The Dark Warden (Book 6) by Jonathan Moeller Page B

with the Frostborn, does it not?”
    “It does,” said Ridmark. “You saw the omen of blue fire?”
    “I did,” said Arandar. “I was on the road from Tarlion to Castra Arban when it happened. It caused a great deal of panic. Many claimed it was an omen of the end of the world. The Magistri said it was a magical side effect of the conjunction of the thirteen moons.” 
    “Perhaps it is,” said Ridmark. Maybe the conjunction was somehow connected with the return of the Frostborn. “The Warden told me, years ago, that the omen of blue fire would be a herald of the return of the Frostborn. The urdmordar Gothalinzur told me that the Frostborn would return within my lifetime.” 
    “Dubious sources both,” said Arandar. There was a touch of pity on his face. Like many in Andomhaim, no doubt he thought Ridmark mad, that the quest to stop the return of the Frostborn was the effort of a grief-maddened man to ease his guilt by declaring war upon phantoms.
    They were not entirely wrong, but the Frostborn were not phantoms. 
    “After the day of the omen,” said Ridmark, “I set out for Urd Morlemoch, intending to wring the answer from the Warden. Along the way, I stopped in Aranaeus and fought an urdmordar named Agrimnalazur.”
    “You…overcame an urdmordar?” said Arandar. “Without a soulblade?”
    “The Gray Knight was valiant,” said Morigna.
    “He was,” said Gavin.
    “So were you,” said Ridmark. “And the Gray Knight was lucky. Agrimnalazur had been kidnapping the villagers of Aranaeus to use as a larder for the long winter to come. She, too, believed the Frostborn were returning. You know that the urdmordar only reveal themselves if they believe it necessary to their survival.” Arandar nodded. “She told me that the Frostborn would return within a year and a month of the great omen.” 
    “That is indeed troubling,” said Arandar. “I will not lie to you. After Dun Licinia, when you went into the Wilderland, I thought you mad. That your reason had been overthrown by your grief. If just the Warden or one urdmordar had said this to you, I would believe they had lied. But for two urdmordar and the Warden to say the same thing, independently of each other…that is troubling indeed.”
    “It gets worse,” said Ridmark. “Calliande was abducted by a renegade high elven wizard known as Shadowbearer.” There was no need to tell Arandar about the Order of the Vigilant and Calliande’s missing memories, not yet. “It seems this Shadowbearer is the one attempting to bring back the Frostborn. Why or how, I do not know.”
    “But the Warden might know,” said Arandar, “and so you are going to Urd Morlemoch.”
    “Aye,” said Ridmark. “There is one other matter. Have you heard of a secret society called the Enlightened of Incariel?” 
    Arandar’s face went motionless. 
    “Ah,” murmured Morigna. “I would say he has heard of them.”
    Ridmark wondered if he had miscalculated. He would not have thought Arandar capable of becoming one of the Enlightened. Of course, Ridmark had once thought the same of Tarrabus Carhaine and Paul Tallmane as well. 
    “Is that what this is about?” said Arandar. His hand was on Heartwarden’s hilt again, and Ridmark’s headache intensified. “It was not enough that the Enlightened had to arrange my death and falsely accuse my son? The demon-worshipping scum had to send assassins to dispose of me? I had thought better of you, Ridmark Arban.”
    “We are not of the Enlightened,” said Ridmark. “They have tried to kill us repeatedly. You have heard of the fall of the Iron Tower?”
    “I have not,” said Arandar. “I came north through Durandis and then Rhaluusk. The Mhorite orcs of Kothluusk have been stirred up, and raid both Dux Kors of Durandis and the King of Rhaluusk. I fought in several skirmishes on my way here.” 
    “Sir Paul Tallmane was one of the Enlightened of Incariel,” said Ridmark. “He tried to kill me at Aranaeus and again at