Anais and the Broken War (The Blood Mage Chronicles Book 5) Read Online Free Page A

entertainment.

    “Thank you for joining us,” Gorman said as I entered the room. I looked about and noticed the tapestries had been changed. They now showed fauns playing pipes and nymphs dancing round and round in a green forest. I wondered who had requested the change, but I didn’t ask.
    Cedric, Gorman, and Fynn sat around the polished oak table. Two runners were standing by the door, presumably waiting to be assigned jobs.
    Cedric looked up from the paper he was reading, his eyes bleary. “I don’t think we’re going to be through before dinner,” he groaned. “You should tell Mediera and Jacarda to start without us.”
    “I asked Sister Anais to join us to help out with another matter,” Gorman said. “I need her to speak with the mothers at the Abbey.” He handed me a small sheet of folded paper. “Fynn can escort you.”
    “Can’t you send one of the runners instead? Mediera will be displeased if Ani disappears. And we need Fynn. He can read and write. None of the guards or the runners can read, and we have all of these communications from the captains in the field. I don’t know how Colin managed to keep everything organized.”
    “No. It has to be Fynn and Anais.”
    “Why?” Cedric asked.
    Gorman sighed. “It just does. We’ll cope without them.”
    Cedric groaned. “Fine. Just as long as you explain it to Mediera.”
    Fynn and Gorman eyed each other as Fynn handed Gorman the letter he had been reading. “This is another one from Captain Carrenhail. He’s not happy.” I remembered Captain Carrenhail from my time in the field. His grudge against the skins ran so deep that he had sent Mal, Justin, Fallon, Azriel, and I to our deaths with no potential gain. I didn’t want to think about what lay in his letter. I wished never to see him again.
    Fynn took my arm, and we left the room. As we walked down the winding stairs, I flicked open the sheet of paper. It was blank.
    “What’s going on, Fynn?” I asked once we were in the privacy of the gardens. “There’s nothing written on this paper, and it would make more sense to send Sister Tatiana. She’s on better terms with the mothers.”
    “We aren’t going to the Abbey.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “One of the captains reported that a band of furies broke through their lines and are moving in the direction of the city. There isn’t much time. The city gates are closed, and the city guard can probably take the band, but it will cause a panic. And we are walking a very fine line as it is. We need the people to think they are at least safe within the city walls. Gorman wants you to try the trick you pulled with Colin’s body. He thinks you can bury the lot of them.”
    I inhaled sharply, envisioning Fynn and I standing alone against a band of marauding furies hell-bent on reaching the lives throbbing inside the walls of Barriershire. I wanted to stop them. I just didn’t trust that I had enough power.  
    “I don’t know if I can do that. I’ve only buried bodies on a few occasions, and never more than one at a time.”
    “I told him it was a long shot. But he argued that we had no other choice. Since word of Lord Colin’s death reached the lords in the West, we’ve had no new troops, and some of the captains have rounded up their men and crossed the mountains back to the West’s safe embrace.”
    “You didn’t tell me.”
    “Cedric didn’t want to worry Lady Mediera. And you’re so close to her. It didn’t seem wise to confide in you.”
    I sighed. “She can’t be left in the dark.”
    “You don’t have to convince me. I wanted to tell you both how bad things had gotten. But my vote doesn’t count, because I’m just an artist, as your friend Cedric puts it. He’s a peach.” Fynn sighed. “I suppose he’s just trying to keep Mediera calm.”
    “Why would Mediera need to stay calm?”
    “You weren’t there. She broke down in tears in one of our sessions. There have been some very unpleasant letters from the