Free The Path of Destruction (Rune Breaker) by Landon Porter

we'll be forced to shelter them in town.”
    Crossius was drawing a complex spell diagram on a long piece of vellum, something Tolere knew little to nothing about. He was also making something of a production of only listening with half an ear. Only now did he blow out a dispassionate sigh and looked down at the other man from his elevated desk and seat in the Lord's office.
    “Then buy out every inn and flophouse and put them there. Make them share bunks based on patrol and training schedules, I don't really care as long as they're in their places when I need them.”
    Tolere pursed his lips and forced himself to nod. “There is another thing, my Lord. You see, I've been keeping an eye on things and...” He lowered his voice, “I think some of them might be Kaydans sir. Disciples of the Threefold Moon.”
    “And that's a scandal?” Crossius sounded amused. “The church and we of the Isles have allied before; our sciences for their... resources, and vice versa.”
    “I know, my Lord but—“
    “Again, I don't particularly care. Tell me of my missive to Lord Caldebron. Has he replied?”
    Tolere suppressed a sigh and nodded. “He sent word that the item you requested is well within his abilities and that for...” He couldn't help to stumbled over the amount. Clearing his throat, he tried again. “For forty gold-weights of gretharian wood or ten pristine test subjects of nominal age and standard health, he can produce what you need within the next week.”
    “My love?” The meeting was over the instant Lady Milfine spoke. Tolere was used to that. The Lady spoke and the Lord heard nothing else. She glided into the room, ever graceful, ignoring Tolere as she always did. “That experiment you've been monitoring: there is about to be a change. I thought you would like to watch.”
    Crossius rose, casually dusting off his robes. “Indeed. I've been waiting for this a very long time.” Without another thought to Tolere, he stepped down from the desk and went to his Lady, moving to leave the room. “Now to see first hand if my patience has been rewarded.”

Chapter 5 – Novacula Kuponya
    Ru hovered just above the grass on the hilltop. His legs were crossed and Kaiel's lap desk rested atop them. The army was arrayed along the riverbank before the now useless bridge to his right, and straight ahead was the wall of living wood that guarded Idarian Homestead; or rather the corpse thereof.
    While the sun sank, the wall began to take on an increasingly sinister look, as the thick nekras miasma twisted the dying light.
    He only glanced up to track the progress of Kaiel, Raiteria and Brin's woodling cloak nearing the homestead periodically. The majority of the time, his attention was on his pen, which scratched tiny symbols across the page laid out on the lap desk. A neat, but complex spell array lay almost complete there, drawn in part from memory, and in part from his expertise in the craft.
    “I still don't understand why you refuse to fight now.” Taylin's voice sounded far away because she was further down the hill, shrouded in a cylinder of swirling black fog: a veil of akua. She'd asked Ru to conjure it to preserve her decency while she donned her armor. He didn't reply, but she only took that as an invitation to continue.
    “I can feel it you know: the rush it gives you, this blood-lust of yours. Even now.” She lapsed into a moment of pensive silence, “You promised not to force me into giving your orders anymore.”
    Ru placed his gaze firmly on the array he was diagramming. “And I have already made it clear why I choose not to step into this battle, Ms. Taylin. To engage Bashurra is to step onto the gaming board of Immurai's choosing. He takes no action without there being multiple advantages that he can gain, win or lose. It is bad enough that we follow his trail to the child, but this... this is a situation where we can easily afford to simply deny him his chosen scenario.”
    “I've already told you