Praetorian Rising, стр. 13

Chapter Four

Captured Prey

Wafts of steam billowed up from his mug, but he wasn't ready to drink from it. The taste he knew well, light in sweetness with an earthy after note. This morning felt different, though he couldn't be sure why. Langhorn stared idly at the slow dance of steam as it curved upwards into the rafters of his study. He didn't want to drink the tea even though he knew there was little choice about it. Getting old wasn't easy. Today, his stomach clenched inside the cavern of his body, closed off from invasion. Drinking any beverage seemed an impossible ask.

"Doctor?" A timid voice called from the doorway.

Langhorn looked up to see a young girl, her black hair cropped level with her chin and sharp, onyx eyes gleaming. One would expect the depths to be stern, yet they held a bounty of kindness most would find refreshing. Maggie was indeed unique.

"Yes, my dear?"

She smiled at his welcoming tone, and entered his study with more purpose, her black hair swinging as she walked. He had known the young woman all her life, but just recently began to see promise in her future. At sixteen years, Maggie was a quick study in the medical world, already taking tasks from him like a well-established assistant. It was difficult to find decent help; not many were made for the dirty work. Finding a stern minded individual with a steady hand and a strong stomach had seemed an impossible task. Maggie had been sent by Ma'Nada herself, of that he had no doubt.

Maggie was so much more to him than an assistant. She was like a daughter and it made him happy to see her in such high spirits. The young girl's energy reminded him of his daughter Jesabelle, a quick-witted woman who had always kept him on the tips of his toes.

Maggie approached, lifting the dreaded teacup from the saucer with delicate hands. She spooned in a dollop of honey and stirred the dark brown liquid before tucking the china cup and saucer in his wrinkled hand.

"Thank you, dear," Langhorn said with a slight grimace. He didn't have a choice; he would drink the tea even if it made him sick.

"There is someone here to see you, Doctor," Maggie said as she walked toward the door. "Would you like for him to come in or would you rather meet him in the breezeway?"

Smoking his favorite pipe weed on the breezeway did sound delightful, but he knew a long conversation awaited.  Glancing at the tea cooling in his hand, he scrunched his nose, and took a bitter sip, forcing it down with an audible gulp.  "Here is quite fine."

Boots thudded down the stone hallway as Langhorn waited. A man entered wearing a heavy blue cloak, the hood pulled low over his face. His boots were rough brown leather, the heavyweight made for long journeys, and yet his clothing seemed untouched by the rugged terrain surrounding White Wall.

"It's good to see you again," Langhorn said, making no move to get up or even welcome the guest by name. Their meetings were most often short, and impersonal. They weren't friends, but they were indeed on the same side of the war, and in the end, that was all that mattered.

"I came as quick as I could; I don't have long," the man replied as he pulled the hood away from his face and sat across from Langhorn, his legs and muscles bunched tight.

Langhorn set down his tea and leaned forward, elbows resting atop his knees. "I got your message this morning. What's the problem?"

"He found her. He knows where she is, and he's sent a pack of Chimera to collect."

Silence filled the room. Langhorn hadn't thought it possible, they had put in so much effort to keep Camille's location under the radar. If he were honest with himself though, they had found much luck in the past year regarding Camille. It was impossible to hide someone as infamous as she for long. "How?"

"I received a raven from Grenswald. He said he found a red-haired woman whose eyes turned black as ink when he tried to steal her medallion. It's her. Langhorn, I know it is, and so will the High King. We need to send for her."

Langhorn let out a long sigh, a breath of air he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"They would be coming from Charlie Town heading south through Dun L’er forest. We have three days at most."

"Maggie!" Langhorn called out, knowing the girl would be close at hand.

"Yes, Doctor?" She walked through the door with a book in her hand and a teacup poised at her lips.

Langhorn smiled gently at her, not wanting to alarm her despite the pounding urgency rushing through his system. "Please send word to the Raven Ward. I will need to be sending out some letters post haste."

She nodded in response and took off down the hall.

"Langhorn, that is not the worst of it I'm afraid," the cloaked man said, his eyes heavy with the weight of his news.

"LeMarc is on the hunt for Ephidra Lily."

"Does he know where it grows?" Langhorn said, pacing to the open window overlooking the distant West Iron mountain range and sighing with the additional weight pressing down on his shoulders. The autumn season hadn't yet fallen into the gloom of winter, leaving the lower ranged peaks still visible beneath the clouds a soft and brilliant green.  It was a beautiful sight, as was most of Aspera, but soon the distant mountains would be covered in winter white. Cold, bitter air would slip through the lands, bringing a storm of terror. Idly, he ran a gentle finger over the neck of his brown and white speckled hawk, Archimedes, sleeping on the ledge of the open window. As stark yellow eyes befitting a hunter turned