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REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 30
She was not looking forward to that. She never did. She avoided the town and its occupants as if there was a plague upon the place. But Sansa was too feeble to make the journey anymore. Krista knew what awaited her and she couldn’t help but cringe inwardly.Later, after she had picked the Amarano leaves, the Vantak roots and the Zantar blossoms that they needed for the cough tinctures, she found Sansa by the old kettle in front of the small cottage that she had called home for many years now. She came up to Sansa and set down the bag of herbs. She leaned forward and fondly kissed the old woman on the head.“A watched pot never boils, dear Sansa.”Sansa looked up and patted Krista’s hand. Krista’s eyebrows quirked up and a smile teased at the corners of her lips.“Sansa?”“Yes?”“Your pot is boiling.”“Oh, you rascal you! You’ve done it again. Now, off with you to town to get the tincture fluid.”Krista moved off towards the town with a laugh, getting a weak pat on the bottom for her im
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 31
“Krista, my time is drawing near and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. But if you trust me at all, know that what I’ve told you is the truth and that it will come to pass. Hold on to what I’ve told you when times grow dark in your life and have faith that what I have told you will come to pass.”Krista laid her head back down, hoping that Sansa’s words would come true, but all she felt was a growing sense of dread for what the future would bring.JasperRolf followed me down the main street of the village of Thunder Ridge Castle. The village itself was called Ta’arny and I had visited it often since my arrival at the castle. It was like walking through a part of living history, a history that was now mine. The town’s people left me alone for the most part after acknowledging my presence with a warm welcome of good morning, which I returned in kind. They knew where I was headed.I was headed to the chapel, which was the center of every Valley Lander town. The building wasn’t pretenti
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 32
Snap!“Ouch!”I painfully shook my finger hard through the air. My whole body hurt from touching the shimmering curtain, especially my heart.I looked at Thaddeus and I saw him smile grimly and say, “Sometimes, just like seeing, feeling is believing. Put your right thumb on the sword of the coat of arms and hold it there for a second.”I did so and watched in disbelief as the veil of shimmering light over the doorway disappeared, to be replaced by the entrance of a hallway beyond. Thaddeus stepped into it and I followed him. We moved into the darkness, which was only dark for a moment, as the floor began to illuminate with ambient light, the existence of which I couldn’t have explained if I had bothered to try. As Thaddeus progressed down the long hallway, there was a feeling of falling through space that made me feel slightly queasy. Suddenly, we came to a room at the end of the hall that lit up brilliantly as we entered.“This, my boy, is what it’s all about,” Thaddeus said, gesturin
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 33
Thaddeus was looking at me intently, as if his next breath hung on my unspoken words, “So what would your course of action be Jasper?”“I would destroy this room and all its contents and stop playing this game of hide and seek.”Thaddeus’s scrutiny of me did not waver in the slightest, “And what of the council’s demands for the preservation of these works and the possibility of needing some of these secrets to defeat the Zoarinian invasion of our land?”“My first duty is to the people and not the well being of the council’s political motivations. Second, I will live and fall in this life according to my own merits and the strength that the Creator endows me with and not rely on dusty secrets of questionable origin to deliver me the victory.”Thaddeus smiled and I saw him relax visibly, “Good, that is what I hoped you would say. It relieves me to hear you say what you just did.”“What did my father say?” I asked softly.A dark look came over Thaddeus’s face for a moment and he didn’t an
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 34
Later that day the slavers stopped to make camp in an abandoned village. The girls were herded into an old shack and made to stand against a wall stretched out in a line. Krista was the farthest one from the door of the shack. Standing at the door to block any attempt at escape stood a wiry, evil looking slaver with crooked dirty teeth. He did nothing but grin and wink at the girls suggestively.Fearful whispers began to rise among the girls. Abruptly, their whispers were interrupted by the opening of the door. Surprisingly, a woman stepped through the door and the brief moment of hope that rose up within Krista swiftly turned cold and died painfully.By her clothes and the manner in which the woman displayed herself, Krista recognized the woman for what she was. She was the madam of a whore house or something close to it. She had come to buy new product for her customers.Krista turned her eyes away and stared straight ahead, seeing her fate sealed. The woman came closer to inspect th
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 35
The man pulled her around to the other side of the carriage toward where her new master still stood. She kept her head lowered, not wanting to show them the tears of frustration that were welling up in her eyes. Once again, she felt her master’s cool hand touch her chin and direct the movement of her head upward. Expecting to see anger reflected in his eyes, she was surprised instead to see a look of understanding.“Freedom can often prove elusive to many of us in life, but one can find peace if they surrender to the inevitable. Even the life of a slave can be bearable, if one surrenders enough.”He released her jaw and turned towards the mansion that must be his home. It sat at the end of a street, which gave it more privacy from the other mansions that lined the street. Its architecture rose impressively up before her. Still, it struck a balance of not being overly pretentious despite its grandeur. Everything seemed extremely well maintained and in order, like the man himself.The ma
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 36
Cautiously she made her way over to it and peered out into the dimly lit corridor. It must be late at night since she heard not a sound except for the chirping of insects outside the mansion. No one was in the hallway, but, at the end of the hall, light streamed out of an open doorway.Drawn like a moth to a flame, she slipped into the hallway and softly approached the light, diligent not to make any noise in her approach. Reaching the opened door, she peered in and beheld a room of a definitely more masculine reflection.Sitting behind a big oaken desk to one side of the room sat the man who had bought her. He had piles of paper before him, with which he seemed very busy.He was writing something down when he spoke, “Come in and have a seat.”He pointed to a chair across from the desk without even looking up at her. Surprised, Krista jumped back from the doorway. How had he known she was there? She debated about running back down the hallway to her room, but what good would that do? S
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 37
Coming back to reality, I made sure that I had Thaddeus’s letter to his spy contact. The letter was a small word for it, for all intents and purposes it appeared to be a two hundred year old book complete with musty stained pages.Thaddeus got a bit too much into the whole spy/intrigue thing I thought to myself. But then he had managed to keep the family secrets safe during his watch over them. Now it was up to me to finish it.There were only going to be five of us on the expedition; Father John, Seth, two of my grandfather’s trusted men at arms and myself. I would have preferred a party made up entirely of my men, but all of my men were busy improving the fighting abilities of the castle’s fighting men and couldn’t easily be spared from that task.The only reason Seth was going was because he was useless as a teacher and he had insisted on going so repeatedly that I had finally agreed. Father John hadn’t seemed overly excited one way or the other when I told him that he was to accomp