Page 44 of The Prince and His Stolen Throne
Only Maximus and I stayed in our seats. After a few minutes, I realized Maximus’ attention was locked onme.
I frowned. “What?”
He shrugged and finally looked out the window.
The carriage trundled slowly on.
Delilah frowned. “How far away from the boundary are we?”
I glanced out the window, noted an orc entering a nearby building, and said, “We passed it.”
“What?!” Her exclamation was echoed by the others.
Fitz dropped his book on the seat and leaned out for a better look. “But it all looks the same!”
Since we’d passed the busiest parts of town, there was less to look at now. Only a few scattered buildings, the occasional tree, people—human and otherwise—going about their day. “What were you expecting?”
“Fire and brimstone! Evil mages everywhere!” Delilah said, waving her arms around and digging her knee into my thigh.
I shoved her back into the middle of the seat. “Thereareevil mages and other villains. We’ll meet one soon enough, we don’t need to run into any extras. I tried to tell you that the outside world is just … normal.”
“Then why are we bothering with this quest?” Angelica demanded. “Why do we need to sacrifice ourselves and our happiness for everyone else?”
“Because our great-grandparents weren’t satisfied withnormal. They didn’t want to defend their kingdoms against every evil mage looking to add to their collection of names and accomplishments. They didn’t want to sift through prophecies and Chosen Ones. Normal wasn’t good enough, because normal comes with risks.”
Silence fell over the carriage.
“So, if we turned the carriage around and returned home—let the Kingdom Defense Spell fall—our kingdoms would be fine?” Delilah asked.
“No,” Fitz said. “The moment that spell falls, every evil mage, necromancer, and witch around will see what we’ve hidden from them for all these years, and they will descend upon our kingdoms, fighting for the right to conquer them.”
Which was why I needed my old man to conquer the five kingdoms first.
Better the villain you know.
“If that’s the case, I wish they’d never cast the defense spell to begin with!” Delilah declared.
The others murmured their agreement. I was the only one who didn’t share the thought, even if it put us all in danger.
The Kingdom Defense Spell was the only reason I’d met Brendon and Rick, the reason I could call them my fathers. Without it, my life might have been simpler, but it wouldn’t have beenbetter.
I was grateful for it, but I was still going to be the person who destroyed it.
Interruption Two
Brutus was exactly average height for a man, and he resented anyone who implied otherwise. Luckily, he and his apprentice were of similar heights—though Brutus knew for an absolute fact that he was one inch taller. He’d measured. Multiple times. Unluckily, the new minions towered over him. That was what he got for hiring orcs and lizardmen.
To remind everyone in the room who was in control, he gave the new guards cushions to sit on rather than chairs. This set them properly below his level, where they belonged.
The blackboard at the front of the office displayed several overlapping maps of the lair’s interior floors, exterior walls, and the abandoned city. “I need guards posted at all exterior entrances, patrolling the grounds, and patrolling the nearby forest.”
A scaled hand rose into the air. The captain of the lizardmen had yellow eyes and a muzzle full of sharp teeth. Brutus chose them as much for their intimidating appearance as for their willingness to work at reduced rates. A slight hiss accompanied every ‘s’ he spoke. “Are there more of us?”
Brutus’ brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
The lizard pointed to the board. “There are at least six exterior entrances, each should have two guards posted, for three total shifts. Patrolling the grounds requires another two guards per shift, though I recommend three or four. Finally, patrolling the Grimnight Forest requires a small squad for every shift, due to the number of present dangers, and the number of buildings offering potential hiding places.”
The captain of the orcs grunted, “The lizard’sright—”
