A Warrior's Legacy (7 page)

Waves ramped up to over twice the height of
the ship, but they did not fall upon the ship. They were held at
bay by some unseen force. A channel of calm water formed ahead of
us that ran through the ramped up waves.

“Into the gap Gavin!”

But he was already bringing the ship about.
The other ships followed suit. The ships shot into the calm waters
as if propelled from below.

The giant waves crashed closed behind the
last ship even as strong winds blew at our backs. We shot out into
an unbelievable bright light. I threw up a hand to shield my
eyes.

Had we sailed into heaven?

Blinking away the glare I lowered my hand
and beheld in astonishment the calm rippling surface of the sea
stretched out before us.

It was hot except for a gentle breeze.
Incredulously I turned around and beheld the storm that still raged
on several hundred yards behind us.

How could this be?

“The storm appears to be of man’s
construction and control!” Said Captain Sargas glancing at the
quietly glowing sword in my hand.

I turned to Gavin, “The red crystal pommel
stone. Did father tell you anything specific about it?”

“He said it was a keystone and that it was
fitting that it should be a pommel stone on such a sword. He said
it dated back to Tadias’s time.”

I nodded and turned back to look at the
storm behind us. Whether knowingly or unknowingly father had given
us the key to survival.

If such technology that could create such a
hellish deathtrap of a storm still existed what else could there be
waiting for us on Assoria.

I turned back to Captain Sargas. “Captain
what do you recommend our course of action be?”

He responded quickly, “I would let the men
rest and repair the ships the rest of the day, since it appears the
storm is stationary. Tonight I should be able to determine how far
off course we are. Rest through the night and we’ll start off on
our quest again in the morning.”

“Sound advice Captain. See that the other
ships are informed.”

“Yes Sir.”

The wind while not overly strong was still
sufficient to help us make considerable speed with our new canvas
sails in place. By Captain Sargas’s estimations we should see
landfall in two days, but it would be the south western side of
Assoria instead of the north eastern side we had originally planned
to land on.

Hopefully we would all be recovered from our
ordeal with the storm, before we made landfall. Sleep had never
been more welcome than last night and it was hard to fight the urge
to go back to my cabin and get more of it.

What mysteries would this new land and
people hold for us to discover? I felt an inward tenseness that I
couldn’t shake off at the prospect of what lay ahead.

We had the good fortune of coming up on an
area of the coast that was occupied. At least I hoped that was good
fortune. The entire population could be cannibalistic for all I
knew. As we drew closer towards land and the city came into view I
couldn’t hold back my admiration of it.

The architecture was different than any I
had seen before, but it was done well and from what I could see of
the size of the city and the busy seaport we were approaching, it
appeared that these people’s cities could match any of the
Zoarinian port cities in grandeur, perhaps even exceed them. The
people of Berniam had been very busy over the years.

Our ships drew up at a safe distance from
the shore in a more secluded area of the harbor. We furled our
sales away and dropped our anchors, while still ready to reverse
the process at a moment’s notice, if these people gave us a reason
to flee their port.

I stood at the railing and watched the
flurry of activity that was taking place on shore at our unexpected
appearance. Both Captain Sargas and Gavin stood beside me.

“Captain at first we are going to maintain
the façade that this is entirely a trading venture until we test
the waters some. You have my permission to buy any merchandise you
should see fit to purchase, while keeping the true purpose of our
mission a secret for the time being.”

“Understood Sir. Could I also replenish our
stores of freshwater Sir? The Sanjo and the Vanetia still have
adequate supply, but the Lantia lost most of her provisions in the
storm.”

“See to it Captain.”

The Captain left and I looked over at
Gavin.

“Gavin I want to make this very clear. You
under no circumstances are to open your mouth about anything in
concern to bringing these people to the saving knowledge of the
Creator’s Son before I give you leave to or if you hear from the
Creator’s Spirit to do so! Is that clear?”

“Perfectly brother I understand the risks
and I don’t want to endanger the men.” He replied simply.

I didn’t think he did understand the risks.
As for myself I wished I could ease the tightness of concern I felt
inside. I saw a small masted vessel approaching and I gave the
order to prepare for visitors.

The visitors that climbed up onto the deck
were bedecked in every imaginable bright color under the sun. I had
never seen the hues of so many colors ever worn in one display
before.

They stared at us in utter amazement and
admittedly we did some staring back in return. We both, as peoples,
had to appear completely foreign to each other. They were smaller
of stature than we were, but the lithely muscled physiques of what
I took to be guards escorting the heavily dressed and bedecked
officials, were nobody to be trifled with.

