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REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 68
Captain Jansa, the most junior captain present, stood up from the far end of the table where he was seated and addressed the admiral, “Neither option sir!” “What do you mean by such a statement, Captain Jansa?” the admiral asked, as he speculatively eyed the young captain. “I mean to say that, with all due respect Sir, neither option presented before us can accomplish anything meaningful in the outcome of this war. Attacking the enemy fleet guarding the western shore is sheer suicide, Sir. Not one of our ships will reach the beach, except perhaps later as a piece of idly floating driftwood. Sacrificing ourselves in such an attempt will serve little purpose other than to help us preserve our honor with a noble death. As for the other option; Sir, as you yourself said, this war will come to be fought on our own shores some day not too distant from now, if the battle taking place is lost by our allies. If we leave this fight we return home without our honor, only to face the inevitable
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 69
In horror, Captain Jansa looked at what lay ahead of the Tasa’Anna. The narrow channel took a sharp turn that no ship under full sail could ever have made. To make matters worse, the cliff overhung the channel at that point. The overhanging cliff would rip every main mast clear off the ship! The fleet watched in horrified fascination as the flagship neared the sharp curve and the low overhang. Water began to boil up near an upthrust of one of the bay’s rocky teeth. A great rubbery bulk rose out of the sea and hauled itself up the rocky breaker opposite of the sharp curve. It was a giant squid! It was easily over half the size of the flagship itself. Some of its tentacles encircled the rocky pier it clung to. As the Tasa’Anna entered the beginning of the curve the remaining tentacles and whips of the great sea monster shot out, fastened to the upper masts of the ship and began to pull the Tasa’Anna over onto its side. The ship, under the strain of the pulling tentacles, tacked over
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 70
General Nadero’s cavalry started out in a brisk trot towards the enemy, intent on taking advantage of the turmoil present in their disorganized ranks. Their movement forward sparked a reaction from the enemy cavalry, which took off at an uneven start towards the approaching cavalry.General Santaran’s warriors ran through the ranks of Attorgron archers to strengthen the hard-pressed forward shield wall of the Attorgron slave warriors. On the flanks of the formation they swept through the remaining Attorgron cavalry, finishing what the spearmen had begun.The fighting was close and intense as the Zoarinian soldiers realized that the odds were no longer on their side. The approaching militia had seemingly been forgotten in the chaos and they now swept towards the enemy’s southern flank uncontested, even as the Tranquil Islanders, with a wild yell, started down the earthwork fortifications in a charge towards the western flank of the enemy’s battle line.There was an opportunity to be ha
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 71
“Well, that’s exactly what Jasper ’s going through. Not only did he exhaust himself physically, but his mind too I think. There may be damage done inside his head that we can’t see. Shutting down like this is the body’s way of taking the time to heal itself. He’ll come out of it when he’s ready. What he needs now is rest.” The General still looked puzzled, but less concerned. He nodded and then left the room. *****The doctor stared at the closed door for a moment and then turned back to the patient lying still in the bed and Thaddeus, who was sitting in a chair beside the bed. “Thaddeus, I didn’t want to tell the General, but I am growing concerned. Two weeks is a long time.” “I know,” Thaddeus said softly, as he stared at his grandson lying so still on the bed. Jasper ’s chest was barely moving as he breathed shallowly. “Thaddeus, I know something like this happened to you when you were a young man. What brought you out of it?” A slow tear slid down Thaddeus’s old weathered c
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 72
The morning of the fifth day since he had sent his agents out, a servant burst through the door of Jasper ’s room and startled Thaddeus awake in his chair by the bed. “What is the meaning of bursting in here like this?” Thaddeus blustered out tiredly. “I’m sorry Sir, but I thought you would want to read this immediately!” The servant held up a tiny piece of paper and Thaddeus recognized it as that of a message sent by the use of a carrier pigeon. He leaped up, forgetting his bad leg, and grimaced as he snatched the paper away from the servant. He squinted as he hurriedly read the message scrawled in tiny print on the little paper. “They’ve found her Jasper !” Thaddeus said excitedly. He glanced over and saw twitches of movement occurring all over his grandson’s face. Thaddeus crafted his next words carefully, “They’ve found where Krista is living, Jasper . She’s set up a small shop in a little town. Here, I’ll leave the note on this table beside your bed. You’ll want to read all
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 73
I heard Rolf snicker in the background, and I flushed slightly.I hugged Thaddeus and he returned the hug, “Your father would have been proud of you, just as I am,” he whispered into my ear.He leaned back from me and slapped me hard on the back, “Onward to love’s destiny my boy! Time is wasting!”I mounted Flin and rode down the cobbled streets of my heritage. The destiny that the Creator had so generously restored to me.KristaKrista brushed back the wild ringlets of hair that had fallen across her face as she straightened up. It was not yet mid morning and she already had all the herbs she needed to fill her orders for the week ahead. She headed off towards the small village of Andrewas. Maybe she would be able to have a little time for herself this afternoon. She hadn’t had a moment of ease since setting up shop in the little village of Andrewas.Work! Work! Work!But it had been good for her. The town wasn’t wealthy by any means and most of the time her customers couldn’t pay he
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 74
They pulled another horse from the coral, threw her across it and tied her hands to her feet beneath the horse, as she screamed and pleaded to the townspeople to help her. But the townspeople remained standing, their faces downcast, as one by one members of the crowd slipped away from the scene.The two men mounted their horses and loped out of town, tugging Krista’s horse along after them. After several miles the two men stopped and one came back and cut the rope binding Krista’s hands to her feet.She was picked off the horse and thrown roughly to the ground onto her face. Everything hurt from the rough ride.She started to push up weakly from the ground when a voice from her past spoke, “Well, well, what do we have here but old scarface herself!”Krista’s insides clenched as she looked up through the tangles of her hair and saw the fat, corpulent form of Esmeralda standing before her, who had only grown uglier with age.“You’ve only gotten prettier with age, honey. You brought me b
REBIRTH OF A WARRIOR Chapter 75
Her hips and the sides of her cheeks were clearly visible. She knew she was regarded as a beautiful woman, but this outfit left little to be discovered or imagined. It was humiliating!Why did she have to go through this further humiliation before she could be free? She bit her lip and tried to hold on to the hope that the messenger’s words had brought her, but it was hard and she fought against the tears that threatened to fall. She would not show any weakness to the mongering crowd she could hear jabbering in the market room beyond the thin walls of the prep room. The door of the room opened, they had come for her.The boards of the stage that her bare feet traveled across had been worn smooth by the countless poor souls who had been led across them before her. Stillness had fallen over the formerly mad atmosphere of the place.The stage was well lit in the otherwise seedy and rundown building. She was led to the center of the stage and the iron anklet around her left ankle was secu