Prince of the Icemark Read Online Free PDF

the fighting from their vantage point on a nearby hill. With them stood a third Vampire. She was tall and beautiful with short-cropped blonde hair and icy blue eyes. Her name was Romana Romanoff, General to Their Vampiric Majesties, and she watched the battle in a sullen silence. This was the third day of the attack and things weren’t going well. The army needed the power of the werewolf infantry to keep the enemy soldiers busy fighting a two-front battle from land and air, but Their Vampiric Majesties had made the mistake of underestimating the Hypolitan and had split the army – ignoring the advice of General Romanoff – and sent King Ashmok and his Wolf-folk to attack Frostmarris.
    “We must withdraw,” said the Queen. “These mortals refuse to die quietly.”
    “Yes,” the King agreed tiredly. “They really are too annoying. Don’t they realise they’ve lost the war?”
    “Apparently not,” the Queen said. “Withdraw the army and we’ll starve them into submission.”
    “Oh, but my dear unbeating heart, that will take an absolute age , and I did so want to wipe out the last remnants of resistance before the snows came.”
    “With enormous respect,” General Romanoff interrupted,showing nothing of the sort, “the city would have fallen by now if you’d followed my strategies.”
    “Now, now, General, don’t be sniffy,” said the King petulantly. “How were we to know these mortals would resist so strongly? After the Battle of the Northern Plain, it was all they could do to crawl back to their hovels, and yet now they fight like wolves with cubs to protect.”
    “Which is exactly why they are doing it,” Romanoff snapped. “They know full well that if their army is defeated then the entire population will be slaughtered − men, women and children. A powerful incentive to resist.” The general’s shoulder and head twitched as she became irritated, and the more annoyed she got the worse the twitch became.
    “Then what do you suggest?” His Vampiric Majesty demanded. “The werewolf army is too far off to be recalled; besides, they should be attacking Frostmarris any day now, and there we can expect victory.”
    “Withdraw for now, regroup and then attack at moonrise on the morrow. But this time half of our force will advance on their walls as infantry while the rest attack from the air. We may not have the werewolves at our disposal, but we can at least emulate their tactics.”
    “Agreed,” said Her Vampiric Majesty. “Tomorrow we’ll fight a two-front war.”
    “Then let us away, my darling corpse,” said the King. “Soon the hateful sun will be rising and I do so detest the way it dries my skin. After the last daytime battle we fought, I had to bathe in perfumed oils.”
    The monstrous monarchs then kissed and as one, they transformed into giant bats and leapt into flight, their winged forms silhouetted against the moon. General Romanoffwatched them go, the involuntary twitch of her head and shoulder ticking like a metronome of anger as she turned back to survey the city, looking for weak points. She doubted that they’d finish the battle even using the new tactics, but at least it would keep the mortals busy until the victorious werewolf army returned to add their weight to the fighting.
    The Basilea of the Hypolitan watched from the walls of the city as the squadrons of Vampires withdrew. She nodded in satisfaction; the enemy had made little progress in their attempt to destroy Bendis. The walls were unbreached, and though a few buildings had been burnt, there was no major damage. Similarly the casualty figures, though not light, were at least sustainable, and the Vampires had suffered far worse.
    The Basilea knew that things would have been very different if the werewolves had been involved, but she could only assume that they’d been sent to attack Frostmarris. She hoped that if there had been any survivors from the Icemark’s army they’d got back safely and were able to