Our nations were not always at odds- records show that in the Tallwater years, we traded in art, medicine, and military goods. However, soon after our expansion to the East and encounters with various other tribes and nations, our military development accelerated. Rotheryn, in the meanwhile, has stagnated- while they still manage to turn out magnificent art and medicines that are renowned throughout our known world, their military relies on outdated strategies and weapons, and their racial class system is rigidly enforced. In short, it’s a country that is ripe for invasion and revolt.
-Excerpt from a lecture given in an elementary school in Taisan
He was dead. Or, at least, he would be if he didn’t manage to get to the next camp. The caravan leader had ordered him to take the unconscious soldier to the camp that was near the village of T’sin. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be an issue. Under these circumstances, Kirn could feel the executioner’s blade upon his neck.
The impetuous soldier had followed a scout’s trail- away from his troops and into a small group of the enemies. It was a miracle that he had managed to live. It was a curse that the enemy soldiers had fled once the others had arrived. Now that line of defense had been exposed. Worse still, Kirn had been put in charge of getting the wounded soldier to safety.
He could feel the cool chill of the breeze across his back, colder where the shirt had been dampened by the blood seeping through the soldier’s bandages.
Kirn had been dismayed by how far he had been asked to take the soldier. The wounds were bad. No matter how good the healers were supposed to be at the T’sin camp, he still wondered whether there wasn’t a closer place the soldier could be treated.
The birds started to chirp as he rode up to the camp, the soldier slumped limply across his back. One of the soldiers on guard halted him and requested the letter of passage that he had received from the captain of the squadron. As it was looked over, Krin shifted the soldier so that he wasn’t so heavy against him and moistened his dry lips. That soldier called over two others as his eyes looked over the letter, and sent them in different directions.
“Take him over there,” he pointed Kirn to the large tent on the far side of the field. “The healers will take care of him.”
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