Free Gold Throne in Shadow by M.C. Planck Page A

quite comforting. And his wife was a druid of amazing skills and more amazing equanimity. Christopher had become quite attached to both of them while they were all marching around the country, trying to lure the Invisible Guild into an attack.
    â€œAn unlikely match to your Church that would be,” she laughed, “but they are still in the Wild, and beyond my trace.”
    â€œHow about Baronet D’Arcy?” he suggested. Lord Nordland’s Ranger would be the perfect addition, short of the magical Niona, and he had enjoyed teaching Christopher’s scouts his woodsman skills. Lalania just rolled her eyes.
    â€œYou would hire away Nordland’s liegemen? Have you not done enough to the man? No, Christopher, I will not even inquire.”
    â€œCan we get any others like him?” Christopher really wanted an experienced woodsman to keep training his own scouts, but he wasn’t even sure where they lived. Niona had merely described her home as being east of Knockford, and Cannan wasn’t even from there.
    â€œNo Ranger will serve you for salary,” Lalania said. “Why do you insist on assuming money can buy everything?”
    A difficult question to answer. Because it can where I came from introduced topics he did not care to discuss with the bard, like, for instance, where he came from. Helga saved him by announcing lunch and then monopolizing the troubadour with topics feminine, like dresses and fashion. Only afterwards, when Torme and the officers returned to their duties, did they get the chapel to themselves. Helga brought them beer, and Christopher finally got to explain the militia plan to his informal council.
    â€œA clever ploy,” Svengusta complimented him. “You cannot raise a paid company without the Saint’s consent, which he cannot grant you for reasons political. But you pay your ditch-diggers with jobs and arms, not gold.”
    â€œThey will be of little value to you,” Gregor warned. “You cannot take them into the Wild or deploy them in other counties.”
    â€œI don’t need to,” Christopher said. “I just want them for defense.”
    â€œAgainst what?” Lalania snapped. An awkward silence ensued, so Christopher changed the subject.
    â€œHave my rifles made an impression? Do you think I could sell them to other people?”
    â€œI confess even I am dubious of their value,” Gregor answered. “It seems too incredible to be true, though I know it must be.”
    â€œThe Church of the Bright Lady will buy your arms,” Karl promised. “Their police,” Karl refused to call the retired and soft men soldiers, “already favor crossbows, and your weapon is in all ways superior.”
    â€œBut that amounts to only a few dozen,” Svengusta said. “In any case, why would you want to arm the regiments of other lords?”
    In the new silence, Christopher tapped his thumbs together patiently. Sooner or later they would stop asking him questions he could not afford to answer.
    â€œIf Gregor can’t even believe it,” he asked Lalania, “then what do people believe? Why did the King send me to a choice assignment, if it really is one?”
    â€œThey believe you have a Patron,” she said. “A powerful entity that aids you in secret, perhaps invisible, perhaps remaining in the Wild to come at your summons.”
    â€œHe does have a Patron,” Svengusta objected. “He serves a god.”
    â€œGods do not intervene so blatantly,” she countered. “One does not need to be a theologian to know that.”
    â€œIt is a choice assignment,” Gregor said. “So much so that my accompanying you there will arouse no questions at all. Who wouldn’t want to do a little hunting in the company of a healer?”
    â€œEspecially one with such a powerful, albeit unknown, ally. I think this is the mark, Christopher.” Lalania said. “They seek to test