes that by pausing to attack the tower, we will give our enemies time to gather their forces and meet us on the Plain of Erestaba. He says that we should sweep past such fortifications at speed, like a fist punching towards a jaw, and concentrate on our main objective.’
    I smiled and nodded at Prince Kaylar. ‘You are correct in pure military terms,’ I conceded, holding his gaze. ‘But Valkarky is guarded by much more than thick walls and steel weapons. The Kobalos have many mages who wield powerful magic; it may turn aside our cannon and strike such terror into our forces that even the bravest might flee. But this kulad here,’ I said, jabbing it again for emphasis, ‘is home to a mage who also uses it to store his magical power and artefacts. If we can seize this tower, Grimalkin, who is an expert on dark magic, can learn much that will aid us. She will discover a way to counter the occult forces that our enemies will deploy.’
    Prince Stanislaw nodded at my explanation, but the other princes had to wait for Grimalkin to translate.
    While she did so I met the eyes of each of them in turn, just as the witch assassin had coached me, finally returning to Prince Kaylar and giving him the longest stare. Then I told my second lie to the gathering. Lying made me feel a little uncomfortable but it had to be done if Grimalkin’s plan was to succeed.
    ‘Once we have the knowledge that will protect us against their magic, we will head directly for Valkarky again. Within weeks it will be ours and the Kobalos threat will be no more!’
    After Grimalkin had translated these words, heads began to nod – even Prince Kaylar grudgingly conceded that this was the way to proceed.
    Next, Grimalkin turned to face me and bowed.
    ‘I would like to offer a little military advice, if I may.’
    ‘Yes, go ahead!’ I commanded as we’d rehearsed in the event of Grimalkin feeling the need to add anything to what I’d said.
    She bowed towards me again and then addressed the princes directly. I wondered what she was telling them, but again they nodded and exchanged satisfied glances.
    Ten minutes later we were back in my quarters.
    ‘You did well,’ Grimalkin congratulated me. ‘You looked and behaved every inch a prince. If all goes well and our luck holds, we may return with valuable information and get most of those men back alive.’
    ‘What did you say to them at the end?’ I asked.
    ‘I told them that the Kobalos have two hearts: one lies in approximately the same position as a human one; the other is smaller but is close to the base of the throat. A Kobalos warrior may survive the piercing of his main heart because the secondary one maintains the blood flow of blood to the brain. A wound that would certainly finish off a human might leave a dying Kobalos conscious and still dangerous. So I recommended that they inform their warriors that decapitation is the preferred method of despatching the enemy or, failing that, a double piercing of the chest. You remember that it was in Browne’s glossary, and I advised you to kill the Shaiksa assassin in that way.’
    ‘Valuable information indeed.’ I nodded. ‘But haven’t you confirmed Browne’s notes are true in this matter? Your notes made no mention of investigations of that nature.’
    ‘My notes were a limited catalogue of my experiments with Kobalos battle-entities, not Kobalos anatomy. I have others that include my speculations on methods of countering their military might – you may read them if you are interested. Back in the County, I explored the information on the two hearts by dissecting the body of the haizda mage before I filled the grave with earth. I confirmed that finding by also dissecting the body of the Shaiksa