Dragons' Onyx Read Online Free Page A

could be worse than that. No military leader would slow his army down for the lack of a few horses. The stragglers would be left behind. Unless…”
    “Unless what?” Fardez asked nervously.
    “Unless the foot soldiers are not stragglers,” Captain Orteka shook his head slowly.
    “What else could they be?” quizzed Fardez.
    “They could be the bulk of Emperor Hanchi’s army,” sighed Captain Orteka. “If that is the case, Trekum’s defense will be short-lived.”
    Fardez frowned and stared at the mouth of the valley looking for the end of the column.
    “I am going to catch some sleep,” declared Captain Orteka. “Wake me in a couple of hours or if something appears that I should see. When you wake me, you can rest for a while, and I will keep watch.”
    Fardez nodded soundlessly, and Captain Orteka placed his head on his outstretched arms and drifted off to sleep. Three hours later, Fardez tapped Captain Orteka’s arm lightly. The Kadin Claw mercenary woke immediately.
    “I think Emperor Hanchi just entered the valley,” whispered the soldier. “See the coach at the far end of the valley? It is surrounded by riders and men wearing different uniforms.”
    Captain Orteka nodded as he focused his eyes on the procession. He bit his lip gently as he saw the valley filled with Lanoirians. His mind spun as he tried to estimate the number of soldiers in the valley below. What had been a river of soldiers earlier had turned into a spring flood whose banks swelled to fill the entire valley. Still the Lanoirians slowly continued to surge into the already-full valley. He narrowed his gaze to the ornate coach and its escort. His eyes continued panning past the coach to the mouth of the valley. The steady stream of Lanoirian foot soldiers continued to pour into the valley.
    “This is much worse than I could have imagined,” sighed Captain Orteka. “General Mobami will not be pleased with this report.”
    “There are as many foot soldiers as cavalry,” nodded Fardez.
    “I suspect that we have only seen half of the foot soldiers,” retorted Captain Orteka. “I think the emperor is riding in the middle of his army. We will have to wait to find out for sure. Catch some sleep while you can. I will keep watch for the next couple of hours.”
    “After a short walk in the woods,” nodded Fardez. “I will be right back.”
    Captain Orteka nodded knowingly and returned his attention to the Lanoirian army below. The mercenary had heard the reports of a hundred-thousand man army, but he had not believed them. The number had been too large to be believable before. Now he wondered if that estimate was large enough.
    “Captain,” Fardez called urgently. “Come.”
    The Kadin Claw captain frowned as he crawled into the trees. It was impossible for anyone in the valley to hear them, but they had whispered anyway. Fardez’s urgent call must be important for him to call loudly. The captain crawled into the trees and rose. Fardez called again, and Orteka homed in on the sound of his voice.
    “What is the matter?” Captain Orteka asked as he approached the soldier.
    “You were watching the Lanoirian army that sacked Partek,” Fardez stated nervously. “Another Lanoirian army attacked Gortha. Twenty paces to the west of us the trees stop. Go there and look.”
    Captain Orteka stared at the soldier with a puzzled frown. When he realized that Fardez was not going to say anything more, the captain turned and headed westward through the trees. After a dozen paces, Orteka could see the edge of the hill where the trees stopped. He dropped to his knees and crawled forward. When he reached the edge of the hill, he stared down in disbelief. Below him was a wide valley full of Lanoirian soldiers. His eyes quickly panned over the valley looking for the emperor’s coach. Thinking that he was somehow looking into the same valley that he had been observing for hours, he was surprised that he could not find the coach. Fardez crawled up