A Warrior's Legacy

by Guy Stanton III

  Captain Sargas having overheard what I said nodded grimly and indicated a side alley with a brief shake of his head.

  I glanced in the direction and quickly glanced away sickened by what I had seen taking place. All that remained was to bow out of this place as quickly as possible without raising suspicion.

  Unfortunately we were stuck here until tomorrow waiting on our provisions. I was ready to leave now, but we needed the provisions.

  Making our way further into the city on a sightseeing tour, while Captain Sargas and his men had split off to make a show of trading I came to the conclusion that this was not the place indicated in Gavin’s visions and I said as much, when we were alone for a moment.

  Gavin nodded his head and said, “This is definitely not the place.”

  I thought I saw the vague outlines of what must be women staring out at us from open windows. Another bad sign.

  Any culture that locks away its women, as if they were something to be ashamed of was not a healthy one.

  The city while it had appeared magnificent from a distance now on closer inspection showed that the glory of this culture had already come and gone and that they were now on a long slide downhill into cultural ruin.

  The temple or shrine that seemed to be located on every street corner surely hadn’t helped them much. It was with eagerness that I stepped aboard the ship in the late afternoon.

  Regretfully I watched the dock grow near. I would rather have spent my remaining time at this lustful city on board ship, but I was in command and it was my duty to be out at the head of whatever was happening and involving my men.

  The provisions had not arrived this morning as I’d hoped for. They apparently weren’t to be delivered until late afternoon, which would cause us to miss the evening tide. We would have to stay in this place of lost virtues one more day.

  Captain Sargas’s men were successfully keeping up the part of this being a trading venture. I had to admit that someone was going to be very wealthy after the trade goods that were filling up our ship’s hulls were sold.

  I made my way with Gavin and a few other men farther into the city then I had gone the previous day, which is when I got my first glimpse of the northern savages.

  As we came to the land side walls of the city we happened upon a slave market, one of their compassionate mercies for their northern neighbors as it were. New slaves were being herded down the street from one of the open gates to the surrounding countryside toward the slave market. One in particular caught my eye.

  She was the only slave mounted on a horse of all of the captives. Her hands and legs were bound to the horse she rode, but despite that she sat as tall as she could in the saddle. Her chin held high and proud, the same as the rest of the slaves, who were mostly men.

  She couldn’t have been more than 14 or 15 at best. She had been stripped of her clothing from the waist up and her developing female form was bare for all to see.

  She may have been young and yet not fully developed, but she was clearly very pretty and desirable enough to have caught the eye of any man, but not here. To a man the prospective buyers had eyes only for the men.

  She would be used only as a passing diversion or a carrier of a child to prolong the sick culture that she was being sold into.

  When did men forsake the female form that had been specially crafted for all their passionate needs and instead turned to members of their own sex for pleasure instead?

  I shook my head in disgust and prayed that whatever sickness that had seized hold of these men and born this perverted fruit would never occur in the homelands of my birth.

  The absence of the Creator and His morality of justice in a culture causes all kinds of darkness, which this was only one of.

  I stepped out determinedly toward the slave auction, but Gavin halted my progress by grabbing my arm.

  “You can’t be serious Zevin she’s only fourteen or fifteen at best! It would be like buying our younger sister!”

  Annoyed at him for thinking I had plans to molest a young girl I shook off his hold on me, and continued on towards the auction.

  He tried once more to dissuade me, “Think of what mother would think Zevin!”

  Now that I could respond to.

  I turned around and said, “I seem to remember that father bought mother at a slave auction. That didn’t turn out too badly did it?”

  Before he could respond I added, “Besides I have mother’s permission to do this.”

  Gavin’s mouth literally fell open, “How can you say that Zevin?”

  “She made a deal with me when I was younger. She told me that if a girl hadn’t taken an interest in me by the time I was twenty two that I had her permission to go buy a slave girl.”

  I had to turn away quickly to keep from laughing out loud at Gavin’s incredulous face. My humor died quickly as I entered the slave auction house. I received a lot of attention by the buyers, but I ignored them.

  Slave auctions tend to sell the least desirable candidates first, while there were plenty of buyers around hoping to get more money for them, which is why I didn’t have to wait long, as the girl was brought out first.

  I immediately lifted my hand at the auctioneers start off of the bids. My action was greeted by laughter by the rest of the buyers over my bidding for something next to worthless in their eyes.

  There was no further bidding on her and she soon was delivered roughly by a guard in front of me. I closed my hand firmly, but gently over her forearm and led her from the auction house. Despite her brave face I could feel her shaking in my grasp on her arm.

  Back in the street I led her toward the others who to their credit tried valiantly to keep their gazes directed elsewhere from the obvious destination that their eyes wanted to direct them to.

  “Holon go buy a cloak and a horse.”

  He jumped to the task and was gone in the next moment. We went down an uncrowded thoroughfare away from prying eyes.

  The girl was still scared I could tell, but I also saw that she was curious as to what was happening.

  “What’s your name?” I asked keeping firm eye contact with her.

