A Sword Of Wrath, Book I, K. E. MacLeod [e book reader for pc txt] 📗

"Then ask him why he didn't fight!"

"Yeah!" Another chimed in, "Why is the coward alive? A true man would've fought! He would've died with honor!"

Still another, "He is a true coward!"

Severus walked into his house and laid his brother upon his own bed. The villagers, still in their war coverings and paint, crowded around the gutted doorway, all talking at once. Severus turned and glared at them as he pushed his way through, "Get away from my home!"

The oldest village Elder, Seneca, a man of white hair and frail body who had nevertheless joined them in fighting the rebels, addressed Severus, "Tacitus should face trial. The Cavalli are not men of weakness."

Severus nostrils flared with anger, "I have lost three brothers already, I will not lose another."

The crowd grew agitated and began asking for Severus to be reprimanded as well.

Frustrated with those he had just fought beside not even a fortnight ago, he looked out over the crowd and shouted, "You know me! Who am I?"

The crowd mumbled.

"Who am I?" he demanded at the top of his lungs.

"The Chaos-bringer!" Someone shouted back.

"The Giant Killer!"

"The Sword Bearer!"

"The Defeater of the Rebels!"

"That's right! I have many names as I am the bravest among you. I have shown in battle that I have no fear and have led you in many victories and given you stories that you will pass on for generations to come. If I have no fear of the Giants, no fear of the Rebels and no fear of death, what makes you think I will be afraid of you?" Severus pulled his sword from its sheath and with two hands upon its hilt, lifted the sword high, then plunged it deep into the ground before Seneca.

"From where my sword sits, and everything behind it, is now mine. What once belonged to my brothers is now mine. I take their dwellings and pledge to protect this village as I bear my brother's cowardly mantle upon my own back. But, I swear by the gods, that if any of you cross the land where this sword has marked without being asked, I will thrust it through your hearts." He looked around the crowd, his chest rising and falling as he seethed, his eyes landing on the Elder.

The Elder spoke slow and loud, "I agree with the Sword Bearer. His bravery in our recent battles has proven that the gods are on his side and as long as he aligns with us, we shall honor his request. Tend to your women and children, those of you that still have them. If you have been among those that have lost here today, we will perform the purification ceremony tonight and plead with the gods to allow them into Heaven." The crowd was silent, but unmoving. Seneca shouted, "That is all for now, tend to your flocks!"

When the crowds had dissipated, Seneca spoke to Severus, "To bear your brother's shame will not be easy."

"Yet, it will be so," was the only response the warrior gave as he turned away and went back into his home.

In the many weeks that followed, Severus tended to Tacitus, nursing him back to health and even using his brother's own advice for which remedies to apply when he was able to speak again. But, despite the fact that he loved his remaining brother very much, Severus couldn't deny that there was an underlying resentment that he felt towards Tacitus' cowardice during the attack - though he would never say so aloud, even as he spent the next generation trying to redeem his family's bloodline.

Meanwhile, in the decade and a half that had followed the Cavalli Rebellion, the people of Two-Crows had rebuilt. Only the fewest of trees still bore the scars of the events that had occurred and where the ashes of the dead were once piled, there now stood a Willow tree, whose branches hung low with the sadness of its weeping. Tacitus rode his new horse into the village and while the people had never quite fully accepted him again, he was happy to be back in the place that he called home.

The village was quiet as Tacitus entered, for most of her inhabitants were away honoring their lost ancestors for the Day of Remembrances. In the midst of the silence, he could hear the telltale sound of his brother laboring hard in the distance, working on what he hoped would soon house the village’s own Order of the Sword, an ancient guild that had once thrived eons ago within the Cavalli.

Tacitus tied off the horse in front of his home, which had been rebuilt upon its old site. Like the other buildings in the Two-Crows village, it was a half-barrel shaped wooden structure with a thatched roof that went all the way down to the ground. It was located between two trees and its outside was decorated with various Cavalli symbols meaning good medicine and health.

"Hello, Brother," an unexpected voice spoke as Tacitus tended his horse.

He turned at the musical sound, unable to hide the smile that spread too easily upon his face at the appearance of his very pregnant sister-in-law, Nona.

"Hello, Nona, how are you getting along?"

She held a basket of herbs against her side, her dark red hair piled in a mound of braids atop her head as her green eyes seemed more tired than normal, "The time grows closer." Nona patted her swollen belly, "It's a boy this time."

He laughed, "So sure?"

"Yes," she smiled back, "very. He doesn't fight as hard as Aelia, though." The light in her eyes dulled slightly as she tried to maintain her smile, "I do hope Severus will be pleased."

