Free Redemption Of The Sacred Land (Book 3) by Mark Tyson

Shadesilver are on their way here, your message would likely confirm the urgency to get to us.”
    “How?”
    “Think about it. If you saw or felt I was hurt and you were running to me and I was pushing you back saying I was fine, would you simply turn away?”
    “I might.”
    He cocked his eyebrow at her.
    “Okay, well, I had to try. Maybe Shadesilver will be more in tune with me and heed my warning.”
    “Let’s hope so. What is the plan?”
    “Plan?” Tatrice knew what he was asking but decided to play coy since she actually had no plan.
    “You are winging this, aren’t you?” Bren said.
    Tatrice nodded as innocently as she could muster, giving Bren a slightly pouty look.
    “Don’t overdo it,” Bren said. “I’m starting to get wise to your womanly manipulations of me.”
    “Whatever do you mean?” Tatrice said with a telling smile. She moved in close and slipped the Lora Daine into his pocket for safe keeping.
    “This is what we will do. We will wait for them to come back in on their own before we attack. They don’t know we have our weapons and armor back. I am afraid if we cause a scene to bring them here, the mindwielder will have an opportunity to trick our minds again. If we wait and attack them off guard, we will have the advantage of surprise.”
    “Seems reasonable. So we have nothing to do now but wait.”
    “Aye, we wait to see if the dragons show up, which I pray they do not, and alternatively, we wait until Toborne and Bannon return before we attack.

    The camp of the mindwielders, just outside the ruined city of By’temog, glimmered in the bright day’s sunlight. The white tents reflected off the hazy smoke left behind by the morning cook fires and dying nighttime campfires. Rennon and Theosus had set up a main command tent in the center of camp for coordinating day-to-day affairs. Deylia stayed by Rennon’s side, helping him with whatever he needed and sometimes taking on some leadership roles.
    When Dorenn entered the tent, Theosus and Rennon were sitting at a small wooden table opposite each other, discussing a map sprawled out on the table’s surface. Rennon got up and greeted Dorenn with a handshake, which surprised him. Rennon seemed so different than he had when they started out on this journey. Theosus got up to greet Dorenn, too, but went a pale shade of blue when Veric entered behind him.
    “Veric? You don’t look a day older than you did a thousand seasons ago.” He embraced the dragon knight.
    “With good reason, my Duil friend, I have been kept a prisoner here for that long.” He put his right hand on Theosus’ shoulder. “I wish this was a social call, but I am afraid we will have to catch up later. I am in need of your illusionary skills. I need you to create the illusion that I am still imprisoned here.”
    “Of course I will. Show me where and how you were imprisoned, and I will make a flawless illusion.”
    “I knew I could count on you.” He glanced over at the others. “Theosus and I will not be long. When I return, we will plan our next move.” He and Theosus left the tent.
    Dorenn sat in Theosus’ wooden chair and addressed Lady Shey, who was taking a seat on the floor on a woolen rug beside Gondrial. “Is there anything else we should know, my lady?”
    “Don’t take that tone with me,” Shey said.
    “I meant no offense if my tone seemed sarcastic. I genuinely want to know.”
    “Aye, there is more to the story than I am willing to tell. Did you ever stop to think that one of the reasons we avoided your questions was because it might be too painful to talk about?”
    “I’ll tell him,” Gondrial said. “The war ended with a sacrifice of lives. Lady Shey and I lost good friends, which is why she is reticent to talk about it. After all these seasons, it’s still painful. The mindwielders were not just destroyed by the opposition, they died so we could live. The Oracle was defeated by his own magic. That is all we know. No one knows where he