Page 86 of Suffer No Fools
"You're children," Stan said.
"Nearly half of Coryn's living army are children," Trin said. "And at least half of her overall forces are undead."
Stan stood no chance against the undead with his earth weaves. According to Hugo's firsthand accounts, they ignored earth weaves completely. Stan would need to rely on Hugo and his fire.
"If you can't hurt children," Trin nudged him in the side with her elbow, "you might want to show us how to share power. Renald and I have no age restrictions against traitors."
He grinned. "Aye, it's easy."
Fifteen minutes later, Trin and Renald were busy passing power between them, well on their way to being as adept as Stan and Tovey were.
Stan had stopped sweating, and he worried he was dehydrated. He hurried toward the pitcher of water Hannah had left them and filled three cups.
Trin took the offered cup. "Have you met the morning's new arrivals yet?"
"No." So many ships had arrived from Glamiere over the past weeks that Stan had lost track.
"There's a ship here claiming to be refugees from Stony Eel Island," Renald said.
"I don't trust them," Trin said. "I don't recognize any of them from the academy, but they must have trained there. I was there for two years. You'd think I would recognize at least one of them."
That was strange, Stan had to admit. "Thank you for letting me know."
Trin gulped the rest of her water and then turned to take Renald's hand. They both stared expectantly at him.
"What?"
"Shouldn't Hugo meet with them? We'll walk you as far as our house."
Vadim's house was on the way. The children veered off onto the path between Petri's food stand and Olivia's graveled trail and waved. Stan watched their backs until they disappeared around a curve. One day, they would have to visit Vadim and Klaus at their home, especially after Vadim's insistence they were family.
Stan found Tovey and Hugo in the tub. They helped him massage away the tension of the morning and cleaned the sweat from his body in record time.
"Elder Beatrice needs us," Hugo said, echoing Trin's concern. "That ship from Stony Eel Island started as a merchant ship from Bantora."
"Trin didn't recognize any of their earth weavers," Stan said.
"We're not certain they are earth weavers." Tovey finished sluicing soap from Stan's hair and helped him sit up. "Klaus said there was something strange about them."
The more he learned about the visiting ship, the more Stan's hackles rose.
Tovey grabbed their towels and helped them out of the tub. In a few minutes, they were dressed in their best finery and on their way to the sentinel oak.
Klaus met them outside. "Have you had a chance to practice breaking enchantments yet?" he asked. "There's something really off about these ... people." He shook his head. "I can't even confirm they are people. They say they're weavers, but they don't have auras, and they haven't used any power, even when Trin dropped a boulder on a guy's foot."
Stan couldn't help it. He was exhausted from the morning's workout, and the thought of Trin dropping anything on anyone made him laugh.
"Then, he refused healing." Klaus waved his hands in a shrug. "Said he wasn't dead yet."
"If the only thing you've seen a healer do is turn someone undead, you'd be worried, too." Tovey patted Klaus on the shoulder. "You think they're wearing suppression amulets?"
"I don't know." Klaus's shoulders shook. "If I didn't know better, I would say they're undead."
"Let's meet these interesting folks." Hugo took Stan's arm and beamed up at him. He didn't appear bothered, which put Stan more on edge.
Bea moved from her seat at the head of the table. She waited for Klaus to sit beside Vadim before sitting across from the earth weavers. They didn't read as earth weavers to Stan, either. He glanced at Vadim, whose bemused frown said everything.
"Can you explain why you don't have a pulse?" Vadim asked.
