Legends of Eastgate by Jesse Teller

Author:Jesse Teller [Teller, Jesse]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-14T22:00:00+00:00

*******

Two days and dusk hit the camp like a weary soldier. It seemed to stagger to them and drop over the land, the wind gasping and panting in exhaustion. Tarako sat the ground outside his tent, his sword resting on his knees, his hands folded on the blade. He could smell the smoke of his hookah beside him but he had not taken a draw in a long time. The tobacco smelled of Cilina and the weed grown off the coast. This was not that. This was a lesser leaf. Tarako felt the pang in his chest for home. It had been two years since he had seen his homeland and he knew now that he never would again. His nation, his countrymen, hated him, and for good reason.

He had a thousand things he would have done differently if given another chance. The speeches he made and the alliances he built were a mark on him now. He opened his eyes, looked at the half bloods around him, and shook his head. This was a type of man he would have vied against two years ago. His message would have been slaughter or slavery. Tarako closed his eyes again and fought to find peace within himself.

After a few hours he had seen his misstep. There was no peace coming for men like Tarako.

He felt his nemesis before he saw him. Felt Jordai’s approach as real as if the man had hit him. Tarako felt the ground tremble as Stonefist walked it, felt the wind cut the air after it passed Jordai’s face. Tarako smelled him before the scent got to him. He saw him in his mind long before the man appeared. He heard the men dragging a body and Tarako opened his eyes to see Jordai Stonefist slung between two warriors that struggled under his weight.

Another soldier carried the sword out away from his body at arm’s length, as if afraid the blade itself would strike him dead if he let it get too close. After fighting the war for the last few years against this man and his kin, it was obvious to Tarako why the soldier thought this.

Jordai was tossed to the ground across from the fire on his hands and knees. He looked up at Tarako, his face a ruin of dark emotion. The man looked haunted, stricken with some wasting loss. In body, nothing had changed. He still possessed the hardest jaw Tarako had ever seen. The hair, blond and full, was lank and oily. The hands gripped the hard-packed dirt and dug up grooves as the fingers curled. Jordai looked up and Tarako knew he was broken. He felt cold but satisfied.

“Fight me,” Jordai said. “Give me my sword and fight me to the death.”

Tarako simply shook his head.

“Give me any sword and fight me.”

Tarako closed his eyes and shook his head again. “I see no reason to do that.”

“I killed your friend,” Jordai said. “I grant you the right to seek vengeance for that.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.