“Is honor so cheap a sentiment that you’re willing to squander it all for a position of power and influence? You are, by this one act of treason, wiping out the efforts of all your ancestors before you to be free. The noble ideals that they’ve fought and died for, for countless generations before you, all gone now because of you! Just so you can have a bigger piece of a pie that in reality doesn’t even exist!” I looked him over contemptuously, wishing for a weapon so that I might slit his traitorous throat.

One guard leaned over in the saddle and backhanded me across the face. It hurt, but I smiled back at him in return. He made as if to do it again, but the traitor motioned him to stop. “Jasper, if you live much longer, which I doubt, you will find out that honor has very little to do with helping one get through life comfortably and besides what would you, an escaped arena rat, know of honor in the first place?”

The soldiers around us laughed as if it was a good joke, but I gave no response, which seemed to anger Lent a little because he pulled his mount around abruptly and rode to the head of the column.

*****

They took us to Cassis. It was odd, and yet highly ironic, how the beginning of all the calamity that had befallen me in my life should be where I found myself in the end.

I hated this city. I had come here as a boy, marveling, but as a man I cursed it with my eyes. Gradually the opulence of the city encroached around us as we entered deeper into it. Buildings reached for the sky boldly, trying to make up for the flatness of the plain on which they were built, even as garishly colored silks flapped in the breeze coming from the sea.

They took us to the citadel located in the middle of the city. The citadel was built more for the appearance of force rather than any strategic initiative. It was in no position to defend the city should it be attacked. But then, the Zoarinians were confident that was an option beyond the realm of possibilities, as who could face their superior numbers on the field of battle and win?

The streets were thronged with the denizens of the city, who were just as colorful in attire and appearance as their city. Rich colors and a plethora of wares for sale were to be seen on display all around us. One got the feeling that anything, and everything, could be bought in this city if the price was right. I knew full well the dark hidden secrets that lay around each street corner and in the people themselves. Seeing all this again brought back the buried memories of my years spent in the arena dungeons. The memories forced their way into my consciousness and made me long for un-consciousness or a diversion of some kind so that I could push away the dark thoughts swirling in my mind.

We were led, chained, into the governor’s judgment hall. Rich gilded tapestries hung from the high walls around us. The ceiling of the hall was vaulted along its entire length in a display of powerful craftsmanship. Ornate chandeliers hung down from the center beam of the roof and illuminated the hall brightly, for there were no windows to shed their natural light on the scene. There was an elevated dais at the far end of the hall located under the ceremonial banner of the city of Cassis. Court guards were lined along the walls and we passed through them on our way to the upraised dais and the figure that sat there.

Reaching the dais, we were forced to kneel at the base of the steps leading up to it. Iraca, the governor of Cassis, spoke in a smug tone of voice, “Well done, Lent! You shall be richly rewarded for your invaluable services. You may go now to collect them.” He waived Lent off with one hand.

“Thank you, sire!” Lent said as he fairly bounded to his feet and turned to exit the room, only to be met with a sword that sliced through his middle. Half turning back to the governor, which tore the imbedded sword from the executioner’s hand, he stared disbelievingly up at Iraca. As the fear of death clouded into his face, he croaked out, “You promised me a reward! You promised!” He sank to the floor, as his disbelieving eyes remained focused on the governor.

The governor sneered down at Lent, “I’ve given you the only reward that every Valley Lander can expect at the hands of the Zoarinian Empire, which is death! Get him out of here! He’s staining my rugs!”

The governor returned his attention to us as Lent’s body was dragged away. “And now, let us get down to business. It took some doing Jasper, but I have to congratulate you for delivering the boy safely into our hands.” The governor chuckled. Puzzled, I looked over at Larc, who looked back at me blankly and shrugged. “You didn’t think we knew about the boy’s father spying on us and the supposedly valid intelligence that he had gathered on our battle plans for our conquest of the north, did you?” the governor asked. Laughing he continued, “We fed him that information. It’s all quite useless you see, with just enough truth added in to keep it believable. Everything you’ve done and risked for this boy has been for nothing!” The governor was clearly delighted with himself.

