The Thorian Sagas. 1. The Trader.

Stoker let the moment calm down and then answered a question that had been asked earlier.

“You asked why I turned that pig loose as I did.”

They waited to see what he would say.

“I did it, because in a short time, my trading here with you will have to come to an end."

They did not like to hear that, and would have questioned him as to why, but he didn’t give them chance.

“Also, I needed to see... and you needed to know... what you had achieved in the time since I have been coming here; the progress you’ve made.

“I have taught you enough to put you on a different path than the one that would have faced you almost a year ago. I can teach you little more now. The rest of your training must come from yourselves.

“There are things happening beyond this city that are outside of my control and that will take me from here, so I need to teach you a few other lessons before I leave, and we have too little time.

“There are more bears and other large animals coming down out of the mountains, and I am needed elsewhere.

“Wear those necklaces I first gave you. Never take them off. Each claw I gave you after that initial one, indicates another level of training, and shows who you are, to those who know about these things.”

He must mean, Thorians!

Their necklaces now had ten claws on each of them and they seemed to symbolize something important that he was only now telling them.

“They will earn you respect, and will open any door for you if you ever decide to leave this city.”

He said strange things. They were forbidden to leave the city. The treaty said as much.

“You will also soon need to use what you have learned from me over the last year we trained together.

“There is more talk of rebellion in the other cities… though not here, in this city, or I would have known of it as I traded in your markets.

“That rebellion will be targeted against you; this city of Fenn, as a way of breaking the treaty that binds you all. They know better than to rise up against any Thorian, but they dare rise up against each other.”

They listened, not liking what he was hinting at to them.

He would not be coming to them for much longer, and he was warning them of a rebellion aimed at them?

They had no reason to doubt him. They had grown used to him and had learned to trust him.

“Let us not dwell on that, but upon the present. Tonight, you faced only one pig with small tusks, and I was here. What if there had been ten of them? What if the back of those carts had been filled with your enemies hoping for easy access to your city?”

He looked around them, seeing determination in their faces.

“That is how it can begin. Or they will pour over your walls in the most vulnerable place after scaling your wall with ladders or grappling hooks, and when you least expect it, at night.”

He chuckled. “Though only if they dared enter that wasteland with its many perils.”

It would no longer catch these Fennian warriors off guard, having developed confidence in their own abilities.

“Would Thorians ever attack us?”

“Thorians?” The question seemed to surprise him.

He snorted.

“Thorians do not attack the cities of Women, and you should know that! We… they, protect them. It is the first of the treaty stipulations.

“However, Thorians may approach your gates openly and demand entry; the second of those stipulations. There will be no mistaking that summons.

“If they come, open the gate to them without hesitation, no matter what your council might say about it. Your treaty demands it, though you seem never to have been allowed to see that document.

“Thorians are not your enemies, though they are made to seem that way by rumor. Thorians, are your protectors.”

“How would we know that they were coming?”

He sighed.

“The same way you know when I am coming to your city for an hour or more before I arrived each time. Though you may not have been fully conscious of it. You knew before I even came into sight. I communicated it to you in my thoughts.”

Had he done that? Yes, he had.

They had never consciously considered how they were able to see things they had never seen before, but that, explained a lot of things.

“The Thorians would do the same. They would let you know they were coming. They know about you.”

So did the bears, unfortunately.

“It was the same way you all co-operated to take out that pig without even thinking about it, and the same way you might be able to take on a bear. Though you must never ever think of doing that if one ever came as far as Fenn.

“There is a mental bond that you all share now, even if you didn’t recognize it. It is also a bond that you share with me, though I chose not to speak of it until now, and I have tried to keep you from seeing my innermost thoughts while I could see all of yours.”

They were not so surprised to hear that.

“Your next training with me, would have been to leave the city at night; the most dangerous time, take on whatever attacks you out there, and return before morning, letting no one know that you were outside. But there will not be time for that now. Nonetheless, you are ready for that, and must do that for yourselves to advance your training.”

They knew they were ready.

He had tried to train them for this and to prepare them, but there was nothing that would prepare them for that attack from the other cities, until it happened.

They would not have been so comfortable if they knew what he knew, but at least he had set their feet on a far different course than the one they had been on.

He had lit a fire in all of their bellies and was even then, helping to rewrite their history, possibly saving them from the disaster that threatened to take everything from them.

Insurrections never ended well.

“A word of caution.” He looked around at their faces.

“Never venture out of the city during the day with any of your weapons unless you want to attract attention. That, would alert Thorians, and others, to what you are doing, and would soon bring them to you. It would also be a treaty violation.”

Thorians always seemed to know too much of what was going on.

“All of the protection of the City and your oaths and training will not help you then. You would be treated as tributes of war.”

They did not like that caution. They were deeply disturbed by it when they shouldn’t have been, but he could not explain what he knew. They would have to learn it for themselves.