Reborn: War's Nightmare by D. W. Jackson Page B

first they talked about simple things such as the meal earlier and what had happened over the past weeks. The conversation slowly turned toward the war and the battle they had just made it through. The feeling of the room turned cold and Seia quickly turned the tone of the conversation by asking Tolarea if she wanted a child. From there the room seemed to erupt.
    At first Ash was surprised by the sudden change in direction the conversation had taken, but soon he felt like running. The women happily talked about children and their eyes went from calm to happy, to that of a predator who was looking at their prey. Ash could feel the hunger in their eyes and while he knew they meant no harm to him, he still felt cold sweat forming on his back and he tried to silently move away from the pack of hormone driven women.
    Soon the silent house was filled with the sounds of a fearful man who was quickly devoured by the ravenous women who had him cornered.
    Later that night, Ash tried to move but he found that Tolarea had him in a vice like grip that refused to let him go. Though he still felt some lingering fear about sleeping, he had no energy left to fight the drowsiness that assailed him.

12-11
    The next day went by slowly as Ash and the others waited for news from Fay and the demon army. With nothing to do, Ash spent most of the time talking with Henry while trying to avoid his wives whose eyes still held a deadly glint that threatened to drag him off at a moment’s notice should he let his guard down. It was not that Ash didn’t want to spend time with his wives, but some part of him was fearful of their current over aggressiveness. Ash started to think that war was not a good place for women. Not because they were weak. Anyone who spent time with Tolarea and the others would be clear that they were far from weak, but it seemed that the life and death battles seemed to spark something within them that turned them from cats in to tigers even after the battle was over. With his wives current vigorous mood, Ash’s only haven was making himself busy and with the limited things around, he could only do that by talking to Henry.
    Ash didn’t want to talk about himself too much. He was sure that they would win the battle, but even after that there was bound to be a few months before they could completely subjugate the kingdom. During that period if Henry was able to use his information to make a profit, Ash was not sure that he would not do so.
    Surprisingly Henry didn’t mind Ash’s tight lips about himself and was more than willing to tell Ash many stories about his own life. Henry had grown up in a poor family but had been lucky enough to be apprenticed to a merchant when he was younger. The only problem was that the merchant was a greedy and unscrupulous person. He would take many apprentices who each had to pay a decent some of money along with signing a very detailed contract. The contract stated that their apprenticeship would continue until they were able to pass the merchant guilds, tier two merchant test. To young children and unknowing adults they never thought deeply about this, but in truth it was a very high hurdle. Most apprenticeships ended once someone passed the basic merchant test, even the hardest hearted masters only required their students to take the tier one test. Most people who were able to pass the tier two test often had been in the business for a number of years.
    When Henry was 18 he had passed the tier one test. It was at this time that his master had started sending him on long distance missions with very little profit. It allowed his master to make a small amount of money, but the big thing was the contacts and goodwill his master would receive for the transport of rare or needed goods to isolated places which also had their own rare goods. Instead of being made, Henry took this chance to make his own contacts while at the same time taking every effort to bloody the waters between his master and