Free The Baldari (Book 3) by Bob Blink

had no intention of ever leaving alive.”
    “Terror?  Intelligence?” Lyes asked.
    “They could not have learned very much,” Major Tarnar suggested.  “It was a costly endeavor if that was their purpose.”
    Ardra looked at Rigo, who had thus far been silent as he listened to the reports of the attack.
    “What do you think?  Did Mitty have any visions regarding this?
    “She did, but they were of little value.  The Baldari were already being tracked well in advance.  She had images the morning of the attack, but they only began when the torch carrier killed himself.”
    Rigo didn’t mention that Mitty had also started having visions of the strange chamber with the woman with the lavender hair and pale skin.  It was as if the visions had been blocked, but with her pregnancy and the onset of her Seer ability, the Farvision had returned with more power and more subtly.  Unlike before when the strange woman seemed always aware of Mitty’s viewing, now Mitty claimed she could watch undetected for extended periods before something brought her suddenly to the attention of the woman.  There was no longer any doubt in Mitty’s mind that the woman knew of her viewings, and might have had a hand in blocking them for so long.  The last time Mitty had said the woman looked annoyed to discover Mitty’s presence.  Mitty had also been certain she was doing something.  She appeared more active and focused than she had at other times.  That was three days before the Baldari had appeared along the southern border.
    “It sounds more like the attacks of past years from what I have been told,” Rigo said after a brief pause.  “In those days it didn’t seem like a definite objective was as obvious.  This is the first time they have made for the coast, and that was what they attempted in Kellmore as well.  Yet once there, they didn’t seem to have a purpose.  It seems a costly way to have a look at your enemy’s facilities.”
    “How do they function so smoothly?” Major Tarnar asked.  “All the time they were followed, and even through the initiation of the attacks, no verbal commands were exchanged.  I have never known an army to function in such a manner.  Our own forces would be hopelessly disorganized if we attempted such a thing.”
    “They can also control their mounts somehow,” Ardra added.  “I have seen this before, and it was in the reports that mounts that had lost riders were brought into the battle somehow.”
    “Ash’urn has suggested they use a form of mental exchange in place of spoken words,” Rigo said.  “He told me of reading of this kind of ability, but disbelieved it as no one in his travels had ever demonstrated the ability.  If they can communicate by thought, and also control their mounts in the same manner, a lot of what we are seeing would make more sense.”
    “How would one do this?” Lyes asked.  “I have seen nothing in magic that suggests such a capability.”
    “I don’t think it is based in magic,” Rigo explained.  “Ash’urn suggests it is an inherent ability that the Baldari might have.  Their mounts as well, to be controllable by it.”
    “It would certainly explain how they can move so seamlessly as a single force,” Tarnar said, as he considered the possibilities.
    “It might explain even more,” Rigo added.  “If they communicate in such a manner, it might be possible that while the Baldari control the beasts they ride by the power of their minds, they might be under the control of even more powerful minds in a similar manner.  That might explain the abandon with which they go into battle.  They may have no control over their fate, and whoever, or whatever, controls them, might be willing to sacrifice any number to accomplish whatever objectives are being sought.”
    Rigo was thinking of the woman who Mitty frequently observed as he said this.  He had no reason to support the belief, but Mitty had been persuasive and she believed the