CHAPTER 2
"What a great example of a rotten son of a dog...See this, men, look and see! Do exactly the opposite of what this man did and I promise fortune will smile at you back!"
Eyes meet yours: "How many men have you killed, you scabby redskinned cur?!" he looks back at some crowd. "Fifty men! Good citizens of the country of King and God!"
Thoughts form but they can only bubble up inside your mouth.
He sneers "Some drunken stupor! Doesn't even know where he is or what he did!" he looks back again to the crowd "Drag him to the gallows!"
"You will do no such thing!" says a man with a red hood "This is a brother of the Law!"
Who is that man? I remember that voice.
"No! He is the sole survivor of the frontier!" he is brushed aside by the crowd. Who is that man? What is his problem? "You must listen! The frontier! It is done for! You must listen to his words! You must listen!" his voice trails away...
You feel it. A coiling snake, the hangman's noose! The cold, dry fingers of Death!
"Justice! Justice for the lives you have stolen!" says the man, and you hear his voice and it is sharp but still like a grey moor. "Already you have stood trial and Law deemed you guilty!" and you look at his face and you see his hood is brooding; there is no face.
You must do something! Say something!
"R-Rider! Slayer! Wardhar!" you say "They all died!"
"Quiet!"
"No. What is this, what is he saying? Wardhar? You speak of a spirit horse and a slayer?"
"A mage! He-"
"Listen, cur...I will cut you a raw deal...shut your trap here, and I will put in the privilege"
"Shut your trap, executioner! You have no rights here, you only pull the lever. If the man is useful, if he knows things we do not, then he shall not die!"
"What are you saying, cur?"
"Enough! Send him to the arena! This whole thing was a misunderstanding...And you, you must learn to respect the aims of your betters!"