Free Steel And Flame (Book 1) by Damien Lake Page A

be, we can find other places
to live, but I do not want to see them all dead!”
    “You’d have us move out to the fringe towns?  To live
with those fools and barbarians?”
    “We’d not be safe there either.  Here in the depths of
this isolated place, we were attacked because we are knowledgeable about
ancient secrets that out assailants covet.  Had we not been the protectors of
such, we would have been left in peace, I believe.  For a time.  A short
time.”  Orlan started to say something else, then changed his mind, saying
only, “Our people would be more at home in the sealed areas of the forest, with
the twisted creations left by the ancient magical distortions.  Those we can
guard against…but not these others.”
    The elder’s words sat ill at ease with Colbey.  “You
think not even our isolation would have protected us?  That we would have been
attacked eventually anyway even if we had possessed nothing of interest to
these fiends?  How could such be?”
    “Colbey, do you believe this was an isolated
incident?  That a greedy mage from the outside learned of our legacy and tried
to claim it for himself?  When have you ever heard of multiple mages working
together in a group when the goal is greater power?  Never, unless they are
attached to a ruler’s armed forces!  This entire group reeked of cooperation
and organization that is unheard of in the private affairs of those who use
magic.  They were part of a larger organization.”
    “One of the outside lands is invading the forest?  Or
do you mean invading the kingdom?  That makes no sense!  I never caught wind of
any such action during my exile there!”
    “Nor did you hear of any armies employing those
inhuman beasts, I’ll wager.”  Colbey nodded.  “We weren’t attacked so they
could gain land, son.  Nor to increase their position or better their army’s
strategic placement.  No, we were attacked so they could gain the power we hold
in stasis.  The first action any invading force undertakes once it begins
moving is to gather all the might available to it so they can smash their
enemy’s defenses.  I believe we were attacked for no reason other than to give
someone an advantage during a larger fight to come.  A fight that has nothing
to do with us.  I am sure of it!”
    Colbey thought fast.  Could it be true?  If an
outlander army is already so formidable that they control demons to their whim,
why would they need more power?  Or can other armies use such beasts as well?  “I
see what you are saying, but I can’t see who it would be.  No one in the entire
kingdom could produce the forces that arrived here.  Of that I am positive! 
None of my research in the outlands suggests the surrounding kingdoms could
either!  Adel didn’t recognize them, so who does that leave if no one in the
lands around us could have done it?”
    The answer came to him the same time the elder voiced
it.  “Someone outside the lands, of course.  That those demon beasts match no
description of anything known to us supports the theory as well.  And remember
Thomas’s saying, Colbey.  Assume nothing.  Did you closely study the bordering
kingdoms during your journey, or any of the farther lands beyond them?”
    “No.  But how would an outlander outside our knowledge
even know of the forest, let alone the seals it hides within?”
    “Easily if they were magic users, as we know they
are.  Spells for seeing things which lie far away are common enough.  Spells
for locating power useful to a mage also exist.  We’ve had to fend off magic
users quite often who come investigating.”
    Shocked anew and angry all over, Colbey demanded, “Why
did I not know that?”
    “Calm down, son.  Your training is still incomplete,
is it not?”
    “By a few months!  I should have been told!”
    “Farr was in charge of the Guardians.  I think he felt
the harsher histories were best saved for last.  The point is that we have been
discovered in