Omen: 7, 17

  Adam howled with ughter, almost g from his ughter. “Wait! Wait! Stop!” Adam spped his knee, before falling against the wall. “Jurot! Jurot! e here!” Adam cried.

  Jurot, who was standing nearby, stepped closer. Adam spped Jurot’s thigh, before falling down as he tio cry and ugh. His stomach hurt from all the ughter.

  Oliver sighed.

  Eventually, Adam mao get back up on his feet, gasping for air. “Well, well, well.” Adam inhaled deeply, sighing moments after to calm himself. “How the turn tables, turn table.”

  Adam looked past Oliver, towards the other fort, where no doubt they were all l about in their stupidity. “You e to me, on the day of my daughter’s wedding, and you ask me to cast you a tower?” Adam shook his head, tutting noisily at Oliver. “e now, Oliver.”

  “I’m asking you for the sake of morale,” Oliver said. “It’s taken quite the toll on roup.”

  “Morale?” Adam asked. “Morale? Where was this talk of morale when those bastards were stantly starting fights with me? Where was this talk of morale when you kept the food for yourself? Where was this talk of morale when you came to me, yesterday, after my group came to assist yours, about leaving us with the burnt loot?”

  Oliver sucked in a breath through his teeth.

  “Why the hell should I give a shit about those two bastards?” Adam asked.

  “Careful, Adam, one of them is a Priest.”

  “Why the hell should I give a shit about that bastard, and that holy bastard?” Adam corrected.

  Oliver’s head so attention at Adam’s curse, and he reflexively muttered a prayer. “Adam, please.”

  “I won’t ask a third time,” Adam said, almost growling.

  “We are in this together, Adam.”

  “Are we?” Adam raised his brow, staring into Oliver’s eyes. “I suppose I should be the bigger man here, though. Jurot, what do you think?”

  “We are in this together,” Jurot said. “Whatever issues arise, we should deal with them ohe request has been pleted. If they take advantage of us, it is fine. We will know not to deal with them iure.”

  “Wise words from my brother here,” Adam said. “Those two parties too?”

  Jurot remained quiet for a long moment. “I do not like it, but it must be done.”

  Adam sighed. “Since my brother has such a lovely heart, then I suppose I should. However, I’m not making a tower. If they want to bathe, they drag themselves here to bathe, once my group is doh the baths. If I’m feeling nice, I’ll evehe baths for them.”

  Oliver nodded his head. “Thank you, Adam. I hope that you are willing to allow us to bathe every few days, or after a fight.”

  “I hope y a fresh barrel of food,” Adam said. “I’m sure your Priest cast a spell to help you with your food situation.”

  Oliver bowed his head, sighing once more.

  “You guys were so stingy about the supplies and the hides, but I’ll be a nice guy. I’m sure if I don’t, you guys will all say some nasty stuff behind my back about me being a no good leaf ear.” Adam chuckled.

  “Thank you, Adam.”

  Once Oliver left, Adam threw Jurot a look. “You see this shit?”

  “I do, Adam,” Jurot replied. “It only brings us honour, and them, shame.”

  “Half Elves have always bee people,” Lady Shamia said. She was trying to keep the versation from st night out of her head. Seeing the two as close as this after talking about killing one another made her fused beyond belief.

  “Yeah?” Adam asked. “Are there a lot of Half Elves in Hakor?”

  “There are many in Hakor,” Shamia firmed. “Not just Half Elves, but Dwarves, Halfzers, Mermen, and even Drakken.”

  “Damn,” Adam said. “That’s a lot of people.”

  “Our Ejirate is quite diverse, but there are many others with also a great number of peoples. There are Giants in Voodur, and…” Shamia paused to think of their name. “Inasir.”

  “Inasir?” Adam asked.

  “They are people of the elements.”

  “Ah,” Adam said, nodding his head.

  “Our nds are made up of many small Ejirates,” Shamia expined. “Each holds a million or so peoples, in a nd much smaller than Aldnd, but our nds are far more densely poputed with smaller settlements.”

  “The federacy does not have ma Waves,” Jurot expined.

  “Ihough we have a greater threat,” Shamia said, frowning.

  “A greater threat?” Adam asked.

  “The Empire. It is trying to exert its influeo our federacy, through politics, and through might. They have already dealt with three of our seventeen Ejirates.”

  “Oof.” Adam winced. “What’s the Empire like?”

