A Warrior's Legacy

Book Three

of
The Warrior Kind

Words of Action

Copyright © 2013 by Guy S. Stanton, III.

Published by Guy S. Stanton III at
Smashwords

All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any
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electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses
permitted by copyright law.

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the
author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used
for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living
or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or
locales is completely coincidental.

Book Layout ©2013 BookDesignTemplates.com

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Author Website

A Warrior’s Legacy/ Guy S. Stanton, III. --
1st ed.

ISBN 978-0-9910565-2-1

Dedicated to all the boys who’ve made

the right decisions through the years

and have become men of righteous

action that have made the path of

their families secure in the faith.

―The Map of the Continent of Assoria

It was three o’clock in the morning and the
pleasant dream of walking by the seashore had changed abruptly from
a scene of tranquility to one of a tumultuous tempest.

He was now on the bucking deck of a ship
caught in a gale force wind as it plowed up and down the giant
troughs between the walls of water. Sea spray lashed the deck and
it was impossible to stand unless one held onto something.

The ship felt like it was about to be torn
apart and just when it couldn’t take any more abuse a sudden calm
happened and when he looked down he saw that he had been holding a
Bible all through the storm.

Suddenly everything went oppressively black
and devoid of light. A single candle’s flame punched its way into
the darkness. From its light he could see a woman bent over on her
knees with her face to the floor.

She appeared to be praying and crying, her
body shaking from the force of her emotion. In the castoff glow of
the candle sitting on the floor in front of the woman, darker
shadows in the background seemed to be twirling sinuously closer to
the woman’s bent over form.

He wanted to reach out and warn the woman
somehow, but he was helpless to do so. The menacing presence of the
darker shadows crept closer and encroached on the single flickering
candle flame, with all manner of dark mutterings, growling, and
wicked glee.

The candle’s light flickered once and the
cacophony of dark voices grew louder and more eager. As the candle
light flickered and sputtered, and looked to be on the point of
going out the woman looked up.

She was looking directly at him, as her face
streaming with tears and anguish testified to the fact that she was
without hope. Her features were different than any person he had
ever seen before.

Her shouted plea wrenched his heart as she
screamed, “Please help us!” The candle went out and darkness closed
in on the woman. He heard screams of horror and pain, as she was
consumed by the dark horde gathered all around her!

Her screams echoed out into the darkness so
loudly that he thought his head was going to explode! He couldn’t
take it anymore he just couldn’t and screamed his own wail of pain,
as he clutched at his head and tried to shut out the sound of the
woman’s tormented scream, but he couldn’t!

Gavin almost bolted completely out of his
bed, as he clutched at his head with his hands. The woman’s screams
faded from his consciousness until all he heard was the pleasant
good morning chirps of the summer’s symphony of insects outside his
window.

He dropped his hands away from his head and
tried to regain control of his breathing. He was covered in sweat
and his heart felt like what a deer’s must feel like after having
been chased by wolves for hours.

He sat down heavily on the side of his bed
and wiped the sweat from his face and then held his head in his
hands again. He didn’t know how much more of this he could
take.

This was the fifth time in seven nights that
he’d had this hellish dream and to say that it was beginning to
affect him was to put it mildly.

The dream was so intense and the woman’s
agony so acute that he stayed awake at night for fear of having to
experience the dream over again. The dream, nightmare, vision
whatever you wanted to call it haunted him throughout the day.

He had prayed to the Creator over and over
about it. If it was of the enemy that it would depart from him and
if it was of the Creator that he would be shown the meaning of the
dream. He couldn’t keep this to himself any longer. Maybe father
would know what to do.

Roric looked through his cracked open door
at the last person he would have ever have expected to see pounding
on his door in the early hours of the morning.

Gavin stood there illuminated in the hall
lantern waiting for his father to say something like, “What in the
world are you waking me up right now for?” or something else like
that, but Roric said nothing and just continued to study Gavin.

Roric had noticed how beat Gavin had
appeared all this last week and had wondered what had been up with
his usually indomitable son, who never showed much emotion unless
he was busy in his blacksmithing work or preaching the word of
God.

This early morning visit by his 22-year-old
son must have something to do with what had been stealing his peace
and rest the whole of this past week.

“Give me a moment son okay?” Roric said and
Gavin nodded.

Roric closed the door and Krista asked, “Who
is it?”

“Gavin!” Roric said and saw the answering
surprise on her face.

They both quickly got dressed and Roric
opened the door for his son. Gavin stepped into the room looking
awkward, but determined to be there. Before he could say anything
Krista hugged her big son tightly and he relaxed feeling her love
for him coming through the hug to soothe his tired nerves like a
balm on an open burn.

