Destroyer of Worlds by Larry Correia

Author:Larry Correia [Correia, Larry]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Epic, Historical
ISBN: 9781982124847
Google: 5ghLzQEACAAJ
Amazon: 1982124849
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2020-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Word had spread, even more quickly than Jagdish had expected. By the time they got to his home province, there was a small army guarding his one-wagon caravan. Of course, they weren’t his to command. Not even close. In fact it was obvious the officers didn’t know what to do with him. He was outside of their command structure. On one hand they’d surely gotten word that he’d last been seen riding with a terrible criminal, but on the other hand he had brought them a fortune worth of magic. So they were polite, guarded his demon wagon, and waited for word to come down from their superiors as to what to do with him.

However, each night they made camp, more soldiers had approached Jagdish to hear tales of his adventures. And Jagdish had been happy to tell them. Not just because all Vadal warriors loved to spin a tale, but also because Jagdish knew his best chance for survival was for it to become too politically unpopular for Harta to kill him. Nobody liked executing heroes.

So Jagdish had talked and talked. Only he’d started at the beginning, at that fateful party where he had been among the men who had dueled Ashok Vadal, and he told nothing but the truth. Always with the truth, because an honorable man had no use for liars…And besides, other Vadal warriors had been there. Despite the first caste’s official version of events, and apparently the Capitol had even made a play out of it—performances of which had been banned in Vadal—Jagdish figured the basic truth would have filtered down to the rank and file by now. Yes, Ashok had secretly been born a non-person, but he was still the greatest combatant possibly in the entire history of the world, so there should be no dishonor in losing to such a foe. It had been mighty Angruvadal that had killed the Thakoor he had been sworn to protect, not Ashok. Bidaya had committed suicide as far as he was concerned. That was the risk one took when they tried to pick up an ancestor blade. That might not be a popular opinion with the first caste, but it was what it was, and the warriors all knew it.

Jagdish told them of how as warden he’d sparred against the Black Heart daily, even though his listeners thought him either mad or fearless or both to do so. He had to hold back tears as he talked about the slaughter of his men at Cold Stream, and then control his anger over how he’d been treated by their command afterward. Then he spoke of finding out that one of his prisoners was a tracker of magic, and his decision to free Gutch in order to pursue the Black Heart.

Truth and honor were wonderful things, but Jagdish liked to leave the next part a little fuzzy in the telling, so he’d kind of skipped over the bits where he’d taught a gang of religious fanatic rebels how to be better soldiers.

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