The Orb And The Spectre (Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

having fled. It’s an important gain for him, providing him with shelter and an adequate base for supplies."
       "How reliable is the report?" queried Leth.
       "It has come by one of Duke Hugo's pigeons. It bears his seal and mark."
       Leth nodded soberly. Wizened Lea had been an anticipated loss, almost a sacrifice. Its occupation came as no surprise. For weeks its people had been pouring into Giswel Holt and Enchantment's Reach, desperate for shelter, as they had known they would be first in the path of the Karai. Wizened Lea was indefensible. To have met the Karai there would have resulted in quick and brutal defeat.
       Folk were coming from other towns and villages, their numbers ever-increasing. They were women, children and old men in the main. The young and able had been drafted into the army. They swelled the population of the great city-castle until its walls groaned and its towers swayed, placing demands upon its storehouses almost beyond its bearable limit. Passions flared in the streets as resident citizens brunted the influx. Order was becoming more difficult to establish or control. Ever more urgent requests came to close the city gates on the growing torrent, but Leth refused to turn his people away.
       "Do you ride to meet Anzejarl, Sire?"
       Leth remained resolute. "Hugo can certainly hold out at Giswel Holt for many weeks should the Karai lay siege. Then might an opportunity present itself to strike Anzejarl in the back. But for now he remains fluid. I do not choose to exhaust our troops by chasing him willy-nilly about the countryside."
       "And if he advances on towards Enchantment's Reach?"
       "Then he will be between Hugo and us. Keep me apprised of all reports, Cathbo."
       Sir Cathbo bowed and withdrew. Leth sat in hopeless despair. He had spoken with some bravado but within himself he knew that nothing he could do would be much more than a token gesture against the Karai. Even a strike into the Karai army's rear would achieve little. The Karai vastly outnumbered the soldiers and knights of Enchantment's Reach. They were enigmatic, emotionless warriors, skilled in battle, who fought without fear of injury or death. And they did not fight alone. Leth's forces would be thrown into disarray by a simultaneous attack from the skies of Anzejarl's terrible slooths.
       How many slooths? Leth could not guess, but fewer than two score, expertly deployed, would be enough to bring havoc and confusion to Leth's ranks which the Karai might exploit to devastating advantage.
       And there remained Anzejarl's other forces, the fearsome troll-things, so far unseen within Leth's kingdom. Earlier reports of the Karai campaign had told of the effect these creatures had had as shock troops against the armies of the southern Mondanes that Anzejarl had conquered. Bolstered by such redoubtable allies Prince Anzejarl had made himself a virtually invincible foe.
       If I could just learn how he has tamed these creatures! Leth slammed the arm of his seat with his fist. If I could discover how he has acquired the patronage of a god, how he has torn his nation's constitution to shreds and yet survived to lead. If, if, if. . . .
       His gloomy meditations were interrupted by a servant announcing the Lord High Invigilate. Fectur strode into the chamber, his chest puffed, a sealed letter in his hand which he passed straight to the King.
       Leth saw at once the illicit seal of the True Sept.
     
       "They grow audacious," he said, breaking the seal. The seal on the previous letter had been anonymous, the Sept's insignia contained only on the inside. Leth read the words within:
     
      ‘ If the Child is truly known, you are helpless without us. ’
     
       He handed it to Fectur, who nodded, seemingly gratified. "They also grow impatient."
       "They burn for contact, for legitimacy. I will exploit this if I can. But I’ve nothing to give them other than the news that the Child may have been