The Twelve Kingdoms Read Online Free PDF

their abilities. I highly doubted that mountain of a captain would be twisting or tumbling.
    Derodotur made a show of pointing out the additions to the armory—slight—and made sure I got a good look at the additional ranks of mercenaries in the barracks—substantial—before closing the door behind us in the blade-sharpening room and turning to face me.
    Buried in the ground and lined with stone, the chamber made an ideal location for Derodotur’s confidential conversations with me. I’d been nine when he first brought me here, giving me insight on dealing with my often irascible father. He’d been Uorsin’s page in the Great War, long before he met and married Salena. Having survived this long as the King’s closest adviser, he also knew well the importance of never showing fear.
    Seeing that emotion in Derodotur’s face cemented the dread. Things were bad.
    â€œWhen did they arrive?” I asked him, point-blank.
    We both knew exactly who I meant. Derodotur shook his head. “I argued against it. You know that. At first—” He laughed at himself, a bitter edge. “At first I thought he was joking. But no. Uorsin sent for the Dasnarians shortly after you departed for Branli. He’s determined that only they can be trusted not to defect to the loyalties of their home kingdoms. They’ve been at Ordnung just under four months.”
    â€œI’d heard nothing.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t have. No one has been allowed to leave the castle proper or the township. The minstrels departed long before that.”
    â€œThe township? How does he prevent—Ah.” That explained the foreign soldiers’ idleness in the village. They were guards. And, with no open decree to prevent people from traveling to the township, as people were wont to do in warm weather, the population would keep increasing. We could sustain the situation into early autumn, but once the snows moved down from the mountains, we’d be hard-pressed to feed and clothe everyone. Disease would follow. It made me feel ill to contemplate it. Ugly ways to die. Give me the sword instead. “He must have a plan.”
    Danu tell me he has a plan. That he’s not . . . I stopped myself from even thinking the words.
    Derodotur’s eyes shifted to the side. “He has not confided such to me.” The closest I’d ever heard him come to expressing doubt in his King. Very bad indeed.
    â€œHow is he paying them?”
    â€œHe has promised a share of any spoils, should it come to war.”
    The smooth surface of the rounded topaz under my thumb grounded me enough that I resisted rolling my head to loosen my tightening neck. Even alone with Derodotur, it would not do for me to show weakness. “And if there is no war? The aim has been to settle this without conflict.”
    â€œHe is certain there will be.”
    Uorsin could make war happen, regardless. Still. “But what provision if there are no spoils to be had?”
    â€œHe has promised to levy taxes and up conscriptions to a similar level.”
    â€œConscriptions? How will . . .” I trailed off, understanding the fear. “Slave trade?”
    â€œI don’t think so.” Derodotur shook his head, unhappy, uncertain. We’d be thrice damned if we allowed the people of the Twelve to be sold into slavery. Uorsin must have a plan. He’d nearly died uniting the Twelve. My mother had sacrificed her own throne, certainly her happiness, to assist him. He couldn’t betray the people and that peace.
    â€œI shall find out the details,” I assured Derodotur, squeezing his shoulder. He’d grown frail in the last year, now shorter than I. “You know how Father loves to strategize. He’ll have a plan.”
    Derodotur nodded again but did not seem convinced. “I’d never say this to anyone but you, Princess, but I worry that—”
    â€œNo, don’t say what can’t