The Eight Walls of Rogar: An Epic Fantasy Adventure Series! (The Lost Kingdoms of Laotswend Trilogy--Book One) Read Free Page A

already supple leather waterproof and virtually impossible to tear, not unlike the skin of an eel.
    Andaris’ father had been lucky enough to hook one of the spike-tailed creatures off the west shore of Lake Shelladock.  The hollarcan had put up a valiant struggle, but in the end had proved no match for his father who, like Blakeland, was a bull of a man, strong and steadfast, not one to allow a mere fish to get the better of him—even if it did weigh close to a hundred pounds.
    After catching the hollarcan, his father had spent the next few days at his forge, hammer ringing against the anvil late into the night.  On the dawn of the fourth day, he had emerged, holding in his hands a sleeveless shirt of armor, the pale-green scales of which he had pounded flat and painstakingly linked together.  “It’s as strong as steel, yet much lighter,” his father had said when he’d handed it to him.
    For as long as Andaris could remember that’s how things had been between them, his father always doing more for him than his brothers, trying to make up for what he perceived as shortcomings in his son—Andaris’ small build and introverted manner, his lack of skill in fighting and hunting.  It was difficult for a strapping man of the earth like his father, a man of sweat and toil and straightforward thoughts, to understand.
    Andaris knew he meant well, knew that he did what he did out of love.  He just wished his limitations weren’t so glaring as to require preferential treatment.  He felt the gift was too good for him, as out of place on him as a sword on his hip, or even a crown on his head.  Perhaps on his journey he would prove to himself, to his father and to everyone, that he was good enough to wear it.
    According to the Shallae, an ancient tome containing the town’s oldest written records, Andaris’ ancestors had once relied on armor and weaponry for their very survival.  After making their way across the endless expanses, fending off famine and foe, they had finally come to rest in what they had later named the Valley of Plenty.
    Aptly named, the valley seemed curiously set apart from the rest of the world, a land where the animal and plant life were as unique as the climate.  Between the mild winters, long fertile summers, and absence of invaders, they had discovered a veritable paradise.
    As the centuries came and went, their tumultuous beginnings were largely forgotten.  Things like the scale mail shirt that Andaris wore had become scant more than decorative reminders of a distant past.  Only a few, like his father, had had the knowledge of how to make such things passed down to them.
    The truth was, most of what they had once been was now lost.  Even the Shallae, with over half its crumbling yellow pages either missing or damaged beyond recognition, was incomplete.  The history keepers still retained a handful of remnants from that period, corroded pieces of armor and heavy, unwieldy blades.  But these artifacts, sacred as they were, did little to complete the puzzle of their past.
    The names and descriptions of the places from which his ancestors hailed had long been clouded in mystery, covered over by the shifting sands of time until the lands beyond the valley had become as shapeless as a dream.  The few references the book made to actual towns read like fantasy, speaking of magical creatures and fantastic locales that stretched belief.
     
    * * *
     
    Andaris opened his eyes and sat up, feeling refreshed and ready to be on his way.  Hoping to make some more notable progress before dark, he spent the remainder of the afternoon walking.  A couple of hours before sundown, he reached the foothills.
    The forest had thinned considerably, and now, rising before him, he could see the full grandeur of the Tertanian range.  Breathtaking, he thought.  He’d had a glimpse here and there along the way, but to see it all at once, so close up and complete, was almost overwhelming.  Had his beliefs been