Sword Masters Read Online Free
something unnatural about him," Justin said lowering his voice still more. "There was something unnatural about Jabon, and there is something just as unnatural about his son—if not more so. They aren't like us, Darian! For the gods' sakes, they cut off their fingers and put them into the hilts of their swords!"
"Give me twenty men as unorthodox with as much skill and as good a heart, and I'll have an army that will grind the Amalites into sand," Darian said. "Let this bunch learn to deal with diversity from Tarius. Let Tarius learn our ways from them. In the end, we will all be the same people. All will have gained from knowing one another. I learned much from Jabon and so did you. I only hope that he learned something from us as well."
Chapter 2
Tarius looked at the book in front of her in panic. She hadn't counted on this, hadn't counted on this at all.
She listened intently as the teacher at the front of the room lectured, and the other students interacted with him. He liked to teach by asking them questions, having them answer, and then telling them whether they were right or wrong. He seemed to especially enjoy it when they were wrong.
"Young Tarius?"
Her head snapped up at the sound of her name. "Tell me, then, what would you do?"
"The grain clearly belongs to the man who grew it and stored it. The man who stole the grain is a thief and should be punished."
"How?"
"I would order him to work for the farmer in the spring until he had done enough work to make up for what he had taken," Tarius said.
All the other students laughed.
Tarius shot a heated look around the room, and slowly the laughter died down.
The teacher, Edmond, obviously a man of books and not of swords looked at them all and smiled, then picked a young man named Burgis. "So, Burgis . . . why are you laughing?"
"The penalty for theft is death; everyone knows that," Burgis said.
"You would kill a man because he was hungry?" Tarius asked, defending her answer.
"He broke the law!" Burgis spat back at Tarius.
"He stole grain, not even that much, obviously he doesn't mean to resell it," Tarius said.
"It wasn't his . . ."
"Which is why I said he should have to work off what he stole," Tarius said.
"You don't understand our laws, foreigner," Burgis said.
"Actually," Edmond said as if shocked, "Tarius is correct. As a Swordmaster of the Jethrik, you will occasionally be asked to patrol, and on these patrols you will sometimes be asked to settle local disputes. For some of the more remote villages you will be their only access to the law, and you must judge these cases carefully. Because of the small amount of grain that was taken, it is obvious that the man does not mean to sell it for a profit. You didn't even bother to ask important questions such as Does the man have a family? If he does, who will provide for them when he is killed? How does it serve the community to kill this man who was only trying to feed his family? The normal course is to make the man work on the village roadways for six weeks, but Tarius's answer is even more just. Let the man work for the person he has stolen from. People's lives will be in your hands; your ethics must be perfect. You must follow the spirt of the law, not follow it to the letter. That is the reason for this class, because out there you will not just be protecting the kingdom, but protecting what the king stands for. If you make a cruel judgment it will reflect on the king and the kingdom, as well as destroying the lives of people whose only crime might be that they are hungry."
The class only lasted for an hour, and then they were dismissed. As the others walked by, Tarius could see that being right in class hadn't helped her popularity any. Not that she cared one bit. The further away they stayed, the less likely they were to learn her secrets.
* * *
Arvon shook the hair from his eyes. Now a full-fledged Swordmaster, he wore his hair as he wished. "That the one?" Arvon asked, although
"Give me twenty men as unorthodox with as much skill and as good a heart, and I'll have an army that will grind the Amalites into sand," Darian said. "Let this bunch learn to deal with diversity from Tarius. Let Tarius learn our ways from them. In the end, we will all be the same people. All will have gained from knowing one another. I learned much from Jabon and so did you. I only hope that he learned something from us as well."
Chapter 2
Tarius looked at the book in front of her in panic. She hadn't counted on this, hadn't counted on this at all.
She listened intently as the teacher at the front of the room lectured, and the other students interacted with him. He liked to teach by asking them questions, having them answer, and then telling them whether they were right or wrong. He seemed to especially enjoy it when they were wrong.
"Young Tarius?"
Her head snapped up at the sound of her name. "Tell me, then, what would you do?"
"The grain clearly belongs to the man who grew it and stored it. The man who stole the grain is a thief and should be punished."
"How?"
"I would order him to work for the farmer in the spring until he had done enough work to make up for what he had taken," Tarius said.
All the other students laughed.
Tarius shot a heated look around the room, and slowly the laughter died down.
The teacher, Edmond, obviously a man of books and not of swords looked at them all and smiled, then picked a young man named Burgis. "So, Burgis . . . why are you laughing?"
"The penalty for theft is death; everyone knows that," Burgis said.
"You would kill a man because he was hungry?" Tarius asked, defending her answer.
"He broke the law!" Burgis spat back at Tarius.
"He stole grain, not even that much, obviously he doesn't mean to resell it," Tarius said.
"It wasn't his . . ."
"Which is why I said he should have to work off what he stole," Tarius said.
"You don't understand our laws, foreigner," Burgis said.
"Actually," Edmond said as if shocked, "Tarius is correct. As a Swordmaster of the Jethrik, you will occasionally be asked to patrol, and on these patrols you will sometimes be asked to settle local disputes. For some of the more remote villages you will be their only access to the law, and you must judge these cases carefully. Because of the small amount of grain that was taken, it is obvious that the man does not mean to sell it for a profit. You didn't even bother to ask important questions such as Does the man have a family? If he does, who will provide for them when he is killed? How does it serve the community to kill this man who was only trying to feed his family? The normal course is to make the man work on the village roadways for six weeks, but Tarius's answer is even more just. Let the man work for the person he has stolen from. People's lives will be in your hands; your ethics must be perfect. You must follow the spirt of the law, not follow it to the letter. That is the reason for this class, because out there you will not just be protecting the kingdom, but protecting what the king stands for. If you make a cruel judgment it will reflect on the king and the kingdom, as well as destroying the lives of people whose only crime might be that they are hungry."
The class only lasted for an hour, and then they were dismissed. As the others walked by, Tarius could see that being right in class hadn't helped her popularity any. Not that she cared one bit. The further away they stayed, the less likely they were to learn her secrets.
* * *
Arvon shook the hair from his eyes. Now a full-fledged Swordmaster, he wore his hair as he wished. "That the one?" Arvon asked, although
Readers choose
Richard North Patterson
Liz Schulte
Diane Michele Crawford
Jackie French
J.L. Beck
C. D. Breadner
John Lawrence Reynolds
Avery Williams
Evelyn Adams