Tacitus glanced across the grove towards his brother and watched as the other man set stones into the wall that would one day surround a new set of barracks, "He will be pleased, regardless." He looked back at Nona, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. "Well, I-I have a remedy setting up that I need to get back to."

"Did you find any new plants while you were away?"

"No." He smiled again, "I will probably need to venture out into the desert for some new ones one of these days."

Her face paled slightly, "Please don't, Tacitus, there is dark magic there."

"Nona, you know I don't believe-"

"Please," her hand rested on his chest and his heart began to pound at her touch. "I would never recover if you... if something happened to you."

He closed his eyes, "Nona, please don't. I can't."

She pulled her hand away, sadness touching her eyes, "You have your brother's honor. It's the one thing I do love in him." Her eyes drifted towards her husband as he continuously worked, then back to Tacitus. She tried to change the subject, though her smile was still full of sorrow, "I've left a new book of forest vegetation on your table."

"Thank you, Nona. We will speak again." He turned away and left her there, reluctantly, as he walked into his house. Once inside he saw the book she had mentioned, "A History of the Plants of the Aulus Forest" resting on his front room table. He smiled upon seeing it and lifted it up slowly, admiring its simple cover. As he did, a small folded piece of paper slipped out onto the table. He picked it up and opened it, reading to himself, "My heart and soul are yours, always... even if this body is not." Tacitus crumbled the paper up immediately and tossed it into the fire burning in the hearth.

He took a deep breath and cleared his mind, then walked into the back room of his house. He set the book on top of a nearby shelf, which was already overflowing with tomes of various shapes, sizes and origins. A large heavy oaken table rested in the center of the small room with a thick rough-hewn cloth thrown across the top of it, outlining whatever mess lay beneath. On top of the cloth rested several reports from the scouts that his brother had sent out across the land. He took a certain pride in the fact that only the Cavalli knew the secrets of the desert and, according to one of the reports, it looked as if it would be that way for a while, yet. The scout in the Mountains of Selene reported that the N’bari wished to continue their treaty with the Cavalli for another year, while the scout to the west had nothing to report, as there was nothing out in the west except for a few small villages. The scout to the north in Odalia said that the Lycanians still openly declared that the Forest of Aulus was rightfully theirs.

Tacitus nodded to himself as he read. This was what he wanted. He hoped, secretly, that the Lycanians would always claim the Cavalli land, for that way he may one day have the chance to redeem himself.

He threw back the cloth that covered the table and revealed a scaled model of Odalia and the White Palace. He smirked as he leaned over it, shifting a few things to reflect the new info gleaned from one of the scout's more detailed reports.

One day he would lead a rebellion and one day Lycania would fall. Tacitus subconsciously placed a hand over his chest, feeling the scar beneath his shirt. He would redeem himself, one way or another, and make his family's name worthy again.

* * *

Juko had a headache and the constant jostling of the wooden cage-cart in which he was sat in was doing him no favors. It shook loudly next to his ears and had done so for the entire duration of the journey from the Crystal Port on the Eastern Shore. He was also sharing the small space within the cage with nine other men, only two of which were from the land of Noba as he was. The rest seemed an even-handed collection of Golden and Hairy Men.

The walls of Lycania's capital rose up ahead of the horse drawn cart and even Juko had to admit it was an awesome sight to behold. As a N'bari born in the Mountains of Selene, he'd certainly seen his share of breathtaking beauty and now could easily add Odalia to that list.

The driver of the cart pulled the horses to a halt when they arrived at the front gate. As he did, a guard walked over and addressed him, "Slaves again, Leonas?"

"Nope. These boys are gladiators!" he proclaimed proudly, handing his official papers over for inspection.

The guard was pleasantly surprised, "Oh, excellent! So, how does this group look? What do you think their chances are?"

The driver shrugged, "Compared to the last ones?" He shook his head, "Well, none of 'em are as big as the other guys I hauled in before."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they can't fight!"

The driver let out a loud laugh, "Yessir, true enough!"

"Alright, everything looks good here. You can go on through, then." He handed the driver back his papers and rattled the cage as it went by, "See you boys in the arena! Hope you make me lots of money!"

Juko remained silent as he sat in the back of the cage, watching the scene unfold before him as the others good-naturedly laughed along with the guard. He hadn't engaged with the others for the entire trip because, unlike them, he wasn't there of his own free will.

A few weeks previous, word had reached Noba that his brother, Suna, had been arrested on the ridiculous premise of breaking a Lycanian law by having an illicit relationship with a woman from the Empire. Juko's father, the N'bari chieftain of their clan, had sent him in search of Suna. He had hoped to avoid an international incident and so opted to send his son in as a gladiatorial recruit, just as Suna had been. While it was true that Juko had trained by his brother's side growing up, he had never wanted to be a gladiator himself, instead opting for a life of service within