Read King Callie: Callie's Saga, Book One for Free Online Page A

pommel of his sword, and gripped it. “If you’re not man enough to take what the King needs from some wet-nosed brats, I have no use for you,” Valric said.
    Kells’ voice rose, and he moved his horse ahead of Valric’s, to block the way. “Don’t,” Kells said. “Don’t draw on children, Prince.”
    “Who cares if I draw steel on some Erimeni brat?” Valric sneered. “They’re not Barrish. They’ve never built anything of consequence. They’re dirty, tanned little mongrels that will steal every scrap of food on your table, and every coin in your pocket. And if I paid their chief enough, he’d let it pass.” Kells remained, but Valric could see the anger - the boiling hate - in his brown eyes. “If you’ve nothing else to say, Captain… get out of my way,” Valric said, as he started to walk his horse past Kells’s. But the Captain moved into his way, and blocked the Prince.
    “I’m warning you, Prince,” Kells said, stern. “Don’t draw on them.”
    “And I’m warning you, Captain,” Valric said, as he gritted his teeth, “Get in my way one more time, and you’ll be cleaning my chamber pot for the rest of your life. Am I understood?”
    Kells slowly nodded, and reluctantly moved his horse backward, to clear the path for Valric. The Prince smirked; it was good that the Captain still knew who his superiors were. Valric squeezed his calves against the horse’s sides, and his horse trotted out past Kells. Valric angled his body to the soldiers, and pointed a finger towards the flower-picking children in the distance. “Encircle them,” he said to the soldiers, “Don’t let any of them escape. If they have the flower, I want it. If they know where it is, I want to know. Are we understood?”
    Two of the men glanced nervously at Kells, as if for approval - which only angered Valric further. “Don’t look to him,” Valric snapped. “I’m your Prince. You do what I say. Understood?”
    “Yes, sir,” they said, almost in unison.
    “Good,” Valric said, as he turned his horse back around to face front, and kicked his heels in. Valric’s horse flew into a gallop, and the Prince heard the thunder of hooves behind him. He hardly cared if Kells followed; as long as the Eremeni children gave up the Naeb’s Coil, it was all that mattered.
    The little ones soon came into view; four heads perked up, as they heard the sound of hoof-beats. Valric saw them stand up fully, to get a better look; they weren’t old at all. Barely seven or eight years old, barefoot, clad in the dark brown of simple traveler’s clothes. As Valric and his horse came closer, he saw them break into a run.
    “Get them! Stop them! Stop them!” Valric shouted, as he steered his horse away from the foot of the mountain, and towards the flower patches in the field. He pressed the horse’s side with his right foot, to make it turn; at his pace, he could get out in front of them, and head them off. The other soldiers understood, it seemed; he saw several break off towards the left, but stayed parallel. As he got closer, Valric could see the flowers clutched in their fists as they raced through the grass. But they weren’t fast enough.
    Valric rode in front of them, and cut them off; three of them scrambled to change directions, only to find themselves walled in by the other horsemen, who closed the gaps, and formed a tight ring around the children. One of them was too scared to run; his quavering, fearful hand clutched a familiar lavender triple-blossom, as he looked up at Valric with frightened eyes. The others ran back towards him, and huddled together.
    “Give it to me,” Valric said, with an outstretched hand. The child pulled it tight to his chest, and it angered Valric. “I said, give it to me,” Valric repeated. He drew the full length of his sword from its scabbard, and the scared child yelled something Valric couldn’t understand. Then, he whistled twice; one short, one long. “What was that?” Valric