Blood Price (Noble of Blood Book 1) (12 page)

The Patriarch stood on the same balcony where he had held vigil that past two nights.  He had seen his son return, had seen the blood craze in his eyes.  He had wanted to reason with his son about Josaleene's death.  He had wanted so much to tell him that everything would be OK. But he himself knew it would never be OK.  And seeing his son so far gone he knew that reason would never reach him.

He knew Dartein had the knowledge of drinking blood from the source, and had quite obviously used it in his travels.  There would be no reaching him in his current state of mind.  The lust for blood would cloud any judgment or reason.

Mortul watched then as Victor led two large and sturdy mounts to the center of the courtyard.  The horses were laden with traveling tents and bulging saddlebags.  Mortul had seen the emotion in Victors face when Josaleene was in pain, and was not surprised the guard intended to leave.

He was however, surprised when he saw his Son walk out into the courtyard holding his infant daughter.  He watched as Dartein walked over to Victor and handed him the small bundle, then swung himself up onto one of the horses.  He reached down to take the baby back, and then fastened the child to his chest using a sling.

Victor mounted the second horse and without even looking back, both men rode away from the Palace.

Heartbroken for the second time in his life, Mortul clutched at the stone railing along the balcony. 

The Patriarch of the Noble Race stood staring at the palace gates, willing his Son to come back through them.  He had no idea how long he stood there watching, waiting until the sky started to turn orange with the threat of the rising sun.

Still lost in his heartbreak, he barely heard the two men come up behind him.  He turned to see two of his Noble Rangers standing in the doorway to the balcony.

“Patriarch, My Lord, we bring terrible news.”  One of them stated gravely.

“If you have come to tell me my Son has left, then I am afraid I already know.  No need to rub salt in that wound.”  Mortul turned back to look out towards the gates again.

“My Lord” said the other Ranger.  “We do not come to tell you of your Son.  We came to tell you what we found in the northern forest.  Sir, we found goblins.  Hundreds upon hundreds of them.  I am loathe to tell you of this but, Sir, the Ancient Enemy has returned to our lands.”

A L enjoys reading and writing fantasy novels.  Just about any book with magic, witches, warlocks and wizards will make its way into her to be read queue.  She also enjoys stories about vampires, werewolves, fairies, goblins and...oh yes...DRAGONS!  Her books tend to include a lot of these elements, along with some good romance and love stories.

If you enjoyed this book, please review it!  Reviews are genuinely appreciated.

Click here to leave a review.
 

Also check out other books by A L Wright here:

Click here for Author Page on Amazon.