Wizard's Blood [Part Two] Read Online Free PDF Page A

would be concerned with people leaving as well. There was nothing they could show that would convince the soldiers they weren’t spies of some sort, and they would be hard pressed to explain why they wanted to head into an area that was under the control of an enemy force. They were going to need to know how well guarded the road was and where the soldiers were being quartered. That meant asking a few careful questions once they arrived in Aberton.
    They had no trouble getting a room in the surprisingly nice Wandered Inn on the southern edge of the village. Asari had seen the inn on his previous pass through the town when he’d made this trip alone, and was surprised to find it almost empty. The quality of the inn wasn’t surprising since it was the first nice place travelers would find after a few weeks coming through the mountain passes, but with the roads closed as a result of Ale’ald’s blockade, there were no travelers to take advantage of its comforts. The soldiers were obviously staying elsewhere, so the proprietor was suffering as a result, and was extremely happy to have a couple of paying guests.
    “ I’m surprised to see someone on the road,” he said in a back handed way of asking why they were traveling. “You must know that the mountain passes are occupied by the enemy wizards and their army.”
    “ We do,” replied Asari. “I’m from the mountain area and have made this trip a number of times. I’m escorting this man for the crown. He is a specially trained mage, and he is supposed to report to the area commander. We were told it would be easy enough to find out where he was located once we arrived in the area.”
    The proprietor looked at Luzoke with new respect. “They are camped just south of town, on the main road. They have a large encampment of troops that have been tasked with patrolling the border. It’s only another five miles. You will find many soldiers from this point on. Any of them can point you should you have difficulty, but in truth, you really can’t miss the camp.”
    Up in their room, Asari and Luzoke discussed their options. While the soldiers had no right to stop them from going south, Asari was convinced they would certainly detain them for several days if not longer. Positive that the straightforward approach was doomed, they decided they would need to try and sneak across the border and into the mountains. That would mean leaving their horses behind and continuing onward on foot, something that would have become necessary anyway once they hit the mountain trails. This would be better for the horses, which could run free on the plains until someone found them.
    That night they transferred the items they would be carrying into the two hiking packs they had purchased back in Bauto after splitting with Jolan and Ronoran. Asari had known they would need them, since the travel bags they used with the horses were simply not suited to mountain climbing. In the morning they would ride away from the road, probably to the southwest until they could find a place to bury their remaining items, pull the saddles from the horses, and turn them lose. Then they would set out on foot, taking care to avoid the Angon patrols. Once they had passed the main force, Asari didn’t expect much other trouble. There would be little reason for the military to patrol up into the mountains. Their primary purpose could be met by a careful patrol down here in the foothills.
    The landscape had started slowly rising even before they had reached Aberton, and as they walked south towards the mountains, the rate at which the land rose became more pronounced. The open plains started to give way to more frequent trees, which transitioned from the leafy variety into the pine-like trees of the mountains. The trees afforded them more chances to remain hidden, and they stuck to the lower gullies and the heavily forested sides of the hills. The patrols they did see were noisy enough to hear well in advance, and