Rise of the Retics by T J Lantz Page A

can’t be soldiers.”
    This was something Tyranna was absolutely sure on. It was made very clear at the monastery—war was a man’s job.
    “I must respectfully disagree, Tyranna. First of all, I never said that berserkers were human. In fact, they are a unique product only possible through the mixing human blood with that of an ancient race known as ljósálfar, though you may have heard of them by their more common name—elves. Through this combination, young shape-shifters were sometimes born. The elves, who did not agree with mating outside their own species, would exile their shifter children, leaving them out in the elements to die. The Vikings were far more pragmatic. They saw the value in such strong warriors and praised the gift of a berserker. You, Tyranna, are one of these gifts, and your transformation last night proved it.”
    As much as she hated to admit it, she knew he was absolutely correct. Her memory was hazy at best, but she remembered the feeling.
    “In response to your second statement , women are some of our greatest warriors. They are also scholars, healers, and politicians. In many different cultures of Rosehaven, the genders are equal in all facets of life. With so few retics left, it is the only way for our people to survive and prosper. If you agree to come with me, I can introduce you to some of them.”
    As crazy as the first part of his response sounded, the idea that she could be anything she wanted to be in life greatly intrigued her. Tyranna had spent most of her life being teased by the boys at the monastery for her strength and intelligence. She could always beat most of them in physical skills like swimming, running, and jumping—they hated her for that. School was even worse, and it had gotten to the point where Brother Tychus had been forced to instruct her lessons privately, without the other children around to tease her.
    “Where would we have to go?” she asked softly, still a bit wary of Reginald. 
    “There is a boat, called the Wild Rover, anchored off the coast of Gluesk’s port. It is less than a mile from the harbor. The admiral has orders to bring both of us back to Rosehaven—my home and soon yours as well.” Tyranna noticed that Sir Reginald, or Branchy as she wanted to call him, spoke the name Rosehaven with a fondness in his voice that she had never heard anyone use when describing where they lived. She hoped it was as nice a place for her as he obviously believed it to be.
    “Rosehaven? I don’t know of such a place. Is it far?”
    “I am very happy to hear that knowledge of Rosehaven has never touched your earsthe ent said with a toothy smile. “We take great pride in keeping our city unknown to those who do not reside within its borders. I truly believe you will enjoy living there. It is a wonderful place where all retics who wish for freedom are welcome.”
    Tyranna wrinkled her nose slightly at the word “retics”.
    “Retics? What is a retic?”
    Reginald cleared his voice before he continued.
    “You see, little one, when humans first began to hunt us almost a thousand years ago, those people who wished us dead called us heretics. As they began to wage war against us, many of us, dozens of different species, stood up to their armies and unified against their hatred. We took their insult and adopted it for our own, taking pride in calling ourselves retics as a symbolic act of defiance to their tyranny . The word refers to any creature capable of intelligent thought that is not a human.”
    Reginald stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts. After a few seconds he continued.
    “Over time, human governments and religious groups have tried to erase the knowledge of many different retic cultures from the world. One way they did this was to spread the idea that we were not creatures of this world, but that all of us were monsters that needed to be hunted and destroyed.”
    “I don’t understand. If you’re not evil than why would anyone want to