Son of Soron by Robyn Wideman Page A

the soldiers. A meeting was negotiated.
    Duke Evollan came cautiously to the edge of the forest to meet the leader of the horsemen. Ashuna rode up to the edge of the forest and greeted the duke. “Greetings, my name is Ashuna and I am an emissary from Venecia, enroute to Progoh. “The duke looked at Ashuna with a degree of disdain and distrust. “An emissary traveling with fifty horsemen, to me that seems excessive.”
    Ashuna gave a small acknowledgement to the duke’s math skills. “Yes, well the last emissary never returned from visiting Progoh. Apparently, these roads aren’t safe. My men are simply here to discourage any bandits from attacking me.”
    Duke Evollan relaxed. “Well you needn’t worry. My men and I just finished dealing with a large group of the bandits causing problems in the area. Your travels should be safe from here to the capital.” The lie rolled off his tongue easily. 
    Ashuna did not let his face reveal the disgust he felt. The stink of deceit was stronger than ever.  It would be satisfying to cut the lying tongue out of the officer before him. Ashuna’s sharp eyes missed nothing. The duke was truly an idiot to think the village was the source of the bandit problem, but he held his tongue. “Indeed, I was just at the scene of the battle in the bandit village.” The sarcasm in Ashuna's voice was creeping out.  “I hope you don’t mind, but we buried all of the dead including your men." Ashuna put emphasis on the word men.  He had no time to challenge the dastardly duke. Killing the waste of skin would have suited him just fine, but he did not relish starting a war at this particular time.
    The duke did not notice the distain with which Ashuna was trying to hide as he spoke. “Thank you. We would have done it ourselves, but with a large group of horsemen coming from the south, retreating to the woods seemed a prudent plan.” The duke smirked and gave a final goodbye to Ashuna sending him off to Salba. The southern warriors leaving now were one more problem he would not have to deal with today.
    …
    Late the next day, Ashuna and his men reached the city of Salba. Ashuna was brought to see Count Mavane immediately. “Welcome to Salba. How has your journey been?” Word of the events at Elderwood had not yet reached Salba. But none-the-less an emissary riding with fifty warriors had Count Mavane on edge. “The journey has been fine. There was a small delay yesterday. But other than that, no issues,” replied Ashuna, unsure what role the kingdom of Tarnstead had in the recent events. Count Mavane could feel the tension in the room. “Oh did you encounter trouble? Bandits?” asked the count.
    Ashuna watched Count Mavane as he explained, “We encountered a battle scene at a small village west of here. The village apparently was full of bandits and then we had a small encounter with a company of the king’s army. They had just finished fighting the ‘bandits’ and were waiting in the tree line for us. Ashuna could see the color leave Count Mavane’s face as he heard the news.
    “Did you see these bandits?”
    Count Mavane hoped that there was some mix-up here but Ashuna’s next comments completed filling his heart with sorrow and shame. “Well, to my untrained eye, it appeared to be a village full of farmers and berry-pickers. And one northerner who almost defeated the king’s men on his own, but your Duke Evollan assured me it was a marauding horde of bandits. So I can only assume I am mistaken in thinking the king’s army is attacking innocent villages.”
    The count had feared that Duke Evollan would do something stupid. But he never dreamed that the man could be so ignorant as to attack the village of Elderwood. The thought of Duke Evollan’s men killing the northerner living there was even more terrifying. “This northerner you spoke of, he didn’t have a blonde woman with him by any chance?” Count Mavane had a hard time getting the words out his mouth was so