Basil blinked up at his father, his jaw slightly slack. He could scarcely credit what he had heard.
A weapon? In this miserable, isolated shithole?
Looking at the weathered timber , Basil could hardly believe there was anything inside the perimeter but old mud and horse shit. What could it possibly be? Had his father somehow hidden an entire secret army inside these wormy woods?
And what was it his father had just called it? The mightiest weapon yet? Weren't the King's own hardened iron legions supposed to hold that proud title? Basil knew for a fact that a few general legates would have their hearts thoroughly broken if they ever heard the King's statement.
So many questions flooded Basil's mind that he didn't even know where to begin. Nor, as it turned out, did he have the luxury of starting, as his father was already striding toward the only proper building for miles around,a long, low-slung structure that looked suspiciously like an oversized livery stable.
