youth nodded. "Able-bodied men you'd think would be able to take care of themselves. I've heard of three so far."
"It's news to me. Still, I'll keep my ears open."
A group of Stepsons walked their horses by, not even looking at the assembled watchers.
Though he would never admit it openly, the withdrawal of the Step sons as well as the Rankan 3rd Commando from Sanctuary concerned Hakiem much more than the disappearance of a few common laborers. He wondered how much of what was happening in town Hort was aware of and simply not commenting on and how much he was actually oblivi ous to.
Page 17
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There was a fight brewing. A contest of wills, if not swords, between the town and the Rankan Empire. He did not for a moment believe that it was coincidence that the Stepsons were being pulled out of town just when the tax issue was reaching a head. The question was, would they be back? If the empire tried to enforce its orders by force, would the Step sons be the whip for the empire or the shield for the town? Or would they stay away, maintaining a mercenaries' neutrality, and not return until the matter was resolved ... if they returned at all?
The old man studied faces, but could not find a clue to the future written anywhere: neither a hint of the future in the faces of the merce naries, nor a glimmer of realization of the stakes that were being played for in those of the townsfolk.
CADE
Mark C. Perry
In another time, in another place, he could have been something else. He could have been a hero, or a general, a pnest, or a king But he was born in Sanctuary and that made him a killer.
Cade stood on a low hill looking down on the city. Sanctuary. He turned his head and spat Sanctuary, the capital of hell He had left the city eleven years ago, after killing a man, his first Now he was back, to kill again Somewhere in that cesspit his brother's body lay rotting, all his Page 18
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
bones cracked by some torturer It was that someone whom Cade was going to kill
The wind shifted and the stench of the city assaulted him After the long nde through the clean desert the smell was a physical force, full of wet decay, the smell of man at his worst. Victim and hunter were all the same in Sanctuary The evil of his birthplace was alive, active, infecting everything that came into contact with it.
The sun was going down, dusk slowly covered the decrepitude of the city's ancient buildings, but the shadows could not hide it all, even from this distance. Cade was surprised to see a new wall going up around the town but it hardly helped the view, for surely that wall was not so much to keep enemies out as the inhabitants in. Even a madman would see there was no gain to be had by conquering Sanctuary
Cade smiled to himself at the thought Attack Sanctuary—better to fight for a beggar's bowl He turned to face west. A house or something burned sullenly there, ignored by the inhabitants of Downwind, the worst part of the whole place. Downwind .
And that, he told himself, is a place and a name you promised never to
CADE 15
Page 19
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
have anything to do with again But of course he knew promises meant nothing m hell . .
If Sanctuary could be called the place of his birth, it was Downwind that had created him There he had lived between the age of six and sixteen There he had learned about the world, the real world, the truth behind all the lies that men blind themselves with He had learned about fear, fear in his poor brother's eyes, who had always tried to protect his younger sibling, even though it was Cade who was the real protector He learned of despair, as the money became scarcer and the food rarer, and their mother did anything, anything, so that she could keep her little family together
He
"It's news to me. Still, I'll keep my ears open."
A group of Stepsons walked their horses by, not even looking at the assembled watchers.
Though he would never admit it openly, the withdrawal of the Step sons as well as the Rankan 3rd Commando from Sanctuary concerned Hakiem much more than the disappearance of a few common laborers. He wondered how much of what was happening in town Hort was aware of and simply not commenting on and how much he was actually oblivi ous to.
Page 17
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
There was a fight brewing. A contest of wills, if not swords, between the town and the Rankan Empire. He did not for a moment believe that it was coincidence that the Stepsons were being pulled out of town just when the tax issue was reaching a head. The question was, would they be back? If the empire tried to enforce its orders by force, would the Step sons be the whip for the empire or the shield for the town? Or would they stay away, maintaining a mercenaries' neutrality, and not return until the matter was resolved ... if they returned at all?
The old man studied faces, but could not find a clue to the future written anywhere: neither a hint of the future in the faces of the merce naries, nor a glimmer of realization of the stakes that were being played for in those of the townsfolk.
CADE
Mark C. Perry
In another time, in another place, he could have been something else. He could have been a hero, or a general, a pnest, or a king But he was born in Sanctuary and that made him a killer.
Cade stood on a low hill looking down on the city. Sanctuary. He turned his head and spat Sanctuary, the capital of hell He had left the city eleven years ago, after killing a man, his first Now he was back, to kill again Somewhere in that cesspit his brother's body lay rotting, all his Page 18
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
bones cracked by some torturer It was that someone whom Cade was going to kill
The wind shifted and the stench of the city assaulted him After the long nde through the clean desert the smell was a physical force, full of wet decay, the smell of man at his worst. Victim and hunter were all the same in Sanctuary The evil of his birthplace was alive, active, infecting everything that came into contact with it.
The sun was going down, dusk slowly covered the decrepitude of the city's ancient buildings, but the shadows could not hide it all, even from this distance. Cade was surprised to see a new wall going up around the town but it hardly helped the view, for surely that wall was not so much to keep enemies out as the inhabitants in. Even a madman would see there was no gain to be had by conquering Sanctuary
Cade smiled to himself at the thought Attack Sanctuary—better to fight for a beggar's bowl He turned to face west. A house or something burned sullenly there, ignored by the inhabitants of Downwind, the worst part of the whole place. Downwind .
And that, he told himself, is a place and a name you promised never to
CADE 15
Page 19
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
have anything to do with again But of course he knew promises meant nothing m hell . .
If Sanctuary could be called the place of his birth, it was Downwind that had created him There he had lived between the age of six and sixteen There he had learned about the world, the real world, the truth behind all the lies that men blind themselves with He had learned about fear, fear in his poor brother's eyes, who had always tried to protect his younger sibling, even though it was Cade who was the real protector He learned of despair, as the money became scarcer and the food rarer, and their mother did anything, anything, so that she could keep her little family together
He
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