Justified (The Saga of the Nano Templar Book 1)

by Jon Del Arroz

God willed their dominance. The Sekarans relied on their vast numbers and ruthlessness to counter the Elorians’ precise strikes. It was the difference between barbarism and civilization, or so Drin had thought before trudging forward with his compatriots.

Their paces matched each other perfectly as a refined unit. They had equal space between them, packed tightly enough that an enemy wouldn’t slip through their ranks without meeting a light sword’s blade. The Sekarans, by contrast, were disorganized, untrained. While they had superior numbers, they didn’t have the mental faculty or the discipline. The warlords and battlemages used these poor men as pawns in service to them, nothing more.

“You know the rules. The prize of the hunt is always returned to the sheikh. He will get first bid on her before the other nobility can take her. If she is no longer a virgin, she’ll be worthless. Why would you ruin this property?”

The pure disregard the commander had for his own men’s lives was almost more horrific than what they’d been about to do to her. The Sekarans were a cruel and terrible people. And she was going to be a slave to one of them. She curled up on the floor and sobbed until no more tears would come.

He ran hard, as if it were a part of a battle readiness drill or formal workout. He ran from all of his frustration, his anger, his hate for all of the destruction the Templars caused in their holy crusade. Could it be that what they were doing was truly an affront to God rather than something that was right?

Temptation to don his armor filled him, but it wasn’t the time. He had to endure until the moment was right. He didn’t want to tear apart the crowds of civilians, as he had while serving with his Templar unit from the Justicar. The whole point of his journey was to do something different.

She missed the palaces of Deklyn, the comforts of what she had once perceived as her prison. The confines of studies and having to have bodyguards follow her around everywhere when she wanted to go out. It all seemed so tedious then, but what her mother and father had given her was a sense of safety. She didn’t have to worry about living to see the next day, or so she’d thought then. In truth, even those protections hadn’t been enough.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. She’d reacted out of pure emotion, a desire to rescue one of her own still lingering deep inside of her. Despite all of the challenges, that care for one of her own didn’t diminish. She’d never prepared for this sort of thing in her life, but what she did have was smarts, and perhaps some ingrained ability to negotiate and trade. That had to help somehow.

They seemed eager to fight, and more eager to reclaim their prior heritage, something Drin appreciated, reminding him of the childhood tales the nuns told him of prophecies where the Templars would retake Eloria. It was easy to teach a man discipline, or how to use a weapon. The will to fight, one either had it or didn’t. All too often, it made for the difference in battles, even against a superior foe.