Read Online A Warrior's Legacy by Guy Stanton III - Free Book Online

it back to our land. It is forbidden to go to those lands.
As to the fate of the Northern Kingdom, it was a natural disaster
that ended their reign as a great people. The great River Yasana
that watered their lands dried up and without it they began to
starve and die of thirst. We spared all that we could to aid them,
but they turned on us and rewarded our generosity to them by
attacking us seeking to claim our lands by force from us. Sadly we
killed many of our brothers, as they threw themselves heedlessly
against our fortifications. Now the remnants of their people are
little better than soulless savages that raid and attack our
outlying villages and farms in search of food and plunder. We take
slaves of them as often as we can instead of killing them outright
as they deserve because of their atrocious deeds. At least as
slaves they receive food and water in plentiful supply. It is the
least that we can do for them our one time brothers.”
    I had never heard of the option of slavery
being a mission of mercy before, I thought ironically to myself. I
kept my doubt of his entire story from off my face however and
punched Gavin slightly to remind him to do the same.
    “You mentioned a great sorcerer?”
    “Yes, the savior of our people. It was him
that took the sickness away from our people by giving us the cure
and it was also him who told us of the Northern Kingdoms
treacherous decision to attack us, which gave us the time we needed
to prepare for their invasion.”
    I nodded my head, “Where is he now?”
    “He lives in a castle in the great Zessan
Mountains.”
    The official said indicating the mountain
range that rose impressively in the distance beyond the city.
    “Is he your ruler?”
    “No, we are governed by a ruling council,
but he suggests courses of action time to time and we are always
wise to listen. We have never found fault with any of his
suggestions though and have always been quick to act on them.”
    I left off questioning the man and sat out
the rest of the ride silent. As we stepped free of the boat we were
the subject of intense and highly speculative study that I found
extremely uncomfortable to be under.
    The official clapped his hands sharply and
the crowd dissipated back into the busy activities of the dockyard
market. All of our onlookers, as we made our way into the market,
were male.
    Where were the women?
    I had never known of a marketplace not
crowded with women before.
    Gavin whispered into my ear, “Where are the
women?”
    I nodded my head and whispered back, “Gavin
I fear that we have walked into a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, if
you know what I mean.”
    Captain Sargas having overheard what I said
nodded grimly and indicated a side alley with a brief shake of his
head.
    I glanced in the direction and quickly
glanced away sickened by what I had seen taking place. All that
remained was to bow out of this place as quickly as possible
without raising suspicion.
    Unfortunately we were stuck here until
tomorrow waiting on our provisions. I was ready to leave now, but
we needed the provisions.
    Making our way further into the city on a
sightseeing tour, while Captain Sargas and his men had split off to
make a show of trading I came to the conclusion that this was not
the place indicated in Gavin’s visions and I said as much, when we
were alone for a moment.
    Gavin nodded his head and said, “This is
definitely not the place.”
    I thought I saw the vague outlines of what
must be women staring out at us from open windows. Another bad
sign.
    Any culture that locks away its women, as if
they were something to be ashamed of was not a healthy one.
    The city while it had appeared magnificent
from a distance now on closer inspection showed that the glory of
this culture had already come and gone and that they were now on a
long slide downhill into cultural ruin.
    The temple or shrine that seemed to be
located on every street corner surely hadn’t helped them much. It
was with eagerness that