by Dan Decker
The man in black spat and Vaar remained silent. “Push them to their knees, space them apart.” The man with the necklace was grim, but he seemed the least surprised of all the men, Jorad didn’t waste time wondering why.
All the men except for those who Barlon had sent to find a burial spot waited expectantly. Jorad almost approached Vaar. He very much wanted to execute the man himself, but considering all the emotion he had swirling through his chest, he figured it better to focus on the man in black.
It seemed even that the creatures of the forest stopped to watch, it was the most silence Jorad could ever remember hearing while in the wilderness.
The man in the black looked up into Jorad’s eyes, they were cold and without mercy. Whoever he was he’d killed a lot of people; his death was not undeserved.
Jorad moved swiftly, severing the head in one movement. He didn’t relish the aftermath, but he forced himself to not look away as the body fell. The man in the necklace gave a small nod of his head as if a show of respect to Jorad.
As Jorad wiped his sword on the man in black’s coat and looked at Vaar, he noticed for the very first time an emotion on the man’s face. Vaar moved his jaw as if working up the courage to say something.
I should have had him searched for a vial of poison, Jorad realized, but the man’s hands were tied securely behind his back, so he wasn’t going to be reaching his mouth.
After waiting several moments in which he gave Vaar a chance to speak, Jorad turned to Barlon.
“His execution falls to you.”
Blood of the Redd Guard
Adar Rahid has only been a general for two months, but his problems are already multiplying. He has his hands full with a father who wants to kill him and Helam Morgol, another general who is secretly laying plans to take over the Rarbon city government.
When Adar encounters a gang of bandits brazenly robbing and murdering merchants in his territory he suspects that there is more going on than just a simple robbery. His fears are quickly confirmed when a murder perpetrated by a hidden organization known as the Kopal pulls him into a conflict with Helam where the future of the city is at stake.
While events unfold Adar Rahid struggles to find a distinction between his methods and those employed by Helam Morgol as both take drastic actions to gain the upper hand.
Readers are taken on an adventure between dueling generals in this tale of epic fantasy and science fiction. This action packed story is based in the War of the Fathers universe and happens twenty three years before the events in War of the Fathers.
Turn the page to get started.
Chapter 1
1,169 Years Since the Severing
Adar Rahid squinted through the early evening light as the wind blew dust into his face that had been kicked up by his horse. He stared at the remains of the ship while a hundred questions ran through his mind. The metal behemoth was rust covered and half buried in the ground. It was too large to move and too large to ignore.
How did they get those things up in the air? It wasn’t his first time seeing the ship and it wouldn’t be the last time unanswerable questions assailed him.
A scream broke his concentration and he looked at the road ahead and was surprised to see a caravan of merchants. He’d been so engrossed in studying the ship that he’d forgotten to pay attention to the road. Sweat dripped into his eyes while he tried to make out the commotion and he blinked through the stinging sensation.
A grunt from behind caught his attention as another rider came to a stop beside him.
“A robbery in progress?” Maual asked. There was a hint of a challenge in the older man’s tone that Adar had become accustomed to in the last couple of weeks. Adar still wasn't certain if this was on purpose, or if it was just how the man was. That, combined with the way Maual kept his graying hair tied back in a ponytail, and the woman's silver ruby necklace he wore about his neck, made him a bit of a puzzle. He wasn’t the only oddity in the army of men Adar had been commissioned to lead, but he was among the most intriguing.
There was a story about the necklace, Adar was certain, but he hadn't yet tried to learn it. The lengthy hair would have been a bigger problem if Maual were a new draftee just filling his term, but he had taken the oaths and it had been customary to give the oath takers a bit more leeway.
“Probably,” Adar said. When Maual nodded in agreement, Adar picked up a hint of something that he couldn't place. Had Maual been testing his read of the situation?
Pushing his concerns about the man away, Adar turned his attention back to the scene ahead where there was a flurry of activity inside a grove of trees that he couldn't quite make out. Several wagons were pulled off the road and one had tipped over. He focused on the overturned wagon, trying to determine the cause. The horse team stood nearby in the brush. Had it been run off the road? Broken a wheel?
He frowned when what sounded like screaming and yelling made it to his ears. In between the trees he could make out flashes of running men. It was a bit closer to Rarbon than the other reported attacks had been. The thieves were becoming far more brazen. Even though the Rarbon city walls were still more than a couple of miles away, they loomed high enough in the dusky skyline that it was a formidable sight. That alone should have struck fear in the heart of anybody daring to make the roads a dangerous place.
It wasn’t too long ago when the thought of highway robbery this close to Rarbon would have been unthinkable, but times had changed. The Radim armies weren’t as respected as they once had been.
A sudden piercing scream removed any remaining doubt from his mind. He made a swirling motion with two fingers in the air that the men closest to him mimicked so that the others would see. With that sign, he communicated to his men that the first and second squads would go ahead while the third would follow behind after a few minutes. Normally, he would have sent a squad around the side to come from the other direction but this close to the wall there wasn't a need. Whoever was doing this would know that the guards at the gate would never let them through with a Radim patrol hot on their tail.
