Warlord by Robert J. Crane Read Free Book Online Page B

her.
    Fires raged, crackling all around them, punctuated by the rough, heaving sobs of the weeping rock giant as they stood there under the fiery night sky and watched the town of Emerald Fields burn.

9.
    “How many did we lose?” Cyrus asked as dawn broke over the eastern horizon. The ruined streets were teeming with life, with the refugees of Emerald Fields, with the Army of Sanctuary still pulling the living and the dead out of the wreckage, with a steady flow of arrivals from the homesteads further out coming to render aid or simply see the smoky remnants of their city. He stood in a rough circle of the Sanctuary officers, all downcast eyes and long faces. Joining them was Administrator Cattrine Tiernan, who had reappeared shortly after the end of the battle in the company of several hundred children and women whom she had helped hide in the woods.
    “Two dozen warriors and rangers,” Odellan said, his winged helmet under his arm, his long, blond hair matted down with sweat and the night’s efforts. His golden skin was darkened with soot, and his normally pristine breastplate carried hints of black ash in the ornate art fashioned into the metal. “Crushed beyond any hope of resurrection or simply missing until the hour of resurrection passed.”
    His words hung in the silence, and Cyrus turned his gaze to Administrator Tiernan, her brown hair in only a slightly better state than Odellan’s. She was wearing naught but a nightgown, a very simple cloth dressing that was stained with dirt from her flight out of the town. “Do you have … any idea?” Cyrus asked.
    “About our losses?” She blinked, her eyes surprisingly clear, her face absent any emotion at all. He suspected she was beyond exhaustion; they all were, really, but no one had poured more of their efforts into Emerald Fields over this last year and more than she. “I know it would have been considerably more if you hadn’t driven them off when you did, but … no. No idea. No counting as yet, not even of the corpses.”
    Cyrus swallowed, words feeling like they lodged in his throat. It would have been much less if I hadn’t pissed off the titans about five years ago, apparently …
    “You had a population in excess of one hundred thousand, yes?” This came from Curatio, whose complexion looked even more washed out in the pale dawn light. The sky held a purple tinge, and it reflected on his white skin, making him look like some sort of dark elven hybrid. “How many lived here in the town?”
    “Not as many as you’d think,” Cattrine said, stirred back to life by the query. “Perhaps less than a quarter, and it looks as though the titans simply came over Rockridge, ignoring the mines, and came down into town. All the farms are north of here, and thus should be safe.”
    “This entire area should have been safe,” Vara said, and on her scarlet cheeks there was the first brewing of anger. “The pass over the Heia Mountains—”
    “Has always been ridiculously porous,” Cyrus said, catching a flash of anger in her eyes. “Don’t you remember? We went through a few years ago on a three-day march and ended up finding a few titans up there even then. That was before the war, when the King of the Elves had less to worry about.”
    “The war is over,” Vara said sharply.
    “And the losses were great, as well you know,” Curatio said, rather limply. “Garrisoning the pass—”
    “Is now a priority,” came a sharp voice as Nyad edged her way into the circle. Her crimson robes looked fresh, and she carried a staff high, her face flushed with some emotion Cyrus couldn’t quite pin down at first blush. “I just got back from Pharesia.”
    Cyrus glanced at Vara, expecting her to say something, but she held her tongue, much to his surprise. “I take it you have something to tell us?” I didn’t even realize she’d gone; but then again, you could just about move an army in here right now and I wouldn’t have any idea about it unless they