Changing Of The Guard (Book 6) Read Online Free

in the wood.
    He was, in fact, no longer on the plane of Adruin.

Book 2: Lectodinian Uprising

Chapter 1

    It was early morning, and a crisp wind blew against the closed shutters of Zutrian Esta’s laboratory. Winter was coming early to the mountains this year. The leaves had already turned, their edges grown russet and crimson in the red rays of the sun, their bodies curling inward as they fell to the ground. The window sills gave a staccato rattle, drawing Zutrian’s concentration from an elixir that bubbled with green froth.
    Zutrian grumbled.
    Being high superior of the Lectodinian order meant there was never enough time. He had woken early in an attempt to enjoy the craft of his spell work, but he was having difficulty concentrating, and his elixir was bubbling too strongly.
    The window rattled again.
    Salt.
    He needed salt to control the process.
    Zutrian went to a row of shelves and slid a glass pane back. He remembered a time when his mother would stand over the cooking pot, sipping from the ladle and deciding whether to add sage, cinnamon, or whatever bit of magic she thought would make the broth interesting. She would have made a good mage, he thought as he returned to the potion.
    He dribbled a pinch into the mixture.
    The potion calmed into a translucent emerald soup.
    Zutrian nodded absently and opened his link to the plane of magic, letting the proper portion of magestuff seep into the mixture. A sliver of blue appeared in the cup, then dissolved into the base.
    Yes.
    Potion magic was like watching a grandchild, he thought. He never got to do it enough.
    A pounding came from the door.
    Zutrian scowled and straightened. “Enter,” he said.
    Arasia, a chambermaid, entered with a tray. She was young, and her hair was tied in a utilitarian bun at the back of her neck. “Your breakfast, Superior.”
    A man loomed behind her like a buzzard in the doorway.
    “The sun isn’t even up, yet,” he said to Halsten.
    “What, sir?” the maid replied.
    “I’m sorry, Arasia, I wasn’t speaking to you. Thank you for bringing me breakfast.”
    “You’re quite welcome, sir. You’ve got to eat better.”
    “I’ll try.”
    The chambermaid put the tray down at his table. As she left, Halsten slipped into the room. The echo of his boots on the flagstone seemed to ring in the day.
    Zutrian pulled back the corner of the linen covering his food. The aroma of apple-scented oats made his stomach come alive. He cupped the bowl in one hand, letting heat seep into his fingers as he took a seat on the hard-backed chair, upholstered in the earthy style of Badwall’s western culture.
    “I need your council, Superior,” Halsten said.
    “I assumed as much.”
    “Your edict that we remain undetected is causing problems.”
    “Hmmm?” Zutrian spooned his first bite of breakfast.
    Halsten drew near, wrapping his hand over the back of another chair, hesitating as if waiting for the superior to add something.
    Zutrian merely chewed and beckoned him to continue.
    “There is a village to the north, sir. Jayalla, I think it’s called. If we run the training exercises I have planned, then the village will certainly be alerted to our presence.”
    “So, what do you recommend?”
    “I suggest a nighttime raid, sir. Something quick, that removes the village from the map in total.”
    “I see,” Zutrian said. He scooped another bite of his cereal, but left it in his spoon. “And what do we do with the people?”
    “I’m sure we can sell them to Rickard.”
    “Rickard is in the farthest northlands.”
    “True.”
    “Winter is coming. Do you want to trek through the northlands in ice and snow?”
    “I think we could do this quickly enough to avoid weather.”
    Avoid weather, certainly, Zutrian thought. At least the mages could. Displacing an entire village in the winter months would, however, result in more deaths during the ensuing march than occurred in the raid itself.
    “And how do you suggest we handle the scouts and