Warlords Rising (39 page)

“Garth, I’m going.”

“Shad, I just got handed six hundred students, you are
not
abandoning me with them. We’re so short staffed I’d borrow a cat’s paw if it
was offered.” Garth had learned over the past ten years of teaching how to give
someone a look that said ‘sit down, shut up, and do what I tell you to’ with
impressive impact.

It of course had no effect on Shad whatsoever. “I am her
Guardian, she’s in one of the most dangerous countries in the known world, and
you expect me to calmly sit here now that I know where she is?”

“No, I expect you to run around like a chicken with its head
cut off, like I am, trying to handle six hundred new students that don’t speak
any Chahirese or Solish!”

“Hire help,” was Shad’s unsympathetic response.

“I’ve hired help and my help has hired help and they can’t
get here fast enough to suit me. But Shad, you’re one of the few that speak
Solish fluently, which is the only language we seem to have semi in common with
them. At least some of them speak a little of it. None of the new teachers
speak Solish or Khobuntish.”

They were all valid points, Shad would be saying the same in
Garth’s shoes, but Becca’s letter to him had scared the light right out of him.
If Aletha wasn’t six months pregnant, they’d have already taken off after her.

Garth ran a hand roughshod through his hair and glanced back
toward the building. Shad had hauled him out of it so they could have this
argument, as doing so in front of the students was taboo. Shad knew he wanted
to leave the outdoor gardens, this argument, and all potential complications
behind so he could deal with the ones that had been handed to him by their
three problem children. That didn’t mean Shad was going to let go of this until
he got his way.

“Listen, I know they conquered Trexler, but—”

“Which is going to get them into serious trouble with the
Trasdee Evondit Orra,” Garth started righteously only to trail off, “Or not,
depending on how things go. Honestly I don’t think I’d have reacted much
differently in their shoes. Their sense of justice was likely so outraged by
what’s going on they chose to conquer the country to fix matters.” Garth gave
him an acerbic smile. “I think you might have taught those three a little too
well, Shad.”

“Shut up, you. If your children were old enough to get into
this sort of trouble, they’d likely do the same things.”

“Do not say that in front of them or Chatta, she’ll skin
you.”

Shad cackled. “Not denying it, eh?”

“Any of my students would likely make the same choice,”
Garth responded with a faint sort of pride. “They’re that caliber of people.
Either way, we’re not in any sort of position to do something about this.
Politically speaking, if nothing else, but we don’t have the manpower to send
an army through the Empire of Sol and into Khobunter either. We can support
them, we can advise them, but we don’t have the means to interfere or try to
stop them.”

Shad opened his mouth, all ready to object to this, when he
remembered what he had been doing at seventeen. It was not much different than
what his little girl was doing now.

“You just remembered what trouble you were getting into at
that age, didn’t you?” Garth intoned drolly. “I was running around in enemy
territory as well at seventeen, so I really have no right to throw stones at
those three. We just have to trust that we taught them well enough they can
manage. It’s not like they’re out there alone, anyway, they have a hundred
dragons aiding them.”

Well, that was true.

Standing, Garth found his balance again, brushing grass off
his knees. “I need to report this to everyone else and warn them that we’re
going to be getting even more magicians. Hopefully Coven Ordan can send us help
or will agree to take in some of these students. We’re already overrun as it
is.”

Shad followed him in to Strae but he was not as convinced as
Garth that ‘support’ had to be done from a distance. And the Gardener had not
released him from his role of Guardian. A Guardian couldn’t exactly do their
job from this far away. No, Garth might be content to let them do their task in
Khobunter and support from the sidelines, but he certainly wasn’t.

Shad split up at the doors and went looking for Aletha. He
needed to have a little talk with his wife.

Over thirty years ago, in the hills of Tennessee, a nice,
unsuspecting young couple had their first child. Their home has since then been
slowly turned into a library as their daughter consistently brought books home
over the years.

No one was surprised when she grew up, went to college, and
got her Bachelor's in English. Despite the fact that she has a degree, and looks
like a mature young woman, she's never grown out of her love for dragons,
fairies and other fantastical creatures. With school done, she's ready to start
her career, hopefully by blending two of her loves: books and fantasy.

Her website can be found here:
http://www.honorraconteur.com
.