  She hesitated and then said “Ziya.”

  “That’s a very pretty name. Ziya I’m letting you go free.”

  Her eyes brightened immediately.

  “Ziya we came from a land far across the great sea and we’ve come to help people. We hope to get out of this wicked place soon. Tell me Ziya would we be welcome to visit your people in the Northern Kingdom?”

  “Oh yes we would welcome you most gladly! Are you really letting me go?” She asked her eyes full of amazement.

  I gestured to the city around and indicated myself and the men with me, “We are better men then the men of this place are. We respect you as a woman and we do not keep slaves! Tell me are the men of your people like that?”

  “They are and also of the Eastern Kingdom, however they do keep slaves.”

  I looked at Gavin and he back at me knowingly.

  “We were told that every one in the Eastern Kingdom was either dead or crazy.”

  She looked surprised, “No there is still one city that survives and is free as we are in the north.”

  Holon came up then with a horse and a cloak. I took the cloak and wrapped it around her and she looked gratefully up at me and whispered, “Thank you.”

  I took a long dagger from my belt and handed it to her, which she took gladly. Pulling the horse around I held it for her to mount. She did so with an ease that spoke of long experience in the saddle.

  “We will come to your land when we can. You shouldn’t have trouble getting out of the city, as there are few sentries. Until we meet again may the Creator look after you.”

  “We have no gods as they forsook us long ago!” She said bitterly.

  I laid my hand on hers on the saddle and said looking into her eyes deeply, “Our God has never failed us and He is what we have come to share with you.”

  I stepped back an
d let her go. She was quickly gone down the street headed for the open country. I caught of something out of the corner of my eye and I looked to the spot and saw an old woman looking at me from a window.

  She came out of the house to come towards me and I was surprised as I felt her fragile arms close around me. She held me for a moment and then let go.

  She indicated that she wanted to tell me something and so I leaned down to hear her aged whisper, “Blessed am I to see the truth come to these shores at long last. Destroy this place and any you find like it and bring the people the truth of the Creator’s word.”

  How did this old woman know so much?

  She wasn’t done though.

  “Follow the siren’s call and fear not to tread were others dare not for happiness is to be found in the hidden abyss so by finding it a fire will be lit that shall scorch the sorcerer’s heart!”

  I leaned back up from her, “How do you know all this? What do your words mean?”

  It was only then that I saw that she was blind.

  She smiled, “I have done all that I was shown to do, the rest is up to you Zevin Ta’lont may you be as strong and virtuous as your forefather Tadias was.”

  And then she left me fading back into the house.

  “What did she say Zevin?” Gavin asked.

  I didn’t answer him.

  “Let’s get back to the ship.”

  Thankfully our provisions had finally arrived. I was looking forward to fresh food and drink and so I was disappointed to hear that Captain Sargas had insisted that all fresh provisions of food and water were to be saved until the old stores were completely depleted.

  Oh well it was the right call that needed to be made. There was no telling when the next opportunity to replenish provisions would occur. I was going to lay down until dark, which is when we planned to weigh anchor and leave headed for the Northern Kingdom.

  All I could think of as I lay in my bed was the old woman’s mysterious words. How had she known my name?

  Chapter Five

  Dark is the Forest

  I was startled awake by hand on my shoulder and a man’s urgent words.

  It was Captain Sargas, “Sir there is something I think you should see!”

  I got out of bed immediately already dressed from earlier in the day and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I asked, “Are we under attack?”

  Captain Sargas responded uncertainly, “I’m not sure Sir.”

  I followed him up onto the deck. He pointed at the Lantia.

  “I’ve seen no activity on her Sir. The lanterns haven’t even been lit. This is entirely different behavior than I would expect from Captain Ornak Sir!”

  I nodded somberly, “Lower a boat over the side and try to keep from being seen doing it.

  The boat brushed up against Lantia and I and the eleven men with me cautiously climbed up over her sides. Men lay everywhere soldiers and sailors alike. There did not appear to be any signs of conflict however.

  I reached down and felt one man’s skin. It was cold. They had been dead for hours even while the sun had been up. Below deck was the same no signs of a struggle. It appeared as if everyone had simply laid down and gone to sleep. There was only one solution to what I saw.

  They had all been poisoned.

  An icy feeling seized my heart as I thought of how close I had come to such a death. If it hadn’t been for Captain Sargas’s insistence that we use the old stores up first we would all be dead now.

  The Lantia had no old stores, as they were lost in the storm and they had been forced to use their new provisions. This explained why there had been such a delay in receiving the supplies.

  They had been probably waiting for a suggestion from the sorcerer as to what to do with the newcomers. This was the sorcerer’s answer to the problem apparently. I entered the Captain’s cabin and saw Captain Ornak slumped over his desk. His face was twisted into one of panic in death.

  He alone had realized what was happening, but it had been too late for him to alert us. I stood in front of him gripped by anger even as I felt a sharp grief over the loss of so many good men. Their murders would not go un-avenged I swore it.

  Talin came in behind me, “Zevin there all dead.” He said quietly.