It had been a long several days of travel and even though Adar had been moving his men fast to ensure their arrival at Rarbon before evening, they looked ready and alert. Tomorrow was the first day that the Rarbon Council would meet since Adar had made his claim to become Ghar. The first task could be assigned at that time. There was also the matter of the ball as well. Adar hated social gatherings, but he didn’t have many opportunities for socializing and it would be a good thing for him to make an appearance at his father’s party. Perhaps he might even hear a rumor about what the Council would have him do.
It galled him to be beholden to the Council for the challenges he would have to face to assert his birthright. Growling to himself, he tried to push the thought away but was unable to do so.
While it was unlikely that the assignment would be made the next day, he didn't want to waste a moment's time in fulfilling it. Rarbon had been too long without a Ghar and he was determined to be the first Rahid set apart as Ghar in living memory.
The world was about to change—Adar could feel it coming every time he looked up into the sky—and he would need to be Ghar if they were going to have half a chance. If Semal was to be believed, the time of the Hunwei's foretold return was at hand and they weren't prepared. The best shot they had at defeating their enemy was getting into the Rarbon Portal, which was something he could do once he was made Ghar.
“Bandits or more fake Radim, General?” asked a low voice from beside him on the left.
Adar looked over as Tere Heul rode up on his black and white horse; he was the default leader of the first squad. While Tere was shorter than Adar, he was still of about average height. The muscular man had been at Adar's side since they'd both enlisted in the Radim at age fifteen. The dirty blonde hair that had framed his face as a boy was now kept short and wasn't much longer than the few days growth of stubble on his face. Tere's dull green uniform was older but still managed to l
ook as crisp as the new one that Adar had donned before setting out on the patrol. The patch with a red horned toad on Tere’s shoulder that signified Napael Army was a match for the red cord he had wrapped around the hilt of his Radim sword that peeked over his shoulder.
In answer to Tere's question, Adar shook his head while bringing up his hand forming a fist. Adar hadn't witnessed the Radim imposters first hand but he didn't doubt that the stories were true. He clenched his hand tighter at the thought of the deception. In order to restore the Radim to the glory of old, his first order of business would be to eradicate these men claiming to be Radim. No one doing such damage could be allowed to remain unchecked.
These attacks had been going on for the last month, starting right after Adar had been made General. The first one had been a grisly affair, with a merchant family of six dead, their goods pilfered and their wagons burned. Since that time, there had been half a dozen more. While some of the marauders had clashed with the Radim, none of the bands had been eradicated though the altercations had left men dead on either side. The captured bandits hadn’t survived for longer than a day in Rarbon. So far there had been three captives and each had died before they could be brought before the Rarbon Council. The first had been found poisoned in his cell, the second had died from a wound he’d taken during his capture, and the third had taken an arrow through the neck as he was being transported before the Council.
The fact that the attacks coincided with Adar’s assent and that the captives were ending up dead made him suspicious that this was somehow related to his commission.
He frowned as he watched his men prepare to attack the bandits. His original plan had been to return tomorrow, but he’d had an uneasy feeling for the last couple of weeks that there was a spy close to him. So he’d decided to return today, curious to see if anything interesting would turn up. It was an added bonus that he was back in time for the ball tonight and would be on hand if the Council reached a decision. Perhaps the spy would be surprised to see Adar back so soon and make a mistake that would give him away.
If the attack they were about to interfere with was by the same men pretending to be Radim, this would be the second attack this week. The first group of bandits had escaped unscathed, even though General Smeth of Korew army had sent her best after them.
That wouldn't be the case today, even if Adar and his men had to spend the next week chasing after them. Tere brought his hand forward to a fist as he kicked his horse into a gallop. The other men in the first and second squads formed a column of four abreast behind Tere as they bore down on the grove of trees.
The men from the remaining groups spread out. After a moment's hesitation, Adar spoke to Colonel Lucas Brandesutter who waited several feet away. The tall lanky balding man didn't speak much. He was the sort that preferred his actions to do the talking for him. Adar wondered if the Redd Guard had ever tried to recruit him. He’d fit into their ranks perfectly. The Redd Guard were known for their silence and the sense of intrigue they went to great lengths to cultivate. In many ways, Lucas reminded him of the aloof organization and Adar was afraid that the man would be recruited while Adar wasn’t watching.
“I'm going ahead with the others,” Adar said to Lucas, “if they make a break for it, capture as many as you can but kill them rather than let them escape.” Lucas raised an eyebrow at the last part of the command but didn't open his mouth as he nodded.
Adar kicked his stallion—Slasher—into a gallop. Like Tere's animal, Slasher was black covered in white spots. Several of the spots along Slasher's side had reminded Adar of long crooked daggers when he'd chosen the name.
Slasher quickly covered the distance and closed the gap between Adar and the men he'd sent ahead. As he neared the grove of trees he had a better view of where the merchant’s wagons had left the road, tossing their contents when they’d done so.