“I don’t understand! Why is the boy important? He’s just a harmless boy! Let him go! He’s done nothing wrong!” I spoke angrily, shaking the chains binding my hands in front of me.

“My dear boy, you don’t understand the rat’s nest that you’ve become involved in, do you! The boy is more important than you know and far more important than just a common brigand such as yourself!”

I looked at Larc, not understanding, and then back to the governor as he began to elaborate.

“We would have preferred his mother, but alas, she slipped through our fingers years ago.”

“My mother is dead!” Larc said defensively, speaking up for the first time.

“No, she’s quite alive and well actually. She is a member of the Valley Lander high council. In charge of their security sector, such as it is,” mused the governor.

“We suspected that the boy was still in Kharta, but we lacked knowledge as to where he might be. The boy’s father had outlived his usefulness, and the decision had been made to terminate him, when we received word through our sources of the intended rescue of the boy and his father. The father may have outlived his usefulness, but the boy, however, is still quite useful to us. Through him we will manipulate his dear mother to allow our agents access to strategic points of interest, which will aid us in our invasion of the Valley Lands. What do you think will best get the picture of the new state of affairs across to his mother, a finger or a whole hand?”

I lunged for him, gaining several steps up the dais, before I was jerked back to the bottom by the guards behind me.

The governor got up with some effort, “Jasper, you too have outlived your usefulness. The only reason that I don’t end your miserable, misbegotten life now is that your demise has been requested by other important parties in a much more exciting manner, so I am led to understand. Take him to the high priestess! She has requested an evening’s time with the famous outlaw before he meets his demise in the arena tomorrow. No doubt this evening’s entertainment will make the pain of what you will be losing tomorrow all the more acutely felt!” The governor burst out laughing.

His laughter was soon followed by the echoing chorus of the guards and courtiers up and down the hall.

I was led back out of the citadel and into the city. Larc had been drug off into the inner depths of the citadel, kicking and screaming. Hot anger coursed through me, but I kept it from showing and passively followed wherever my captors led me, biding my time until a chance to escape presented itself.

About an hour later I found myself climbing the stairs of the temple of pleasures, as they were often called throughout the Zoarinian Empire and neighboring lands. My steps, the steps of an unwilling man, were far different than those of the eager steps of the frequent visitors of this place. The sounds of drunken revelry spilled out of the temple balconies and polluted the evening air. I had no desire to see any of it. In short, these temples of pleasure were an abomination.

They were populated with the fair youth of the empire. It was considered a great honor throughout the land of the Zoarinians to be selected as a temple girl or boy. The position brought wealth to their families, who, all too willingly, sold them to the temple magistrates. The boys and girls were raised to attend to the carnal and ceremonial needs of the temple consortium and its body of believers.

A believer was anyone who could pay enough to the temple magistrates to buy their way in the door to enjoy the forbidden pleasures that lay within. The temples were viewed with favor by almost all Zoarinians, as they brought entertainment and diversion from the stresses of everyday life to the general populace and wealth to those in positions of power.

It was the desire of almost every Zoarinian to see and participate in what lay beyond the gilded doors at least once in their lives. Those who had visited once felt an even greater desire to return and waste their lives laboring to fund the continued pursuit of the ultimate in self gratification. The depravity didn’t stop there, however.

The children, who resulted from the frequent liaisons of the temple priestesses, were sacrificed to the gods of the Zoarinian Empire upon birth. It was believed that these acts of innocent human sacrifice, in homage to the gods of the land, renewed the land by keeping it fertile and the people healthy. It was a custom that was observed by many outside the temple grounds and throughout the Zoarinian Empire. To their way of thinking, more sacrifices could only be a good thing if it brought continued prosperity; not to mention freeing the parents from the need of caring for unwanted offspring.