The Mountains Rise by Michael G. Manning

Author:Michael G. Manning [Manning, Michael G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy
Publisher: Gwalchmai Press
Published: 2014-06-27T05:00:00+00:00

***

Months passed and Daniel’s life settled into its new pattern. In the arena he never faced fewer than three at a time now, and he was already looking ahead trying to figure out how he would handle four when they eventually decided that three was no longer a challenge.

He was already aware that most of the human mages of Ellentrea were much weaker than he was, in terms of overall strength. Left alone, he could kill any number of them, if he was given the opportunity to turn the interior of the arena into a windstorm. The problem lay in defending himself long enough to do so. With two he could afford to ignore them if he drew a circle. Three was enough to threaten him though, if he didn’t keep a significant portion of his strength engaged in his defense. Four—that might be the breaking point for him.

Garlin and his new friend, Layla, failed to keep their secret very well. With each passing month, more wardens showed up to hear Daniel’s music. The numbers of his visitors swelled, and by the time a year had passed, it got to the point that Daniel was forced to stand outside and play for a crowd of wardens every evening.

Many of them offered him ‘favors’ for a private song, but Daniel rejected their advances. He had long since learned that since the people of Ellentrea had no possessions or other means of barter, they used sex almost as a currency.

Those with some small amount of power, such as the wardens, frequently abused the unnamed servants, people like Amarah, forcing them to provide favors for nothing. They bartered only with other wardens, or people like Daniel, who were considered too dangerous to try and compel by threat. The unnamed, likewise bartered amongst themselves and sometimes with those who had been chosen to fight in the arenas.

It was a system in which the only occasion for equal exchange was when people of similar power were involved, and those at every level took advantage of those who were beneath them in the hierarchy.

The more Daniel learned, the more disillusioned he became, and despite receiving many offers, he refused them all, except for Amarah’s. He still had his weaknesses, and though she refused to admit to any feeling, he pretended that deep down she cared for him somehow. The people of Ellentrea were brutally honest, but Daniel needed the lies he told himself to keep from going insane. The self-deception of his relationship with Amarah was all that held him together.

At night his dreams continued to bother him, though less frequently now. He had been a slave to the She’Har for over four years, and his life before seemed more distant than ever. Still he would wake sometimes, alone in the dark, weeping as a vision of green eyes faded in his mind.

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