Newblood - A fantasy novel for NaNoWriMo 2018; CHAPTER- 29: Enemy territory

Summer, Year 22 of Koram

The royal wing in the Greenvale palace was abuzz with the news of the death of a mage, one of the seers. The General had killed one late in the night. The seers had been called after the General had received news from Takhsila. The General had spoken only one sentence to them. "You had assured me that the rogue mage had died." Then he had used his own sword to behead one seer. The other two had been sent away when they promised to come up with answers. After two nights the seers had come up with a small but important bit of information- "Shamarank and Greenvale, these are the two places where the strange magic will manifest."

The General had already sent his trusted man- The Tiger of Yillend, to Shamarank. For Greenvale, the General had made plans to trap the rogue mage. A subtle lattice of magic was woven across the outskirts of Greenvale, to recognize and mark mages, so that a mage sitting in the palace could follow his or her every move. There was no visible increase in military or any magic patrols. The General had in fact recruited all the graduate year students of the School of Magic but they were mainly to move through Greenvale as observers-like fox hounds- follow the suspicious person, confirm the wrong doing and call in the cavalry.

The General had sent groups of elven and mixblood soldiers dressed as traders from the Great Lake, with the contingent led by The Tiger of Yillend. Their mission was to capture and kill the leading insurgents. Every group had atleast one mage and one seer. Many of the insurgents they captured proved to be of no consequence. After many days the group heading to Takhsila reported from Pikers Lake. They had captured a Jinden of Shamarank, he was recruitong for the Grendale Army. They found Pamphlets in his room along with a cache of swords and spears. Regretfully, they could not question him for a long time but the seer was sure that every time elven Lords or Greenvale was mentioned Jinden thought of Brem. They could not find out who Brem was, they had to kill Jinden and make their escape from Pikers Lake.

A day after this report the news of the destruction of the bridge in Shamarank reached him. The captain who had brought him this news was standing attention just inside the door. After handing over the message he had stepped back two paces. The General looked at him, he was a tall young man dressed in a crisp uniform. Probably never seen a fight except in the school grounds, the General thought. As he read the message the captain could see the General's face change to a grim mask. The General's right hand reached for his dagger. "What can you tell me about Brem?" Suddenly the General asked him. The captain stuttered "Brem sir?" The General sat back and waited, his hand still on the hilt of his dagger. "Sir, Brem is a little fishing village about two leagues away from Greenvale, along the Great Lake." The General was looked at him with a predatory glare, then he pointed to a map lying on his table. "Show me?" The captain stumbled forward and opened up the rolled map till it showed the outskirts of Greenvale and the paved road to the mountains. He searched for half a minute before finding it. He pointed it out to the General and said. "I thought it was further away. Brem, Sir." The General got up and saw for himself where Brem was, he marked it with a pencil and stood facing the captain. "Good work soldier. You are promoted.. to High Captain, in the city guard."

The Neck was comparatively narrow stretch of the river which was fast flowing. Here they had to pay toll to get their boat towed. A pair of huge pulleys had been set up on both sides of the river. Each Pulley could pull a medium sized boat past the Neck. Thick ropes snaked out from the pulleys, one end was attached to the boat while the other was fastened to a wheel. There were eight oxen were yoked to each wheel to do the actual towing. Once past the Neck, the Great Lake was half a day of rowing. Once on the lake they could sail to Brem on the opposite shore.

Deniel and Myanse reached the Neck in just two days. The original plan was to leave the boat at the Neck and trek their way to the Great Lake. It would take two days but with elven soldiers checking everybody going up-river this was a safer course- Myanse was still a rogue mage. But they saw that there were few soldiers and very lax at that. Deniel could detect only one mage, and he was playing dice. They decide to chance it and they were through the neck without any problems and only a cursory check. Myanse saw the next dawn on the Lake. Dark blue rippling waters for leagues, dotted with brightly painted fishing boats of all sizes heading to shore. There was a sweetness in the air that made him happy. They celebrated that day buying a freshly cooked meal and the most expensive wine they could find, ending with sweet butter buns filled with cherry preserve.

They reached Brem the next day without any problems. Deniel's house was on the Lake so there was no problem with mooring the boat but the sailors would have to sleep wither on the boat or camp in the open- till Shan and Aasia arrived. Then it was for Shan to decide what to do.