A Warrior's Legacy by Guy Stanton III Page A

unbelievable bright light. I threw up a hand to shield my
eyes.
    Had we sailed into heaven?
    Blinking away the glare I lowered my hand
and beheld in astonishment the calm rippling surface of the sea
stretched out before us.
    It was hot except for a gentle breeze.
Incredulously I turned around and beheld the storm that still raged
on several hundred yards behind us.
    How could this be?
    “The storm appears to be of man’s
construction and control!” Said Captain Sargas glancing at the
quietly glowing sword in my hand.
    I turned to Gavin, “The red crystal pommel
stone. Did father tell you anything specific about it?”
    “He said it was a keystone and that it was
fitting that it should be a pommel stone on such a sword. He said
it dated back to Tadias’s time.”
    I nodded and turned back to look at the
storm behind us. Whether knowingly or unknowingly father had given
us the key to survival.
    If such technology that could create such a
hellish deathtrap of a storm still existed what else could there be
waiting for us on Assoria.
    I turned back to Captain Sargas. “Captain
what do you recommend our course of action be?”
    He responded quickly, “I would let the men
rest and repair the ships the rest of the day, since it appears the
storm is stationary. Tonight I should be able to determine how far
off course we are. Rest through the night and we’ll start off on
our quest again in the morning.”
    “Sound advice Captain. See that the other
ships are informed.”
    “Yes Sir.”
    The wind while not overly strong was still
sufficient to help us make considerable speed with our new canvas
sails in place. By Captain Sargas’s estimations we should see
landfall in two days, but it would be the south western side of
Assoria instead of the north eastern side we had originally planned
to land on.
    Hopefully we would all be recovered from our
ordeal with the storm, before we made landfall. Sleep had never
been more welcome than last night and it was hard to fight the urge
to go back to my cabin and get more of it.
    What mysteries would this new land and
people hold for us to discover? I felt an inward tenseness that I
couldn’t shake off at the prospect of what lay ahead.
    We had the good fortune of coming up on an
area of the coast that was occupied. At least I hoped that was good
fortune. The entire population could be cannibalistic for all I
knew. As we drew closer towards land and the city came into view I
couldn’t hold back my admiration of it.
    The architecture was different than any I
had seen before, but it was done well and from what I could see of
the size of the city and the busy seaport we were approaching, it
appeared that these people’s cities could match any of the
Zoarinian port cities in grandeur, perhaps even exceed them. The
people of Berniam had been very busy over the years.
    Our ships drew up at a safe distance from
the shore in a more secluded area of the harbor. We furled our
sales away and dropped our anchors, while still ready to reverse
the process at a moment’s notice, if these people gave us a reason
to flee their port.
    I stood at the railing and watched the
flurry of activity that was taking place on shore at our unexpected
appearance. Both Captain Sargas and Gavin stood beside me.
    “Captain at first we are going to maintain
the façade that this is entirely a trading venture until we test
the waters some. You have my permission to buy any merchandise you
should see fit to purchase, while keeping the true purpose of our
mission a secret for the time being.”
    “Understood Sir. Could I also replenish our
stores of freshwater Sir? The Sanjo and the Vanetia still have
adequate supply, but the Lantia lost most of her provisions in the
storm.”
    “See to it Captain.”
    The Captain left and I looked over at
Gavin.
    “Gavin I want to make this very clear. You
under no circumstances are to open your mouth about anything in
concern to bringing these people to the saving knowledge of