Read Online Forest Kingdom Trilogy 2 - Blood and Honor by Simon R. Green - Free Book Online Page A

later. He knew from long experience that when Argent decided he wasn't going to talk, a team of wild horses wouldn't be able to drag one word past his lips.
    Jordan was busy helping Gawaine get a fire started. The early morning was still bitterly cold, despite the bright sunshine. Unfortunately, like everything else on the moor, the heather was soaking wet, and so far it had stubbornly resisted all the knights efforts to set it alight with flint and steel. Jordan watched silently for a while, and then crouched down beside Gawaine. He palmed a fire pellet from his sleeve, cracked the coating deftly with his fingernail, and then dropped the pellet into the piled heather with a quick mystical gesture. The heather immediately burst into flames, and thick smoke curled up as the fire took hold. Jordan and Gawaine straightened up, and held out their hands to the leaping flames. Gawaine looked sideways at Jordan.
    'That was very impressive. Mind telling me how you did it?'
    Jordan smiled. 'Professional secret, I'm afraid. The quickness of the hand deceives the eye, and all that.
    It's really quite simple, when you know how.'
    Gawaine nodded. 'It seems Count Roderik was right in choosing you. If that wasn't fire magic, it's the nearest thing I've seen to it outside Castle Midnight.'
    Jordan bit his lip, and looked seriously at Gawaine. The knight seemed in a companion able enough mood, and there were a few questions Jordan very much wanted answered . . . 'Tell me about Castle Midnight, Gawaine. Some of the stories I've heard about it have been . . . pretty damned strange. Are there really ghosts and monsters walking through the corridors at all hours of the day and night? Is there
    really a dungeon that
    eats people? Is it true that anyone can work magic in the Castle, just as long as they've spent the night there?'
    'Yes and no,' said Gawaine, smiling slightly. 'There are all sorts of stories about Castle Midnight, but most of them have got rather confused in the retelling. Magic, elemental magic that is, is very common at the Castle, but that's only because so many of the aristocracy have some ties to the royal Bloodline. In fact, status among the Castles High Society is largely determined by the power of your magic, as that demonstrates the relative purity of your Blood. As for ghosts and monsters . . . that's a little more complicated. You have to understand that what is Real and Unreal can easily become rather confused at the Castle. It's always been that way. Some say there'd High Magic built into the ancient walls. Others claim there'd Wild Magic in the hill the Castle rests on. No one knows the whole truth. But for as long as anyone can remember, there have always been ghosts in Castle Midnight, day and night. They're mostly harmless, as long as you don't upset them, and after a while you get used to them. They're only people who have become lost in Time. Who wandered from the path, and cannot find their way back.'
    'And the monsters?' said Jordan, hesitantly.
    'There are a few monsters, every now and again. Our Stew-bard takes care of them, as and when necessary. I suppose I'd better tell you about her. Catriona Taggert is the third of her line to serve as Steward to the Castle. Good-looking girl, and tough with it. She has no Blood, but like all her family she's very proficient at the High Magic. She and Viktor don't get on. I think he disapproves of anyone outside the aristocracy wielding so much power. Anyway, it's the Steward's job to keep an eye on the Unreal, and make sure it doesn't get out of hand. In normal times, there isn't much for her to do.
    'You see, the combination of Real and Unreal in one place generates a hell of a lot of mystical power, a power the King can draw on through the ancient Stone set under his throne. The power amplifies the King's elemental magic enormously, and at the same time enables him to keep the Real and the Unreal in balance. This of course ensures that the power keeps on flowing, which