A Land Of Fire (Book 12) by Morgan Rice Page B

swelling with joy to see all his
old friends and people again. There came Reece, then Elden, O’Connor, Conven, Kendrick,
Godfrey…one face after another whom he recognized, all men whom he thought he
would never see again.
    “My time is short here,” Thor boomed out
to the crowd, as they settled down in silence. All eyes fixed on him, riveted. “I
must leave you all. I go to seek out my son. I shall take one of the small
boats from the rear of the ship. It will be a desolate and joyless journey, and
I do not expect any of you to join me. I shall return when I find him, and not
before.”
    In the long silence that followed, Reece
stepped forward, his boots creaking on the wood, and faced Thor.
    “Wherever you go, I go,” Reece said. “Legion
forever.”
    Reece was joined by Elden, O’Connor, and
Conven.
    “Legion forever,” they echoed.
    Thor looked back at them all, touched,
honored to know them.
    “It is a quest from which I may never
return,” he warned.
    Reece grinned back.
    “Even more reason to join it,” he said.
    Thor smiled back, seeing the determination
on their faces, knowing he would not change their minds, and welcoming their
companionship again.
    “Very well then,” he said. “Prepare yourselves.
We shall leave at once.”
    *
    Reece paced back and forth on the ship,
gathering his few possessions, mostly weapons, and stuffed them into a sack, preparing
for the journey ahead. He was elated that his best friend Thorgrin was alive,
was thrilled to have him back again, and was excited to be heading out on a
quest with him again. This quest, more than all the others, hit home for Reece,
as they were not just searching for a weapon, but for Guwayne, his nephew. Reece
could think of no two people he loved more than Gwendolyn and Thorgrin, and he
could imagine no higher cause than striving to retrieve their son.
    Reece prepared his weapons carefully,
sharpening his sword, checking the aim on his bow, adjusting his arrows as he
strapped one bow over his shoulder and another sword over his back. Reece felt that
this would be the most important mission of his life, and he wanted to be
prepared.
    Reece tried not to think of the others he
was leaving behind—Gwendolyn, Kendrick and the rest of his people, and most of
all Stara; yet he felt confident he would meet up with them again, and more importantly,
return victorious, with Guwayne in tow.
    After all, Reece and Thorgrin were brothers
of the Legion, and for Reece, that was more sacred than blood—more sacred than
anything in this world. They held a bond of honor: if one of them was in
trouble, all of them were in trouble. If Gwendolyn’s son was missing, it was as
if Reece’s own son was missing. Reece recalled Kolk’s words, hammered into him
during training: Don’t ever imagine that you fight alone. When one of you is
hurt, all of you are hurt. If you can’t learn to be there for your brothers,
you shall never learn to become a warrior at all. Battle is about sacrifice.
The sooner you learn that, the greater warrior you will be.
    Reece regretted only one thing about
this quest, and that was Stara. Although he would not admit to himself that he
had feelings for her, he had to admit, at least, that he would think of her.
There was something about being around her, he had to admit, that was addicting.
It wasn’t so much that he ached to be in her presence, but rather that, when
she wasn’t around, he felt her absence. Like something about him was a little
bit off.
    But Reece shook these thoughts away; in
the forefront of his mind there still remained Selese, his mourning for her,
his penitence. And sailing with Thorgrin, going on this journey, would help give
Reece time to reflect, to keep fresh his guilt for Selese. That was what he
wanted.
    And yet, he had to admit, there remained
a part of him that felt he was abandoning Stara, even if she were here on the
ship with all the others.
    “So are you just going to leave then?” came
a voice.
    The