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Everything Begins Chapter 33
Two nights later, the four riders sat their horses on the top of a rise overlooking a verdant valley in which was centered a medium-sized town nearly a hundred and fifty leagues northeast of Difeld. From their vantage point, they could see a hundred or so buildings positioned in concentric circles around a town square. The roofs of the buildings of Grama were all red slate tiles, and most of the buildings looked to be made of wood. A few were built with stone, but not many. About three quarters of the buildings were small enough to be personal homes, but the rest seemed to be businesses or official buildings. The homes were situated in the outermost circles with the larger buildings within a lane or two of the square. From their vantage point, Frank could only see one building that was more than a story tall, and it filled almost the entire east side of the square. Cobblestone streets ran between the circles with one broad road cutting them in two, running east and west. Around the to
Everything Begins Chapter 34
“Will you be content then, Frank?”He sighed and ran his intact hand through his hair. When he looked at her again, his eyes had dimmed somewhat. “I do not know,” he said slowly. “Will that be enough? What about all those boys who are not yet thirteen? They have been training to kill for years. Do I kill every male over the age of five? Ten? What of the women and girls and slaves then? Who will take care of them? What will happen to them when their protectors are dead? Will others come and take their revenge on them? Will they starve? Can they fend for themselves? Will I condemn them to a life of Hell if I kill their men? Could I live with myself if I did that?”Sophyra scooted closer to him and took his face in her hands. “They are in Hell now, Frank, believe me, and they can take care of themselves. The men do nothing as far as the home is concerned. They only fight and kill and hurt others. That is what they do from the time they are very young.”“So how young is too old to live? C
Everything Begins Chapter 35
“An Asabya slave,” the Debaduta responded just as softly. “He managed to run away from the town, but he is being followed by four men, and they will be here shortly. They will kill him for running away. You must protect him! He is needed!”The last three words were said emphatically, and Frank looked at the Debadutta, surprised to see the spirit’s eyes blazing almost as brightly as his own.“Needed for what?”“For…” the Debaduta said, and then his head snapped up as he gazed upstream. “They are coming.” He slipped behind a large gacha. “I cannot help you. You must protect him yourself.”Frank sensed the evil in the men coming toward them, and he snarled as he covered the distance between himself and the boy in a few strides. The boy jumped to his feet at his approach, crouched to flee, but Frank held out an open hand.“Do not be afraid,” he said quietly. “I will not let them hurt you. Get behind me and stay hidden.”The boy’s eyes went wide, but he immediately did as Frank bid. He scu
Everything Begins Chapter 36
The spirit had not released the boy’s shoulder, and he tightened his grip as they walked. “He must live, Anmah. He will play an important part in what is going to happen.”“How old is he?”“Fifteen.”Frank turned to the Debadutta. “He looks like he is twelve. Or younger, even.”The spirit shrugged. “The Asabya do not care much about feeding their slaves what they need to grow. You will find that most of them are smaller than you expect.”"Sophyra’s not.”“Ah, but she was trained for a very specific purpose. It would not do for her to die of starvation before she could serve that purpose.”Frank snarled and looked down at the boy.“He is brave, Frank, and he will be a strong warrior when he is older, but you must train him.” The spirit spoke without looking at either of them.“Why me?”“There is no one else, and it was destined to be,” Debaduta said simply. “If you had not decided to leave your camp, you would not have been here to save him, and he would have died. That would have been
Everything Begins Chapter 37
“Who is this, Frank?”Anmah had the boy get down and did not fail to notice that Mathi’s eyes were once again on the ground.“Head up, Mathi,” he said, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder, feeling the trembling. “No more looking at the ground. Not with us.”“Yes, sir,” Mathi whispered, and he slowly raised his head.“This is Mathi,” Frank said to the others who were now all standing. “He ran away from the Asabya, and I saved him from them. They were going to kill him.”Sophyra nodded sadly and knelt down in front of the boy. “Mathi, you are very lucky. Captain Mistri also saved me from the Asabya, and he is a good man. So are his friends, Captain Sekara and Captain Rabina. They will keep you safe like they keep me safe.”“Truly? They will not hurt me?”“Never!” Tero said, stepping forward. “We would never hurt a boy.”“I...I did not mean…” Mathi stammered, his eyes going wide.Tero forced himself to calm down. “I know you did not,” he answered. “I am sorry I snapped at you.” He loo
Everything Begins Chapter 38
“You sure about this, Dinton?” he teased. “You know what happened the last time you tried to take me down.”“That was five years ago! I am better now,” the other returned. His hands were up and open.Tero laughed and moved to the fire where he sat down to watch. “So is he, you fool.”“We will see,” Dinton said, starting to circle his friend slowly, looking for an opening. “Come on, Anmah, let me see what you have got.”Frank’s grin grew bigger. “Whenever you are ready, baby.”Dinton growled, and after a few more steps, dropped low and grabbed for Frank’s legs, but Anmah stepped back with his left leg, and Dinton only managed to barely grab hold of the right. Frank once again easily removed himself from his friend’s grasp and, almost faster than Tero could follow, twirled behind Dinton and dropped a knee on his back, forcing him to hold himself up on his hands to avoid having his face buried in the ground. Dinton tried to roll to his left, throw up his leg, and pull Frank down undernea
Everything Begins Chapter 39
“This is not a choice! You are asking me to sacrifice a friend for the world! I cannot do that!”You must.“I cannot.” Frank fell to his knees and wanted to cry, but a sensation of peace drifted over and around him, and he took a deep breath.You must. The voice drifted into silence, and Frank slowly stood. He looked back at the camp to where his friends were sleeping. Dinton, his best friend and the brother who had replaced the one he lost; Tero, who had become something of an uncle to him; Mathi, coming into a camp full of strangers and trusting them completely; and Sophyra, his heart. He could not imagine losing any of them, but he knew that there was more than one life in his hands. If he did not make the choice to lose one of them, the entire world could be destroyed.He walked back to the fire and sat down with his legs crossed and his sword across his lap. He stared at it as he traced one finger up and down the blade. His father had given it to him on his twelfth naming-day. It
Everything Begins Chapter 40
As Frank drew his knife swiftly across the man’s throat, Tero placed his hand over the woman’s mouth, and Dinton watched the children closely. The eyes of both adults opened at the same time, the man’s in horror and pain, and the woman’s in simple surprise. The man gurgled as he tried to call out, but Frank had taken that ability from him. The woman on the other hand, merely lay there, staring up at Tero. The children slept through it all.When the man stopped moving, his eyes staring unseeing at the ceiling, Tero said quietly, “If I take my hand away, will you scream?”The woman slowly shook her head, and Frank nodded to his friend. Tero slowly released his hand, and the woman sat up and looked at the dead man next to her. Then she said quietly, “Thank you.”Three sets of eyebrows went up. That was definitely not the reaction they had expected. Then the woman spoke again.“You must kill them all, or they will take their revenge on us. They will think I killed him, and they will make