Krista drew back, “Now how about we all have
a seat and you tell us what’s been bothering you Gavin.”

He nodded his assent and they all took their
seats in a small sitting area that was dimly lit.

“Can we have some more light in here
please?” Gavin asked softly like he didn’t want to be heard saying
it.

Again Krista and Roric shared a look. This
wasn’t at all like the son they knew. Gavin if asked for the right
reason would have walked into a bear’s den and tackled the bear
without a weapon in his hand.

Soon the room was made lighter, but still
somewhat private and subdued. Krista and Roric sat back down and
waited as they stared at their quiet son at a complete loss, as to
what had affected him so.

Gavin began, “I’ve been having a recurrent
dream lately. Actually it seems more of a nightmare rather than
anything else. I’ve had it five times in seven nights and every
time it’s the exact same dream. I’ve prayed about it and asked to
be free of it, but I’ve had no clear answer from the Creator as to
what’s going on and I keep having it. I’m beginning to think the
Creator’s trying to tell me something and that the dream/nightmare
I keep having is some kind of vision for something that pertains to
the future. If it is I hope not! I thought maybe you two could help
me figure it out or something.”

“We’ll try son. Go ahead and start from the
beginning and leave nothing out.” Roric said softly and Gavin
nodded.

Krista drew her legs up under her as her son
began the recital of the nightmare that had haunted him for days.
It was a chilling nightmare for sure, but she was also equally sure
that it had a deeper meaning to it than any nightmare could.

But what?

Looking at her son she analyzed why he’d
been given the vision. That he was to take part in whatever quest
that was to take place she had no doubt. The last half of the dream
and parts of the beginning made a sort of sense to her, but the
setting and connotation of other parts made no sense to her.

They had been sitting in relative silence as
they thought over the dream that could be a vision.

Krista broke the silence. “If you prayed for
this dream to part from you if it was not of God like you say you
did and yet you’re still having it I believe it is safe to assume
that the dream you keep having contains something that the Creator
wants you know or act upon. Beyond that I can’t say anything for
sure. What about you dear?” She asked her husband.

Roric had been studying Gavin closely with
his fingers crossed together in front of his nose.

Roric spoke slowly and measurably, “The ship
you were on, of what manner and nationality was it?”

Gavin spoke as if the meaning of the words
were only just coming into his consciousness, “It was an oceangoing
craft by its build and sails. Nothing like what we have. It was
more similar to what you would see of the Tranquil Islanders or
perhaps the peoples of Kharta. I’ve heard that they have such
ships.”

Roric nodded and continued, “The water you
said was splashing everywhere, did any of it hit you?”

Gavin nodded.

“Was it warm or cold?”

Gavin thought about it for a long moment.
“It wasn’t cold I’m sure of that, but whether the water was warm or
not I’m not sure.”

Roric nodded again that he understood and
then he asked, “The woman you said she was different looking in
some way. How was she different?”

Gavin looked like he was staring at the
image of the woman from his dream and not at his parents, “It’s
hard to judge perspective right, but I would say that she was
smaller overall in build than a typical Valley Lander woman. Like
it was natural for her to be that way. She had jet black hair and
her eyes were also darkish. Again I think those traits were
indicative of the way her people look like in general. Kind of how
the Khartians look different from us, but are still people. Her
skin wasn’t dark brown or black like there’s though, it was more of
a white with a light tan tint to it. Her face was very different,
most notably in her eyes. They were like the eyes of the Tranquil
Islanders, but even more so, more almond shaped. Her clothing was
more like long bright fabric swatches arranged around her than the
tailored dresses women wear here. That’s it I’m afraid.” Gavin said
holding up his hands.

Krista had been studying her son closely,
“Was she pretty?”

Gavin flushed slightly as he nodded yes.

“You speak of her wails of torment as being
unbearable to hear. Were they unbearable to hear physically or did
the pain feel unbearable because she was someone close to you and
you couldn’t bear to hear someone you cared for in pain?”

Gavin thought about it for a moment and then
responded, “Both I think.”

Several silent moments went past and then
Roric spoke, “I think I can help you out son, but I need a couple
of hours. How about coming back for a late breakfast around 10
o’clock? I should have something by then and in the meantime I want
you to try and get some rest. Frankly you look awful.”

After Gavin had left Roric turned back from
the door and saw that Krista was still seated in her chair and of
all things she was smiling.

“May I ask what has you in such a good
mood?” Roric asked curiously.

Personally he was rather disturbed about his
son’s dream, probable dark vision of the future most likely.