  I nodded, “We need to get back to the ship gather the men.

  Gavin and Captain Sargas were waiting for me when I cleared the side of the ship. I told them what must of happened and they received the news in complete silence. Their grief and anger at the news was as sharp as mine had been.

  “Captain Sargas I want you to send a small party of our men over to the Lantia weigh anchor and start it forward toward the dock and then set it on fire.

  Have your men string rope along after them in their lifeboats. We’ll real them in as we weigh anchor and leave the harbor, while the enemy is absorbed with the approaching fire ship. We will jettison the new supplies as we leave the harbor.”

  Twenty minutes later with the Lantia well ablaze and headed for the dock we set sail for the open sea. We watched the flaming ship that was all that was left of our friends, as it smashed its way into the dock setting it ablaze also.

  “Shall we head up the northern shore Sir?” Captain Sargas asked.

  “No head along the southern shore and to the east. We need to find friends, if we hope to avenge our men and the Northern Kingdom is in no condition to do that by all accounts.”

  Morning’s light showed an unbroken line of forest all along the coast that we shadowed.

  “Tomorrow morning before it gets to light we’ll send a small party ashore to fill some water barrels. I don’t think the Western Kingdom is following our movements. The part of their story about these eastern lands being forbidden to them I believe in part. That forest looks entirely forbidding from here, but we need the water.”

  “What about the disease? If we contact it we can never go home for fear of spreading it to our own people.” Captain Sargas said softly.

  “We have to risk it we need the water. I have my doubts about the sickness part of the story though. If the sorcerer gave the Western Kingdom a serum of some kind that saved them from the disease, why then is this land still forbidden to them?”

  Captain Sargas shrugged his shoulder, “That I don’t know, but I do know that I’m grateful to be the captain of this ship, which means I get to stay on board in the morning and not go tramping around that forbidden forest.”

  I couldn’t argue with him there, I envied his position in the moment to.

  He left and Gavin stepped up to the railing with me, “I want to go along tomorrow.”

  I thought about immediately saying no, but I decided against it.

  “Did you bring your sword along?” I asked still staring out at the forest passing by.

  “Both of them!” He said emphatically.

  I smiled, “Well just bring one of them tomorrow morning, hopefully that’ll be enough.”

  The outlying area of the forest was little better than a glorified swamp where it met the sea. We coasted the two boats through the early morning gloom of fog as quietly we could.

  Finally after a circuitous route through a series of boggy channels of stagnant seawater mixed with fresh water we reached what appeared to be solid ground.

  It was a very damp forest that we stepped into. There wasn’t that much undergrowth because the overhead canopy cast off too much shade for much to grow. Besides the occasional herbaceous wetland plants that carpeted the forest floor here and there everything else was carpeted in green moss.

  The trees, the rocks, perhaps even the enemy was covered in moss. Turning to the men who had come with me and Gavin I said, “Talin, you and Holon keep your men here until we’ve scouted the area out some and have found a potable source of water.”

  They looked hesitant to obey my orders, but they did as I said. They had been with me for years and I knew both of them would rather accompany me than sit by the forest edge waiting.

  Gavin and I made our way
deeper into the dark wet forest. There were no sounds of nature to herald us not even a songbird’s twill, which only increased the eerie like quality this place had to it. We were virtually silent except for the slight rustling of plant leaves against our pants. The moss deadened the sound of our passage and there was only a drippy silence to be heard throughout the forest.

  The terrain was undulating and I headed for where I thought water might be congregated in the folds of the land. We slipped in and around massive tree trunks and around large boulders.

  Areas of the forest still lay in fog, which only aided the imaginative fear of what kinds of menacing monsters lay just out of our sight. Rounding a tree I saw a pool of water just where I had thought that there would be.

  We didn’t approach it immediately, but instead we studied it and the surrounding forest closely. I detected nothing in the stillness. Slowly we made our way down to the pool of water.

  It appeared clear and of a sufficient quantity as we had need of. I kept looking around at our surroundings as Gavin kneeled down before the water and cupped some of it with his hands to bring it up to his mouth to drink.

  I heard the water fall abruptly from his hands to smack into the pool of water and looking back I watched as he fell away from the water and backed away even further scooting on his rear.

  A hand on my sword I asked in a loud whisper, “What is it? What do you see?”

  Gavin looked like he was about to be sick, but he managed to hold it in.

  He pointed at the water and said, “See for yourself!”

  I stepped closer to the water and cautiously peered down into the water. The water was crystal clear and the piled jumble of human skeletons was clearly visible. I swallowed and looked away from the water. This forest really must be cursed.

  I loved forests generally, but this one had such an oppressive menacing feel to it that I wouldn’t have thought a thing of it if the whole forest was hacked down and turned into a desert. I couldn’t wait to be free of the place.

  I caught a glimpse of something moving in the forest and I wasted no time in grabbing Gavin and directing him along a narrow ledge around the pool water to its backside. I had noticed a cleft in the rock there earlier and into this I half shoved Gavin and then stuffed myself into as well.