Spook's: The Dark Army (The Starblade Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF Page B

position far to the south-west of Valkarky, not far north of the Fissure.
    ‘You have studied Browne’s glossary of the Kobalos?’ she asked.
    It was something that Grimalkin had found on her travels. Browne was an ancient spook who had studied the Kobalos. It was a key list of Kobalos terminology. I’d made a copy and hoped to update it with any new knowledge that we acquired on this expedition.
    I nodded.
    ‘Then you know what a kulad is?’
    ‘It’s a fortified tower,’ I said. ‘Nicholas Browne says they’re also used as slave markets.’
    ‘That is true,’ said Grimalkin. ‘I visited one during my travels last year; it was mostly used to sell and buy slaves. But there are others which Browne was ignorant of. Each of these is ruled by a mage – they are private dwellings, seats of power and repositories of Kobalos mage magic. This one is special!’ she exclaimed, jabbing at the cross on the map with her finger.
    ‘It is called Kartuna and is the private kulad of a mage called Lenklewth. He is one of the triumvirate of mages who rule Valkarky – the second most powerful of the three. If we are lucky, he will be in the city and we will not need to face his magic. When we cross the river, we will ride towards Valkarky for a while – to fool the Kobalos scouts who will be observing and recording our movements. But then we will quickly veer westwards to attack and hopefully seize Kartuna.
    ‘Give me some time within that tower and I could learn much that might lead to the eventual defeat of our enemies. So we grab what we can and then retreat back across the river. Then we will ride home to the County as I promised. But we do
not
tell Prince Stanislaw about the retreat or it will threaten both his ambitions and his pride. He must believe that we are making only a short detour before pressing on to Valkarky. Once he sees what we are up against, he will be only too glad to retreat, believe you me.’
    I wasn’t convinced that Grimalkin was right. ‘Are you sure about that? He’s a brave man and seems very determined to fight.’
    ‘Remember the varteki?’ she asked.
    I nodded.
    ‘Well, the two you encountered were young and small in comparison with the full-grown adult version. The Kobalos may deploy hundreds of such creatures. In the face of that, even the brave prince will retreat!’
    ‘Have you told him about the kulad?’
    ‘Not yet. I will leave that to you. Gather your strength. At the end of the week we will have a meeting with all the princelings, a council of war. There
you
must be the one to take command. You have returned from the dead and filled them with hope and confidence of certain victory. They’ll expect you to be decisive and lead them with confidence. Would you like to practise now what you will say?’
    I nodded, and allowed Grimalkin to rehearse me in my manner of delivery and how best to explain our supposed intentions. It would be difficult. My words and manner would have to persuade real princes to do as I ordered. And the strategy wasn’t even mine – it was devised by Grimalkin.
    I resented my role in this. I did my best to conceal my feelings from her but I was becoming more and more angry.
    Once again I was being manipulated.

TOM WARD
    I SLEPT A lot but I had no energy. Despite that, I made it my business to continue Jenny’s training as best I could. I felt increasingly guilty about having brought her here; I certainly didn’t want her to feel that I was neglecting my duty to train her. I had to make her as good a spook as I possibly could.
    Late each afternoon I gave her a lesson in my room. I talked while she took notes. Towards the end of the third lesson she suddenly asked me a question.
    ‘Don’t you think it’s strange having a witch like Grimalkin for an ally?’ she wondered.
    I’d been teaching her about the dark, explaining the dangers from water witches. In an attempt to make it more interesting and hold her attention, I’d given her an account of my