The Blade Within by Jackson Lear

Author:Jackson Lear [Lear, Jackson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B07JYMM1ZB
Published: 2018-11-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Four families have a bedrock in the area. The governor has a villa that he rarely attends. Senator Korix was born here and has been trying to erase that fact ever since. General Renair has a base in Solento, the largest city in Syuss. His troops are busy building roads to connect each of the cities in the province. Then there’s General Kasera, whose family apparently made their fortune by bringing silks and spices in from Kardel back when the empire had a blockade on each of their ports. Kasera had little more than a family compound and a couple of hundred troops with him at any one time. Yet for someone who should’ve been in Ispar right now, under penalty of death for not swearing allegiance to the emperor upon his coronation, he had come with only eight soldiers and one woman who was dressed a lot like me.

“My Protector,” gasped Castor, stopping at the door. “You came?”

Kasera dismounted. “My Captain. Have you found her?” He was a striking man, I admit. Shorter than I had expected but muscular. Years of practice in archery and swordplay had shaped him well. Even so it didn’t seem like he was a senator. Most generals become one, but not all. I’ve heard it is an archaic system even today, one that began as a means to quell the military and curb the power of their ever expanding armies. Once a general has a decent title and a position in Ispar, his ego needs to be kept in check by the emperor, usually through frequent assassinations. This tends to infuriate the senators who earned the title through diplomacy rather than the ones who were given it for killing their foes. It means both sides tend to drink and dine to excess. A senator without a gut can be viewed with suspicion; here be a man who refuses to sit down and listen to a delicate discussion. A general without a gut is still ready to fight to the death.

Luqa Kasera had been a general and a protector of Syuss for three years now. His father may have owned an estate nearby but Kasera junior wasn’t given any land of his own by the empire. A home posting is often seen as an insult. Add to that the slight of not being made a senator and perhaps it was no coincidence that he was here instead of Ispar.

Kasera shook Castor’s hand warmly, though it seemed like they barely knew each other. “What happened?”

“Someone took Myalla. This morning.”

So, I finally had a name for the girl.

“He lifted her away as she slept, shouting, ‘tonight she dies!’ as he left. He climbed onto the roof and ran off with her.”

Kasera looked across the orphanage walls. “He brought her here?”

“No, My Protector. Another girl was kidnapped from here. Two nights ago. Both times the kidnapper left a note.” He padded himself down, finding the sheet of paper, and handed it across. “I don’t know what to make of it.

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