Read Online A Warrior's Revenge by Guy Stanton III - Free Book Online Page B

asked
softly.
    Loric was silent for a moment, “It was a
castle that was built by my family long ago and it was a very
beautiful place once. It was my home.”
    There was a great sense of loss in his words
and Kana reached out her hand and held his and squeezed it softly.
He looked over at her and she said, “I’m sorry you lost your
home.”
    He nodded and she asked, “If it was
destroyed why are we going there?”
    Loric smiled a little, “A true fortresses’
strength lies in what is unseen, as opposed to what the eye can
see.”
    At her puzzled look he said, “You’ll see,
but for now you need to get your rest. It’ll take us roughly three
more days to get through the tunnel to the other side.” Instead of
moving away Kana slipped down to her side and lay with her head on
his thigh and after a while she fell asleep completely content to
be where she was and he likewise.

Chapter Six
Bitter Reality
    Loric stepped out of the wall of perceived
rock into the shambles of the lower bailiff. Shattered walls still
jutted up in places, but not one of the towers still stood. All
that was left of them was mounded piles of rubble covered in snow.
The same could be said of all the castle’s buildings. Here and
there the corner of a building jutted up slightly, a forlorn shadow
of what had once been.
    Loric looked out down the valley toward the
village of Ta’arny. It lay completely flattened and covered in
snow, the partial remnant of a chimney here and there being the
only indication that the village had once existed there. The leaf
bearing trees stood bare and still against the mountain sides
covered in snow, even though it was the middle of summer. Only the
evergreens of the mountains showed any hint of life still within
the valley that he had once called home.
    It was a scene of utter and complete
destruction that the girls couldn’t even begin to comprehend. But
it only took one look at the tears that were streaming down Loric’s
face, as he wandered through the ruins as if lost, for them to
appreciate the magnitude of what had once been and was no more.
    Loric was walking forlornly up a steep hill
towards even more ruins, when he suddenly stopped and dropped to
his knees on the snowy ground. He stared at a spot on the ground in
front of him, as sobs racked through his large frame. Leaning
forward he brushed the snow away from the ancient cobblestones,
before he bent and kissed the icy ground as reverently as a loving
child would kiss his mother. Kana felt herself start to cry simply
from seeing the depths of the emotion that Loric was overcome
by.
    Loric got up abruptly and stalked up the
hill and Kana saw a transformation take place in him. He was angry,
more so than she’d ever seen him, only it was a quiet seething
anger and thankfully, when he turned back to them she saw it wasn’t
directed at any of them.
    “This way.” Was all he said, as he led the
group upward through the ruins. Each of the young women were
careful to step around the spot of ground that Loric had seemed to
think hallowed both out of a mixture of respect and fear for the
anger they could all sense emanating from the man ahead of them
like it was a tangible feeling in the air.
    Loric led them through his ruined home that
must have once been truly great, until they were past buildings and
walking through an orchard, which was given testament to by the
regimented rows of dead looking small trees that filled the space.
He walked up to the very side of the mountain and stopped. Placing
his hand against the rock for a moment he then stepped back and
spoke, “Zasarantu Melazia Rotiga!”
    The face of the rock before him moved at the
sounding of his words. Two great native stone slabs punched out
from the mountainside and then separated and opened outwardly like
a pair of double wooden doors. A space was viewable within the
mountain and Loric walked into it and gestured for the rest of them
to follow.
    There was barely enough space within