The Last of the Sages (Sage Trilogy, Book 1) by Julius St. Clair Read Free Book Online Page B

for even if someone had the dexterity and will to do so, we have archers at the ready at all times, hidden and in waiting.”
    “What else is there to stop the enemy?” James asked in awe. He had never realized how protected the Kingdom of Allay really was. And the graduates had to be the best there was. How could someone guard a post for years without ever breaking cover? Without revealing themselves to a single villager?
    “We have high sounding brass and copper instruments to accompany our first wave into battle. In the beginning of this Kingdom as well as the former, we have had a shortage of men. Sometimes strategy is all we have. We cannot afford to go out into battle as some Kingdoms do, able to lose man for man, only winning simply because we have quantity. It is quality that we possess here, James. This is embodied in our motto: ‘We are not many, but they are few.’”
    “So when they come out of the fog, the instruments are there to make the enemy think there are more than there really are,” James clarified.
    “Yes. It is more of a fear of the unknown that betrays them more than anything else. We use that to our advantage. Every one of the four great Kingdoms have their own strategies to deal with invading enemies.”
    “What are the four Kingdoms? What are their strategies?” he inquired, very intrigued, and feeling ashamed that he hadn’t focused in school. Of course, teachers didn’t threaten to slap you for not paying attention there.
    “That is for another time, James. As it is, there is little time to tell you of this one.”
    “Fine,” he sighed. “But I do have one more question. Why does the only gateway to the south side lead first into an empty courtyard? There are no weapons on the pillars, or places an archer can shoot an arrow from except for the balcony I noticed above us. There’s no incline or low ground to give us one advantage or another. It’s all just flat ground under an open sky. There isn’t even a soldier on guard here.”
    “Not to mention the lack of space,” Arimus continued. “There is barely enough room to line up fifty men from one end to the other, let alone hundreds or thousands. Our infantry would be quite cramped and actually at quite the disadvantage.”
    “Exactly.”
    “James, do you know what the Sentinel Academy produces?”
    “The Academy is kind of like the recruitment center for an army. This is where our infantry receive their training before going out into the world.”
    “Very good. I see you have paid at least a tolerable amount of attention.”
    “I have my moments.”
    “James, the Sentinel Academy produces some of the finest men on the face of the planet. But where it truly shines is not through our infantry. You see, out of every one million students that step through our walls, a Sage emerges.”
    “A Sage?”
    “A Sage is usually defined as someone who is very wise, but there is more to it than that. When one becomes a Sage, they gain knowledge so profound, most faint at its very whisper. They acquire power that can rip an entire army in half with techniques and skills forbidden to and hidden from the common man. A paradoxical creature that is both mighty and servile. Fearless yet kind. These few become the strong arm of our Kingdom. They are actually the sole reason the Kingdom of Allay still exists today. If you could only see the brutal yet elegant swing of a Sage’s sword as he battles hundreds of men pouring in ten by ten through this very courtyard…you would believe your own eyes were lying to you. A Sage could not do his or her job surrounded by thousands of liabilities. That is why this courtyard was made for the Sage and the Sage alone. There is hardly a watchman at this entrance, yet it is arguably the most guarded in the entire Kingdom.”
    James stared at the courtyard with newfound awe and respect. He had read of such men in the few books he had managed to read, but he never would have thought they actually existed.