War of Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page A

bring back information. I don’t think he’d have given it to me if I’d just asked. Sir.” Carr’s tone was still impertinent, but he reserved his contempt for his older brother. It was obvious the packet had required a fight: His knuckles on both hands were skinned and swollen. Carr’s lip was split and he had a large bruise on one side of his face, injuries he wore like a mark of honor.
    “Of all the wrong-headed, damn-fool stunts—” Blaine began, then stopped to rein in his temper when it was clear Carr was enjoying Blaine’s outrage.
    “Just doing my part for the war effort,” Carr said with a grin that baited Blaine to take a swing at him.
    “Before Piran and I have to pull you two off each other—again—can I point out that this appears to be authentic?” Niklas interrupted, with a warning glance to both Blaine and Carr. Blaine and Niklas had been friends since boyhood, and when Blaine’s crime sent him into exile, Niklas joined the army in the Meroven War. A few years later, Carr mustered in, seeking out a place under Niklas’s command even though Carr was still underage.
    Blaine took a deep breath, accepting the wisdom of the warning glance.
Carr wants a reaction, and if I give it to him, he’ll do something even riskier next time. But damn, he makes it hard!
    Piran leaned against the wall near the fireplace. They were in what had been one of the exchequer’s offices in Quillarth Castle and that was now being used by Niklas as a war roomfor the portion of Blaine’s army stationed at the castle and in the city of Castle Reach. “How do you know the messenger you waylaid wasn’t a decoy?” Piran asked, with a deceptively casual tone that Blaine and Kestel knew meant Piran was annoyed.
    “I’ve been shadowing that battalion commander for a while now,” Carr replied. “That’s his usual messenger, so if he’s a decoy, then Lysander hasn’t sent any real orders to that division for over a month.” His tone dared Piran to challenge him.
    Piran shrugged in acknowledgment. “Fair enough.” He glanced toward Niklas. “Was the information worth the risk?”
    From the look on Carr’s face, Blaine was certain his brother had already looked over the documents and knew their value. Niklas took the pouch to the large table in the center of the room and Kestel helped him spread them out.
    “I’m not in favor of how you came by these,” Niklas said with a stern glance toward Carr. “But I would be happy to stay a step ahead of Lysander. From what I can tell, he’s out to make a name for himself.”
    “Did you know of him—in the war?” Blaine asked, coming around to have a look at the documents. Kestel was already studying them with a practiced eye from her own days as a court spy.
    Niklas frowned. “I knew him by reputation. Never met him in person. He won his battles, but he also had the highest casualty rates of any commander in the king’s army. His strategies were daring and unpredictable, and he was willing to send large numbers of soldiers to their deaths to make them work.” His tone made it clear that he did not share Lysander’s perspective.
    “He’s got to either adjust his tactics or come up with a lot of replacement soldiers,” Blaine observed drily.
    “Rumor has it, he’s agitating the Tingur,” Carr said, and grinned as Blaine and Niklas looked up.
    “Aren’t they the crazy folks wandering around saying that Torven sent the Cataclysm because someone annoyed him?” Piran asked. He had left his spot by the fire to come around and eye the battle map. Before his court-martial, Piran had been rising fast in King Merrill’s army. Exile had ended his official career, but Piran’s grasp of tactics and strategy was as sharp as ever.
    “We know that the Great Fire happened because the battle mages on both sides got out of hand,” Kestel replied. “But think about how the Cataclysm looked to your average barmaid or farmer. A green ribbon of fire falls from the sky and