Page 84 of Lucie
It was long after night had fallen when they came to a small clearing. The battle lord called for a halt and stood up in his stirrups to survey the area. Curious, Lucienmoved over to whereMastinand Paxton had gathered around him.
“Haven’t seen that before,”Mastinremarked softly. “Wonder if it’s manned.”
Noticing where their attention was focused, Lucien tried to see what had them perplexed. It took a moment until he realized he was staring at a small structure built high up in the trees, approximately four or five yards above theground. Since it was made of wood, it blended perfectly between the limbs and branches, and he wondered how the others had been able to spot it. Especially since they confirmed it was something new to them.
Yulencupped a hand around his mouth. “Ho! Security tower!”
The light from their torches glinted off of something metallic, and a deep voice growled, “Approach nofurther! Identify yourselves!”
“I amYulenD’Jacques, Battle Lord of AltaNovis. I come in peace and seeking shelter for my men for the night.”
“We’ve heard of you,D’Jacques. We’ve also heard you’ve been going on a rampage to destroy allMutahcompounds.”
BeforeYulencould respond, a loud blatt was given on what had to be a horn of some kind.
“Reinforcements have been called,D’Jacques,” the sentry warned.
“Do you want the men to form a defensive perimeter?”Mastinwhispered.
“No. Stand down. Have the men keep their swords sheathed. I want no overt actions that would make us appear threatening.” The second gave a nod and went to inform the captains, to pass along to their troops.
“What’s our next move?” Lucien murmured.
“We wait,” his father replied.