  “The Empire is brutal. Over the st tury they have quered the nearby nds, and have made their way onto our own. They have quered from Okoli to Javiti.”

  Adam looked to Jurot, trying to uand what that meant.

  Jurot furrowed his brows, trying to recall the mental map he had of the nds. The Iyr. South Aldnd. Aswadia. federacy. He tinued. “It is lohan Aldnd is tall. It holds a greater popution, spread out iowns close to one another, unlike Aldnd.”

  “Their soldiers are great,” Shamia said, looking beyond the pair. “Where each Ejirate may have two million people at most, the federacy together could raise a huhousand soldiers. However, it is no match for the Empire. The Empire possesses twenty legioing thly a huhousand, but their soldiers are trained, not armed peasants.”

  Adam winced. “Oh.”

  “They could also, if they wished, raise another one huhousand armed peasants to match.”

  “That sounds terrifying,” Adam said, quickly shutting his mouth. ‘Oops. I probably shouldn’t make her feel worse.’

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t think Aldnd has that many trained soldiers…” Adam said, looking to Jurot.

  Jurot nodded. “The Empire is a distant threat. They must first quer the entire federacy, and then reach Aswadasad. Aswadasad will be a far more brutal quest for them, due to its terrain.” Jurot was certain that the Empire would make fairly light work of the federacy, though.

  “We once were under Aswadia, years ago,” Shamia said. “We fought to free ourselves from its grasp, and it was a bloody, but well fought battle. Now, with the Empire having grown so rapidly, and solidating itself uhe might of the three Kalites, and Lord Usuru’s favour, we shall fight another bloody war.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Adam said.

  “Aswadia will not be quered by the Empire, but we ot hold the same hope,” she said.

  “Why ’t they quer Aswadia?” Adam asked, w if that olite.

  “Aswadia has great terrain, but even without its terrain, it still has something we do not.” Shamia looked to Jurot, who nodded. “There are some Iyrmen who have settled within our nds, but not as many as Aswadia and Aldnd.”

  “That would stop the Empire?”

  “Even if they do not know of the Iyr’s might, which is hard to believe, the Iyr’s grasp extends all across Aldnd, and it’s influence also reached Aswadia. They are protected by the Iyr against fn threats, and if they are not, they could easily make a deal to formally make it so.”

  Adam whistled “Damn. The Iyr is cool.”

  Shamia smiled. “Perhaps I could visit the Iyr and speak with your Chief?”

  “We shall take you, Lady Waterveil,” Jurot said, emphasising her ’s name.

  “Thank you.”

  Jurot nodded. He wondered if the Iyr would assist Hakor and the federacy. “My aor, Jarot, the Liberator, assisted the Devilkin in Aswadia and some portions of the federacy.”

  “Jarot? Do you mean Giahroh?” Shamia asked.

  “That is what they call him in your nd, yes,” Jurot said.

  Shamia’s eyes fluttered rapidly. “You are desded from Giahroh?”

  Jurot smiled, and puffed out his chest. “Yes.”

  Even the female guard beside Shamia let slip an expression of surprise.

  “Even to this day, there are many Devilkin towards the south and the east of the Ejirates, and very little from the north due to Great Giahroh’s influence,” Shamia said, still taken aback by this news.

  “The Gaks were from Aswadia, but the Jyns came from further east, from within the federacy,” Jurot expined, partly for Adam.

  “I should have realised,” Shamia said. “It seems it was Fate we met. You are the desdant of Great Giahroh, who had e with his Iyrmen. He quered the Rukhs, and had liberated the Devilkin from the rule of the Dragons. The nds once held such a rge number ons, but they had been thinned in no small part thanks to Great Giahroh. Even now, we only say we mao liberate ourselves due to his as.”

  ‘Yo!’ Adam thought, his eyes wide. ‘What the hell? Jurot’s aor was such a bad ass!’ “So the Dragons once ruled across the federacy?” Adam asked.

  “Yes. There are many still within the nds. Many slumber for decades auries. Others keep to themselves, and some run their own cults within our nds. However, there are many which work with the federacy’s Ejirates in exge for a portion of our taxes.”

  “Ah, like the Gold Dragon in the capital?” Adam asked, looking to Jurot.

  “Yes,” Jurot said.

  “Is it still the same Gold Dragon?”

  “Yes.”

  “Damn. How many years has it been sihe Bckwater Crisis?”

  “Two thousand,” Jurot said.

  Adam blinked rapidly. “What?” ‘Two thousand years?’

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