King Kobold revived-Warlock-2.5 Read Online Free PDF Page A

overcoming awe. “Eh, thou’rt as unmannerly as a churl! Know that the King hath created thee High Warlock!‘’
    “ ‘‘Tis even so,” the King confirmed, drawing rein beside them. Then, rather unwillingly, “Well met, Lord High Warlock—for this poor Isle of Gramarye doth lie in need of thine art, and thy wisdom.”
    Rod inclined his head. “I am ever obedient to my adoptive homeland’s call. But why do I get a high title out of it? I’d come just as quickly without it.”
    “ ‘Tis thy due, is it not?” Tuan’s lips pressed thin. “And it describes thy place aptly. Folk fight better when they know from whom to take orders, and to whom to give them.”
    “An understatement,” Rod admitted. “You’ve gotta have a clear flow chart if you want to get anything done. Very true, Your Majesty; I should’ve known bet-ter than to question you.”
    Tuan’s eyebrows lifted. “Pleasantly said; I would not have expected it of you.”
    “Oh, you should have.” Rod grinned. “I always give respect where it’s due.”
    “And withhold it where ‘tis not?” Tuan frowned. “Am I, then, so rarely wor-thy of respect?”
    Rod’s grin widened. “Only when you try to use authority you don’t have—which doesn’t happen very often, now that you’re a king. And, of course, when you back someone who’s in the wrong.”
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    Tuan’s frown darkened. “When have I done such?”
    “Just before you got my knee in your groin. But I must admit that the Queen isn’t trying to play God anymore.”
    Tuan flushed, turning away from Rod.
    “And, of course, you were trying to be her champion, and laying down the law.” Rod ignored the danger signals. “Which you had no right to do—at the time. Still don’t, really.”
    “Have I not?” Tuan snapped, whirling to face Rod. “I am now King!”
    “Which means that you’re supposed to be foremost among your peers. It doesn’t make you a superior breed—and doesn’t give you the right to make laws if your barons are against them.”
    “You cannot truly believe that I would do so.”
    “Well, no, not you,” Rod admitted. “Catharine, however…”
    “Rarely is the Queen not swayed by my counsel,” Tuan grated. “What we do, we do in concert.”
    “Then you both agree on marching south to fight the beastmen?”
    Tuan managed to stay with the change of topic. “We have discussed it; and, aye, we are agreed. I do not say we take joy in the prospect.”
    “Well, say it,” Rod invited. “Or are you really going to tell me you don’t like being out in the field again?”
    Tuan stared, taken aback. Then he grinned sheepishly. “In truth, my heart doth lift as I gaze upon open fields and feel harness on my back. I will own, ‘tis good to be out from chambers and councils.’‘
    Rod nodded. “That’s what I expected; you’re a born general. Still can’t under-stand how you manage to be a good king, too.”
    Tuan shrugged impatiently. “ ‘Tis like to the order of battle, save that the ’troops’ one doth command are reeves and bailiffs.”
    “But it does require a totally different library of knowledge.”
    “That, Catharine hath,” Tuan said very honestly. “I need only to steady her judgment, and issue her commands in such wise that they shall not arouse rebel-lion.”
    Which was true, Rod reflected; half of the offense Catharine gave was due to the way she said things, rather than what she said. “Well, you’ve just earned my respect again.”
    Tuan frowned. “For what? For kingship?”
    “No, for candor. But now the burden of monarchy moves back into your field of knowledge, Majesty. What do you propose to do about these raiders?”
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    “Go to where they have been, expecting that they will strike again, and not far from where they struck first,” Tuan answered. “When