There were several bodies in the grass to the side that hadn't been visible before, a man and a woman. By the look of their dress they were more likely to be merchants than thieves. Gripping Slasher’s reins, he kicked the horse ahead and didn't look down as he passed the bodies.
In a short amount of time Adar's men had managed to take control of the scene. Several of the thieves were trying to put up a fight, but Adar could tell that they weren't used to dealing with people that fought back.
Maual was fighting a tall broad shouldered man that had almost a foot on him. Adar gritted his teeth when he noticed that the big man was wearing a Radim uniform. He’d already known that the rumors were true, but it was one thing to have heard about it and quite another to witness it firsthand. Did these men know that the penalty for this crime was death? Adar doubted they did. That, combined with the bodies they'd left on the road would leave Adar with few options. He hoped that others would learn from the example he'd make of these men.
The big man dueling with Maual had a shaved head and even from this distance, Adar could make out an earring that looked like a fish hook that was skewering a small dead bird. The hook went in at the tail feathers and out the mouth. The entire piece looked to be made from copper. He'd seen it’s like before in a coastal city that he couldn't remember the name of. If his memory was correct it was a symbol of a gang known for its fondness of initiation rituals that left two out of three dead. He spent several seconds, trying to remember their name, but it wouldn't come to him.
Judging by the big guy's unique fighting style, Adar figured he'd stolen the earring. Whoever he was, he wasn't a Radim and he probably didn't belong to the coastal gang. If Rarbon had been closer to the coast the man would have been too afraid to wear the earring.
Anybody who had ever been to Rarbon would have known that the Radim weren't allowed jewelry, not even the female soldiers were allowed such things. At that moment, Maual's necklace glinted in a ray of sunlight that made its way through the trees. Well, nobody that hadn’t taken the oaths.
Maual looked like he had the situation in hand, so Adar left him to it and instead focused on several merchants that were beginning to get their bearings. Two men and one woman. One of the men looked like a guard and he was bleeding from the side of his head. The others looked like the merchant and his wife. The merchant was pudgy and his wife was more than a head shorter than him. Both were tan and their black hair looked as though the sun had bleached it on top. Their wagon had tipped over and the contents were spilled out into the long patchy grass. Adar could make out small red peppers among the produce and stifled a groan. The traders were from Karchack. Even if his men had arrived in time to prevent the attack, this would still have been a delicate situation.
As it was, it looked like they'd arrived on the tail end of the bandit’s efforts. The contents of the other wagon had been tossed to the ground where more produce and bolts of cloth littered the sparse grass. Adar doubted the thieves had been happy when they discovered they'd hijacked a bunch of fabric, peppers, potatoes and cabbages.
Tere was already off his horse and had several of the bandits standing to one side while the other men were continuing to secure the scene. Some of the thieves were lying face down with arrows sticking out their backs but, most were alive.
“Attacked by Radim and then saved by Radim,” said the short merchant’s wife. Her husband and their guard were examining the overturned wagon to see if they could right it. She was crouched down doing her best to gather up the peppers. Now that he was closer he could make out slashes of gray in her black hair, but she still had a youthful appearance. As a younger woman, she would have turned heads. Even now she still did, Adar noticed that several of his men were glancing her way a bit too often. She looked up at Adar. “Your hospitality leaves much to be desired.”
It was strange that neither she nor her husband were grieving over their dead traveling companions, perhaps they were still stunned by what had happened. If she was looking for an apology, she'd been saved by the wrong man. Adar wasn't about to apologize for something done by others.
“Your assailants
stole our uniforms,” Adar said while getting off Slasher, doing his best to keep the heat out of his voice. Upon a moment's reflection, he decided that his tone had sounded too much like a sneer. It wasn't her fault that she'd been attacked, but he suspected she'd been to Rarbon enough to know these men weren't soldiers. He turned to his nearest men, Petor and Regory. “Get that wagon up and help them with their wares.”
The woman muttered a thank you that was barely audible and the merchant nodded his head as Adar walked over to Tere, leaving Slasher to graze on the dry grass.
A woman shrieked, drawing Adar’s attention. The merchant's wife was pointing down the road. Her husband encircled her in his arms as she buried her head into his chest. Adar's lips became taut as her cry pierced him.
By that time, Maual had managed to disarm the big fellow. The others had been subdued as well and brought to stand before Tere.
Adar walked up to the big man and pointed at the spot where the patch would have been signifying his army.
“What army?” When the man didn't respond, Adar unsheathed his sword and brought it to the neck of the man. “The penalty for impersonating a Radim is death.”
“Korew.” It came out as grunt; the man was still trying to catch his breath.
A round of grim laughter broke out among Adar's men, but Adar didn't smile. The man had sealed his own death sentence. “The only people allowed into Korew army wear dresses off duty.”
The man panicked, his eyes growing wide. If he didn't know enough about the Radim to know which armies enlisted women, there was no need to carry on the interview to determine his guilt. Adar did want to know more about who was behind all this, but that could wait until he'd dealt with the situation.