“What if they tell us we must leave? That it is time to go to war?” I asked, feeling my pulse race like the chariots from the Olympic Games. “Then we will obey,” he said, a somber edge to his voice. It was the tone he often used when discussing our futures as soldiers. “We shall fight if they ask it of us… and die if we must.” “Do you believe us to be ready?” He regarded me a moment in silence, and I knew he was considering his words before uttering them. “Our preparation for war began when we were of age seven, Ax. Battle has been our primary focus for as long as I can recall. It is our life
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