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REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 21
The crowd and guards drew back in fear. Marfoul, seemingly coming unhinged by the fast approaching storm, screamed at the guards, “Kill them now, you carrion swine!”The guards, coming out of their daze, moved back towards the Kurt family, who hadn’t moved the whole time nor ceased from praying. The guards, now more afraid of Marfoul than the approaching storm, rushed to do their assigned task with swords lifted high. The storm hit the cliff top and out of it materialized beings clothed in flame. They strode purposefully from the storm towards the cliff top. Each fiery being intercepted one of the guards headed for the Kurt family.Their appearance was fierce and terrible, and as they approached they lifted one hand and withdrew swords that seemed to be made of light itself from behind their backs. In one fluid overhand, downward motion, they ended the lives of the stunned guards. As the guards hit the ground, the warriors of the storm turned towards the crowd and advanced purposefully
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 22
Feeling released by the Holy Spirit I stood, but it would have been nice to stay in that place of oneness with my Creator forever. I walked over to the cliff’s edge and peered into the valley below. Smoke still rose from the ashes of what had once been the Kurt family’s homestead. Anger at the senseless destruction of a place that had been like a home to me these past few weeks caused my fists to clench tight. People like Marfoul, that could commit such atrocities, had to be confronted and now I had the heavenly authority to do it. Turning from the cliff’s edge, I looked through what had been left on the cliff top.I personally didn’t care for any of the poorly made weapons the guards had on them and I had all but given up hope, when I came across a set of three Nizak fighting knives on the last guard. Forged by the hill tribesman of the Khartian Mountains, they were excellently made. They measured a little over a foot from hilt to point and were slightly curved up towards the point, b
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 23
His big hand resting on my shoulder had squeezed hesitantly and then, after a long moment, he had said, “We’ll start in the morning.”I never again looked at my father in the same way after that experience. He was more than just a father that cared for my needs, now he was also a force to be reckoned with. He was dangerous. I had wanted to be dangerous like him.Coming out of my reflections of the past, I eased Flin towards a small brook up ahead of us that ran along the base of an upthrust of rock. It was dark in the shadow of the cliff that I had chosen to make my camp under, which was good because it would obscure my plans from any prying eyes.Normally, I would never make a camp in a spot like this and I was hoping that whoever was stalking me did not know me well. My reasons for not liking the camping spot would have been quite obvious to an experienced traveler. I had been on the run from the authorities for years and I’d picked up some tips on what not to do during that time.Bu
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 24
Grimly, I watched the fallen rider struggle to rise only to fall back to the ground. It gave me no pleasure to kill, but these men had asked for it by tracking me down. I collected my knives, not wanting to see such fine weapons rot in the undergrowth of this dark forest. Reaching down to retrieve a knife, I winced as the arrow wound reminded me of its presence. My fingers found the wound on my side. The arrow had hit nothing vital, but it had left a nasty gash where it had skidded off my ribs, and the wound was bleeding profusely.Flin perked up an ear at my reappearance and even looked halfway interested that I had returned. Gathering the reins I led him through the forest and out to where the last soldier lay. The warmth of the afternoon sun felt good after the cool, moist darkness of the forest. Blood dripped off my fingers, which held a wadded up piece of rag to the wound in my side, as I approached the last soldier in the meadow.The man was still conscious, but he didn’t have lo
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 25
There must be tunnels behind the gates that led through the mountains on either side of the wall in order to access the city beyond. It was a smart way of resolving the inherent tactical weakness of a gateway. Gates are typically the weakest points in a fortification; get enough ramming, bombardment, and a heavy enough massing of troops and any gate can fall; except maybe these gates. The angle they were at put them out of range of being directly fired upon by projectiles. The massing of troops in the narrow tunnels would create a bottleneck that could prove catastrophic, if they had death holes through which boiling oil could be poured down onto the attacking troops and the tunnels themselves could likely be caved in, if need be, to stop an invasion. If there was any weakness to be found in the defenses before me, it was probably the overconfidence of the soldiers defending it, thinking that the wall could never fail, which is a very dangerous weakness to have as overconfidence breeds
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 26
The words emanated from a darkened corner of the room. Peering into the corner, I heard a chair scrape against the stone floor and I saw a figure rise up and come towards me. The shadowy figure used a cane to walk. He came into the light and I was shocked to see a resemblance to myself in his face, although more timeworn and wrinkled.It didn’t surprise me when he said, “As you might have guessed we’re related, you and I. Your father was my son, which makes you my grandson. Long have I wanted to see you, but I feared to never see the day come.”He leaned heavily on his cane for a moment as his eyes rested on me. “Oh to God that your father, mother and brother could be here too! But at least I am not without comfort in that I, at least, have you! Come, my boy! It’s time that you saw your new home, that is if you choose to make it so.”I got to my feet stiffly and before I could resist, aged but still strong arms enveloped me in a bear hug that caused the pain in my side to intensify sli
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 27
“Oh, no!” exclaimed Krista.She had seen that look of pale stillness before. Frantically, she put her hand on the baby’s chest, but she could feel no movement there and the skin was cold. Big tears welled up in her eyes and then spilled down her cheeks as she gently rocked the still baby in her arms.Later, she got up as dawn’s first rays started to brighten up the gloomy morning and made her way towards the wharf which was nearby. Making her way down to the shore of the river, she lowered the baby into the murky waters. For a moment the baby’s face was visible and then it was gone.She had been making her way past the guards last night, intent on escaping the holding pens and the short, hard life of being a slave, when out of the dark a hand had feebly grabbed her. Gasping in surprise, she had spun towards the unseen hand to see a thin woman with dark shadows under her eyes standing there in the gloom.“Please! Please take my baby with you!”“ I…. I…. I can’t! I wouldn’t know how to c
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 28
Krista watched as the kind old lady got painfully back up to her feet and moved away towards her rocking chair. Her eyelids got harder and harder to keep open as she watched the old woman rock by the fire. Never before had she had such good food to eat. The warmth and comfort of the cottage and pallet she lay on did the rest and she was soon asleep.The old woman studied Krista as she slept deeply on the pallet by the fire and wondered again if she had made a mistake in buying the girl. She couldn’t afford to make more enemies than she already had.Buying escaped slaves had a way of being looked down upon by the local townspeople and she depended on those same people for her business. Looking again at the girl she shook her head, but of course she had made the right choice in saving the girl’s life. She would just have to face the trouble when it came and come it would.Krista opened her eyes slowly. That was an improvement from the day before, as both eyes opened easily. The cottage w