A Charge of Valor by Morgan Rice Read Free Book Online Page A

also, as a warrior, knew, better than she, the brutality of certain leaders. He was older and wiser than she, and he felt he let her down.
    Kendrick also felt to blame because all of this, this dire situation, was too much to put on the head of a single person, a newly crowned ruler, a 16-year-old girl. She shouldn’t have had to bear the brunt of it alone. Such a weighty decision would have been hard even on his own head—even on his father’s head. Gwendolyn did the best she could do in the circumstances, and perhaps better than any of them would have. Kendrick had had no ideas for how to deal with Andronicus himself. None of them had.
    Kendrick thought of Andronicus, and his face reddened with anger. He was a leader with no morals, no principles, no humanity. It was clear to Kendrick that if they all surrendered now, they would all meet the same fate: Andronicus would kill or enslave each and every one of them.
    Something had shifted in the air. Kendrick could see it in the eyes of all the men, and he could feel it in himself. Silesians were now no longer intent on just surviving, just defending. Now they wanted vengeance.
    “ SILESIANS!” bellowed a voice.
    The crowd quieted and looked up. In the upper city, at the edge of the Canyon, looking down at them, there stood Andronicus, surrounded by his henchmen.
    “ I give you a choice!” he thundered. “Turn over Gwendolyn, and I will let you live! If not, I will rain down fire on you, starting at sunset, a fire so intense that not one of you will live.”
    He paused, smiling.
    “ It is a very generous offer. Do not ponder it long.”
    With that, Andronicus turned and stormed off.
    The Silesians all gradually turned and looked back at each other.
    Srog stepped forward.
    “ Fellow Silesians!” boomed Srog, to a huge crowd of growing warriors, looking more serious than Kendrick had ever seen him. “Andronicus has attacked our very finest, our most cherished leader. The daughter of our beloved king MacGil, and a great Queen in her own right. He has attacked each and every one of us. He has tried to put a stain on our honor—but he has only stained his own!”
    “ AYE!” screamed the crowd, the men stirring, each grasping the hilts of their swords, fire in their eyes.
    “ Kendrick,” Srog said, turning to him. “What do you propose?”
    Kendrick slowly looked into the eyes of all the men before them.
    “ WE ATTACK!” Kendrick screamed, fire in his veins.
    The crowd screamed back in approval, a thicker and thicker crowd, fearlessness in their eyes. Each and every one of these people, he saw, was ready to fight to the death.
    “ WE DIE LIKE MEN, AND NOT LIKE DOGS!” Kendrick screamed again.
    “ AYE!” screamed back the crowd.
    “ WE WILL FIGHT FOR GWENDOLYN! FOR ALL OF OUR MOTHERS AND SISTERS AND WIVES!”
    “ AYE!”
    “ FOR GWENDOLYN!” Kendrick screamed.
    “ FOR GWENDOLYN!” the crowd screamed back.
    The crowd roared in ecstasy, growing thicker with each passing moment.
    With one final shout, they followed Kendrick and Srog as they led the way up the narrow landing, higher and higher, for Upper Silesia. The time had come to show Andronicus what the Silver was made of.

     

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
     
    Thor stood with Reece, O’Connor, Elden, Conven, Indra and Krohn at the mouth of the river, all of them looking down at Conval’s corpse. The mood in the air was somber. Thor felt it himself, the weight of it on his chest, pulling him down, as he stared down at his Legion brother. Conval. Dead. It did not seem possible. There had been six of them, together, on this journey, for as long as Thor could remember. He had never imagined there would be five. It made him feel his mortality.
    Thor thought of all the times that Conval had been there for him, remembered how he had always been there, every step of his journey, from the first day Thor had joined the Legion. He was like a brother to him. Conval had always stuck up for Thor, had always had a good