Chapter 1

Two men walked up the dark cobblestone street of Aquintali, a small town of less than five thousand souls on the southwestern shore of Clovia. The town smelled of fish and human waste, the gutters ran full of the remains of both. With the exception of the Mayor's house and a few other government buildings, the town was built with wood. Every 10 or so years, a fire or a storm would sweep the town away and a new town would rise out of the wreckage.

One of the travelers was tall with narrow waist and broad shoulders. He moved with the confident gait of a warrior. His hair was tied in a warrior knot, as black as charcoal. His eyes were a deep, untroubled blue, no worry lines on his forehead. He was dressed in a hip-length leather jacket with no device upon it and carried two swords in sheathes on his hip, which was a common practice in this part of the world. The blade of the sword worn on his right hip, a dinja, was as long as the length of his finger tips to his shoulder, while the blade on his left hip was only about half that size. Both swords were slightly curved. Only the outside curves of the swords and their tips were sharpened, these swords were mainly meant to slice. The warrior moved confidently as his eyes scanned the side streets. He was called Darsonus. Although young, he had the rough hewn dangerous look that fascinated so many women.

His companion was also fit and young, but shorter, and lighter, handsome but not in the same class as the handsome Darsonus. His name was Ree'al. He had a small sarcastic grin on his face, as if amused by a joke only he knew. His movements were deft and sure footed. His warrior knot was red and his eyes a amber when seen in light. He followed Darsonus by half a step and to his left. He carried both the dinja and the smaller, the tanja. He was in tan clothes and sheathes. Like Darsonus, Ree'al's tan clothes were unmarked by a device.

"Where are you taking me tonight?" Darsonus asked.

"No one is forcing you to go anywhere."

"Ree'al, you always have a plan. So far they have worked out well. You know that Captain Alonus would have let us stay on the boat another night, but here we are. So what is the plan?"

"The plan is to make you rich and famous and me rich," Ree'al answered. "No one knows us in this part of the world and it is time to start making a name for you."

"Agreed. How?" Darsonus asked.

"I'm not completely sure of the details but it'll probably involve you killing hundreds of people," Ree'al answered expansively.

"Why will I kill them?"

"Why, for money, of course, Dar. In this case the merchant Varnus will pay us to protect his daughter who will be traveling to Dunmar. Her betrothed, Agravus, another merchant, awaits her there. Most likely her Agravus is too fat, lazy, and busy to make the trip himself, so we'll escort her. You'll kill those who seek to harm her. By the way, she's a virgin and must remain that way."

"She won't be raped while I'm guarding her," Darsonus attested.

"It's not rape I'm concerned about, Dar."

"Oh," Dar said after a pause. "I'll keep my pants buttoned when I'm around her."

"Thank you, Dar. What more can I ask?" Ree'al continued. "We'll meet Varnus at his compound in the morning. He wants to hire the two of us."

"Oh, really? Does he know he wants to hire both of us or does he just want to hire me?" Darsonus smiled.

"It doesn't matter. To hire you he has to hire me," Ree'al flashed a huge grin in reply.

Ree'al then spun around, facing away from his friend and towards the two men who had appeared out of the shadows behind them. "Two behind," he said cheerfully as he dropped his bundle and drew both his swords.

Darsonus already had his swords drawn as he watched two more men step out of the shadows. "Two in front," he said softly.

Ree'al glanced behind at Darsonus and stepped forward, away from him, making more room for both of them. He put on a cheerful smile and spoke to the cutthroats advancing on him. "I keep my money right here in my left pocket," he said as he touched his jacket with the pommel of his tanja. "Where do you keep yours?"

"What?" questioned one of the thieves, a man with few teeth, probably more tattoos than teeth. He was built like a fighter, not a warrior, he was short and wide. A veteran of countless inn and alley fights, Ree'al's words confused him. His companion was taller and thinner, but not brighter.

"Where do you keep your money?" Ree'al spoke slowly. "I told you where I keep my gold, it's common courtesy for you to tell me where you keep yours. That way I can find your coin bag without having to spend much time searching within your stinking, lice-ridden garments. Wait, here's a better idea, let's all take the time to put all our money on the street. That way there'll be no nasty searching involved after my friend kills you."

"Fuck you!" the man said, more to give himself courage than to threaten Ree'al. Ree'al's lack of concern unnerved him but maybe Darsonus' size unnerved him more. When he moved forward it was with caution.

There wasn't a clash of swords when the men reached Ree'al. Ree'al's first blow was not with his sword. He dodged a slashing sword and step in close. Ree'al kneed the short thief on the outside of his thigh, reducing the thief's movements, knocking him down with a pommel to the head. Ree'al dodged a thrust from the second thief. Except for some grunting and cursing, the fight was surprisingly quiet. Ree'al had been taught that when sword strikes sword, eventually one of the weapons break. He didn't want to take the chance that it would be his. When he did block with a sword, it was down near the guard where the steel was thick and the blade not sharpened, most of the time he simply moved his sword or his body out of the way. He did redirect his opponents' strikes and stabs with his swords, but used the back unsharpened side and made sure that his sword was never stressed. Blocking with the sharpened side was reserved for use only in extreme emergencies, and certainly not required for opponents like these.

Ree'al continued to engage the thief in front of him but made no effort to finish him. When Ree'al heard Darsonus finish the second of other two, Ree'al quickly pushed past the two thieves facing him, one just getting on his feet. The thieves were now caught between the two warriors. The short thief's head disappeared and his body collapsed.

"You have to finish the other yourself," said Darsonus a bit putout.

Ree'al's smile faded for the first time that night, then his dinja, the long sword, flicked out almost too fast to see. Ree'al quickly retreated and dropped his guard. The would-be cutthroat gave him a questioning look. Ree'al pointed his dinja towards the man's groin, his smile still missing. The man looked down and saw blood pumping down his leg from the severed femoral artery He collapsed trying hopelessly to staunch the flood of blood. In a short time, he bled out, dead in the alley. Ree'al sheathed his tanja, bending over to wipe his dinja on the man's shirt. He pulled a rag from his pack and finished cleaning the blade.

"Why do you do that?" Darsonus asked after he too had cleaned his blades.

"Do what?" Ree'al answered sadly.

"Why do you make me kill more men than you kill?"

Ree'al's grin began to return to his face. "It wouldn't be right for me to kill more than the best swordsman west of the Mountains. I want you to be well known, then we can make more money. Two for you and two for me is not nearly as good a tale as three for you and one for me. In fact I may lie and say you killed all of them. And, besides, which one of us is covered in blood and which one of us is clean? Do you want to search them?"