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walls that can last the Islands indefinitely. It is also said they grow and eat a lot of seaweed. They could potentially last forever.”
    “How do you know?” I asked.
    “My grandfather was a commander in the last invasion.”
    I nodded, he must have been told a lot.
    I was about to ask about his grandfather but Donal cut in. “But. What about an attack? Surely we could scale the walls or batter them down?” Donal asked, as if what Oldross had just said was stupid.
    “There are three reasons. The first is that the Islands have many natural defences; most of their coast is shear, vertical cliff. The second reason is the Islands are ringed all the way around with walls, with ballista or catapults on every tower. The beaches are covered in rocks stopping any siege equipment and there are some structures in the water to stop ships getting anywhere near. And if you thought that the ports were weak spots the harbours have huge walls in the water with double doors that only open if the other door is closed; a mechanical wonder. The third reason and probably the most important is they have the best defence.” Donal was captivated. “What?” he asked and Rador said nothing but Donal wanted to know. “ What?” Rador shouted as loud as he dared. Rador looked up obviously not wanting to say and so he did not and we sat in unhappy silence, pondering what he had been going to say. Why can’t he just say it?

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    7 Road Block
     
     
    The rest of the day passed very slowly in the cart, everyone was tired. There was almost no one using the road apart from a few traders. All there was to do was look out the back at the road receding behind us. Finally when the sun was setting we stopped. We were cold very quickly but all we had to do was unhitch the horses and string up a cover for them between three trees. Then we got back to the carts and were told to sleep. We took out our blankets and laid them out. Then we tried to ma ke ourselves comfy and the others slowly drifted to sleep. I could not as I was busy thinking about the day.
    We bar ely arrived and now we are being taken somewhere else. Tain was nice and we probably will not see him again. I wish I were home at the Guild. I want to back. Why can’t I just leave? Why me?
    You are just unlucky.
    I flinched, I will never get used to you doing that. Anyway why me? Why am I a mage? Why am I a mage? Why was I recruited and not the other hundred or so boys that passed Ormond?
    You can’t do anything about it so stop worrying. And practice magic whilst you are at it.
    You can’t tell me what to do.
    No, but I can tell you what you should do.
    Alright now go away. I heard nothing more from Diryn so I got out my needle and tried to levitate it. It stubbornly did not move as I willed it to rise. As the night outside got deeper and deeper I still could not move it but then as I was nodding off I managed to raise it a millimetre and turn it around to face me.
    I did that, all on my own. I fell instantly asleep.
    I woke the next morning with a large jolt. The sun was already in the sky and we were already on the move so I presumed the cart going over a bump had waked me. I started to hear the other three talking to Gannon about how much food an army eats or something and I sat up to listen in but they stopped talking when they saw me.
    “Morning Sam.” Oldross said. “We were just talking about the amount of men and money it is going to take for the great armies that our cities are churning out.” I nodded but I really wasn ’t interested. “Apparently the Barons have been saving grain for years. Well I think that is a good idea as if the little Risina is to produce ten lots of three hundred men; that is three thousand! Then think about how many other cities are going to pull together!”
    That is actually a lot of people and as just one hundred of us ate about the size of three large sacks a day. For three hundred that is nine sacks; most of a small