Forest For The Trees (Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

under
orders to treat him simply as one of their own.  It may make no difference
depending on the fate planned for them as a whole, yet the old saying stated
that the gods only helped those who worked hard to help themselves before
imploring for intervention.  Sooner or later there might arise an opportunity
they could take advantage of.
    Adrian and his men would deal with it if it came.  He
trusted them to act as professionals, as warriors befitting the seasoning they
had undergone during their campaigns with him against wild Taurs and equally
wild Tillsar natives.  This kingdom, which had hardly any experience with
warfare during the last few centuries according to his analysts, should be
unfamiliar with such matters as prisoner transport.  There existed a
possibility that any procedures they employed would be rife with mistakes.  His
men would not let their fall prevent them from taking advantage of any such
opening when one appeared.
    Concerns for a later time.  The witching hours were
upon him and hopeful wishing would only deepen his depression if an escape
opportunity failed to arise after all.
    Fight your best fight, and never give in until the
end.
    How very odd.  That was the only advice gran had ever
gifted him with that he whole-heartedly agreed with.  He was a soldier to the
core.  Adrian understood about never giving up.
    What happened to me?  Surely something calamitous must
have befallen me for everything to have transpired as it has.  Yet my memories
are scattered and my recall of the time is fading by the moment.
    Adrian distantly remembered walking endlessly,
marching in a limitless darkness that put the night surrounding him to shame. 
Every day those memories faded, losing any meaning they might contain and
melting into the forgotten recesses where all dreams petered away.
    And yet, clearly he had never left.  He had remained
with his men, issuing orders, making decisions.  How could he have done so much
while retaining no recollection of it?
    Was he slipping into madness?  His actions were
without question contrary to his nature.  The orders sheer insanity. 
Reinstating Colonels Harbon and Mendell nothing short of incredulous, let alone
entrusting them with the authority to command the army’s major elements.
    The fact that thosetwo were so closely tied to
his aberrant actions made him suspicious.  Except, easy as it would be to place
the blame on them, it left as many questions unresolved.  He well remembered
Mendell’s keen interest in the forest of the Rovasii, on whose border Adrian
had regained his senses, and Mendell’s pique at being denied authority to
investigate those woods.  That surely must be why the forces had struck hard to
the south after crossing into Galemar.
    But why this foreign forest was of such importance to
the colonel remained a mystery beyond his comprehension.  It made no sense. 
Risking the lives of every Arronathian soldier to seize woodlands of no
strategic value?  The worst of the criminally incompetent officers would need
to be excessively deluded to order such.
    As much as he would like to believe those two vipers
were responsible for his mental malaise, the question remained what exactly
could they have done to him?  No poisons or chemicals familiar to him could
have reduced his mind to rubbish while leaving him, for all appearances to his
men, whole and sane.  Any magics approaching the manipulation of the mind were
wholly anathema in Arronath.  If they were willing to go so far in their
disregard for morality, where had they found a mage capable of the feat?  Try
as he might to remember the last clear moments before his slip into the
depthless dark, he could only picture the two of them entering his office in
Kallied.
    They had been alone.  No third party, no possible user
of proscribed magics, accompanied them.
    Blaming them only explained a handful of the facts. 
Too much remained veiled from his knowledge.  All he had were