War of the Fathers by Dan Decker Page B

she was already
stalking off again. Cursing, he ran to catch up to her. What was it that Adar
said? Some women took it as their purpose in life to make men work hard for
their affections. Jorad shook his head as he ran after her. This was a matter
of life and death. He needed her to pay attention to him so he could help her
survive the days ahead.

Chapter 7
    Tere spent the day scouting Neberan, which despite its
small size was dusty from all the traffic. The biggest buildings were a
boarding house, an inn, and a one-room schoolhouse. He was surprised at the
number of shops in town, but he assumed that meant most of the farmers in the
surrounding area did their business here.
    At least there was a school. Most towns this far away
from major cities didn’t have one and children were educated only if there was
nothing better for them to do. In contrast, all the towns surrounding Rarbon
had at least one school and several teachers, even those that were small enough
they barely qualified to be called such.
    Tere had made the right decision to leave Tarner and
Lous. The people he passed refused to make eye contact with him and when they
thought he wasn’t looking would stare at his sword. Three armed men would have
been a cause for concern and news of their presence would have spread like
wildfire. As it was, one stranger with a sword would be enough to cause gossip.
    Instead of asking questions right off, he looked
around and told anyone that asked—there were few of those—that he was passing
through on his way to Zecarani and needed supplies. He wasn’t expecting to learn
anything that way but knew people would clam up the moment they felt unsure
about him. However, if a merchant thought that he was interested in buying something;
a casual question could elicit useful information.
    Tere was in the middle of a conversation outside a
leather merchant's shop about a new coat he didn’t need, when he noticed a tall
young man that had a familiar look to him. Tere couldn't quite place what made
the man stick out. Was it his build, sword, light brown hair, or the way he
walked with an arrogant confidence? His fifteen year search had already been a
long enough road that he didn't trust the feeling of familiarity. He'd
experienced the same thing many times in his hunt for Adar and it had always
led to a dead end. Tere's eye began to itch and he did his best to wipe the
dust on his face away from his eyes, but he only succeeded in making both eyes
water.
    The kid must have noticed him because he stared back
at Tere. He was with a woman who looked like she was angry about something. Tere
frowned, he’d seen that same expression on Larae many times and it had never
meant anything good. Poor lad would have a terrible time dealing with her while
she was like this.
    The leather merchant, Timor, noticed Tere looking at
the couple. “That leather coat on Jorad? Best work I’ve done. I could make you
one like that for three juen of silver.”
    Tere’s heart must have stopped, but he managed to
cover his surprise. Jorad had his sword strapped to his back, like a Radim and
it was one of the few swords Tere had seen today in Neberan.
    Jorad wasn’t a common name in Rarbon, but this far
west it wasn’t uncommon at all to find two or three men in a village named
Jorad. In the early days of the search when they would ask for anybody named
Jorad, they’d get half a dozen leads. They hadn’t asked after the name often.
Adar would have stopped using their real names, or so Tere had assumed. Maybe
Adar was slipping.
    The lad seemed surprised to see Tere. Had he
recognized something about Tere or something from Rarbon? Jorad had known Tere
as a small boy, but that was long enough ago that Tere wasn’t worried he'd be
recognized. Tere doubted the boy had recognized anything from Rarbon because
he’d been careful to dress in clothing that didn’t proclaim him to be anything
other than a man with a sword. He'd even covered the hilt of his