The tallest of them wasn’t over five and a
half feet tall, but height wasn’t everything. They all had coal
black hair and eyes. Their skin wasn’t white like ours, but neither
was it olive complexioned as the Zoarinians or the Attorgrons. And
it certainly wasn’t black like the Khartians and some of the
Attorgrons.

Their facial features were completely
foreign and dominated by a slanted look about the eyes as some
Tranquil Islanders had.

So these were the peoples of Assoria. I
stepped forward and bowed my head respectfully.

“We have come in peace only wishing to trade
with your people and perhaps in time to share more with you if you
should seek it.”

They seemed to be even more shocked as they
heard me speak. They looked among themselves and then one, who
appeared to be the spokesperson spoke.

His words spoken in our language had a rusty
quality to them. “How do you come to speak the great sorcerer’s
language?”

The great sorcerer?

Not what I had been wanting to hear.

“It is the language of our birth. We have
come from the northern lands from across the great sea.”

“How did you make it through the great
storm?”

“Our ships are powerful and we found a way
through. Tell me, has our long journey to your lands been all for
nothing or will you trade with us and strengthen the bonds of
friendship between our two peoples?”

The official gave me an immediate toothy
grin that I did not care for and bowed down indicating the city as
he did so, “Our lands and cities are open before you. Come and see
all that the Western Kingdom has. Buy and trade with us to your
hearts content. We eagerly welcome this new friendship between our
peoples.”

“We are in need of provisions for our ships
may we procure the necessary provisions in addition to our
trade?”

“I would not hear of it, it will be our
great honor out of hospitality, to provide such provisions to you
without charge. Give us only a day to prepare and we will have all
that you seek and more delivered to your ships.”

“Thank you. Your hospitality is extremely
generous and we look forward to knowing your people better. May we
come back with you to shore to see for ourselves the wonders of
your land?”

His face flushed with pride at my flowery
words and he bowed again and indicated that we should proceed
before them to their craft pulled up alongside of our ship.

Watching the dock come closer I asked our
official guide.

“Are your people the only peoples of this
land?”

A shadow passed across his eyes briefly
before he responded, “Sadly yes. There were once three great
peoples that dominated Assoria. We are the Western Kingdom. The
last of the three powerful clans of Berniam.”

“What happened to the others?” I asked
watching him closely.

“A great sickness befell the Eastern
Kingdom. Most of the people died and those who survived went mad
and roam the barren streets of their cities frothing at the mouth.
None dare go there for fear of catching the dreaded disease and
bringing it back to our land. It is forbidden to go to those lands.
As to the fate of the Northern Kingdom, it was a natural disaster
that ended their reign as a great people. The great River Yasana
that watered their lands dried up and without it they began to
starve and die of thirst. We spared all that we could to aid them,
but they turned on us and rewarded our generosity to them by
attacking us seeking to claim our lands by force from us. Sadly we
killed many of our brothers, as they threw themselves heedlessly
against our fortifications. Now the remnants of their people are
little better than soulless savages that raid and attack our
outlying villages and farms in search of food and plunder. We take
slaves of them as often as we can instead of killing them outright
as they deserve because of their atrocious deeds. At least as
slaves they receive food and water in plentiful supply. It is the
least that we can do for them our one time brothers.”

I had never heard of the option of slavery
being a mission of mercy before, I thought ironically to myself. I
kept my doubt of his entire story from off my face however and
punched Gavin slightly to remind him to do the same.

“You mentioned a great sorcerer?”

“Yes, the savior of our people. It was him
that took the sickness away from our people by giving us the cure
and it was also him who told us of the Northern Kingdoms
treacherous decision to attack us, which gave us the time we needed
to prepare for their invasion.”

I nodded my head, “Where is he now?”

“He lives in a castle in the great Zessan
Mountains.”

The official said indicating the mountain
range that rose impressively in the distance beyond the city.

“Is he your ruler?”

“No, we are governed by a ruling council,
but he suggests courses of action time to time and we are always
wise to listen. We have never found fault with any of his
suggestions though and have always been quick to act on them.”

I left off questioning the man and sat out
the rest of the ride silent. As we stepped free of the boat we were
the subject of intense and highly speculative study that I found
extremely uncomfortable to be under.

The official clapped his hands sharply and
the crowd dissipated back into the busy activities of the dockyard
market. All of our onlookers, as we made our way into the market,
were male.

Where were the women?

I had never known of a marketplace not
crowded with women before.

Gavin whispered into my ear, “Where are the
women?”

I nodded my head and whispered back, “Gavin
I fear that we have walked into a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, if
you know what I mean.”

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.