Hello my loyal readers.  It is good to talk to you once again.  I apologize for my long absence.  My health has been chronically debilitating for some time.  Working on edits for my latest book have been troublesome.  Have faith, however, I shall persevere and have it ready for publishing.  Keep the faith.  Rival Gates    

I was interviewed on the web site visionandverse.blogspot.com
enjoy and download my new book, "Mandrean Revenge" Happy reading.

I feel old.  I am the only person I know who still has a land line.  Mind you, we have cell phones that we use frequently.  As it turns out, the bundle I have with my cable provider makes it cheaper to have a land line then to get rid of it.  I rarely use this phone.  It seems to be basically a telemarketer magnet.  I just deleted 8 telemarketer calls.  I don’t even try to answer the phone when it rings.  It is my opinion that the cable companies purposely make the price prohibitive to discontinue the land line.  They could make it cheaper if they wanted to but they don’t.  Why do these companies want us to have land lines so badly?  Are they selling the phone numbers to telemarketers?  Whatever it is, I seem to be the only person who kept their phone.  Other than coming in handy when my cell phone isn’t working, it’s pretty much a waste.  So here I sit with my land line; feeling alone in the crowd.  Man; I am old.

Anvar brought him some water. “How is she?” he asked.
Linvin took a drink and returned the water skin to his uncle. “I really am not sure. I have seen more than my share of wounds on the battlefield but nothing like this. Her entire back side has been scathed. None of her ribs are out of place but I am certain the breaks are inhibiting her breathing. I will watch her tonight, but if she does not wake by morning, I fear she may never. All of it is my fault.”
“How can you say that?” Anvar asked in shock.
“You were right, Uncle. I could have finished Hugon much quicker. I could have spared her some of this pain and perhaps her life if I had not sought vengeance. Once again I lost sight of the bigger issue and failed.”
Anvar recalled his words on the ride earlier in the day. He observed the agony of his nephew and sought to console the weary warrior. “My words were meant to inspire you to become greater, not to tear you down. Though it sounds like criticism to want you to be greater, you have lost sight of the fact I am acknowledging you are great already. From your account, Hugon did the bulk of his damage before you ever engaged him in battle. Perhaps you could have ended the melee more quickly but I doubt  
Miri’s condition would have been much better. You are not to blame for this situation. I see now my lesson, which was intended to make you aspire to be better, only sewed the seed of guilt in your mind. For that I am sorry and wish I could take back those words.
“You are, however, dwelling on the negative. Had you not gone back for her, to keep your promise, she would most assuredly be dead. Whatever happens from this point forward, you did save her life. You are an honorable man and I am proud to call you my nephew. Only such a man as you would have been chosen for the Red Sapphire.”

Anvar lit his pipe and walked over to the rail.  “Many years ago, Dirk was building his business.  Items of great rarity were of particular interest to the blossoming middle class of Fraylic.  In his travels and dealings, he came into the ownership of the staff I hold before you.  Though quite ordinary in appearance, it had some sort of life within it.  He said the staff was, In fact, a living being!  In some way, it communicated with your father.  It claimed to be part of a puzzle which would lead the one who solved it to find the Red Sapphire.”
“Please tell me you are not referring to the all-powerful magic gem of father’s bedtime stories?” Linvin asked in disbelief.
Anvar was indignant.  “You said you would listen.  Do you want to hear this or not?”  Linvin held out the palm of his hand in a apologetic gesture and inclined his head as he waited for the story to continue.
Anvar stared angrily at his nephew for a moment before drawing on his pipe and picking up his story.  “The staff told Dirk that there were other parts to the puzzle.  More importantly, it told him that the Red Sapphire had chosen whom it wanted to use its power next.  It chose Dirk’s son, Linvin Grithinshield.
“To have the gem would give you unimaginable power.  That power was to be used to fight the spread of the evil that infests our world.  The problem Dirk saw was that you were still a boy.  Any education he could give you would only help you run a business, not safeguard the world.
“You needed to be prepared, trained and hardened.  The best place to train you was in Valia with Sedemihcra.  He alone possessed the volume of wisdom needed to one day handle the power destined for you.
“Jelena could not have been more opposed to the plan.  She had her own aspirations for you, as you know.  Sending you away, to the other side of the continent, seemed ludicrous to her.  In spite of her acute displeasure, your father did what he thought had to be done and sent you away.
“While you were gone, he continued the search for the other parts of the puzzle.  Dirk thought that he could find the Red Sapphire and then send for you to return home.  After several years, he traded for this key.”  Anvar took a gold chain from around his neck.  Dangling at its bottom was a brilliant golden skeleton key.  He handed it to Linvin and continued to speak.
“There was one final piece he said he needed before calling for your return.  During his inquiries about it, Dirk came to suspect that he was not the only party looking for the pieces he had and sought.  The other mysterious bidder was believed to be very powerful and possessed limitless resources.  It became a great concern to your father, but even that concern was not enough to ebb his obsession with his goal.  After many years, he told me that he had found what he sought in Ravensburg.  It was his intention to travel there and return within six months.
“I cautioned him about setting out alone to make the trip.  Your father, however, would not hear of letting anyone in on his plans.  His instructions to me were to guard the key and staff while he was gone and look after your mother.  Should he not return, I would be her only protection.  He left on his journey and was never heard from again.
“When your mother and I determined that he was not coming back, we began to suspect foul play.  There was a break-in at the store in which nothing was taken, but the office was obviously searched.  Besides that, my movements and those of your mother were watched by dark figures in the shadows.  Dirk’s trip looked to have been a trap.  Someone wanted the staff and key.
“Jelena thought I was wrong about my conclusions and decided to bring you home to run the business.  I let her know I had great concerns about doing that.  If Dirk had indeed been killed for the staff and key, the murderer would next target his family.  By bringing you back into the fold, I felt that the wrongdoer would be spurred to action.  The close confines of all the possible targets meant the time would be ripe to strike and find what they sought.  Jelena, as it turned out, was just as stubborn as Dirk.  She forbade me from speaking of the topic with you.  In her mind, the whole foolish quest had died with your father, and if the danger was gone, there was no reason for her son to stay away any longer.
“As you now are aware, the threat was not gone.  Jelena was targeted by someone very professional and slowly given poison in some form.  We only discovered that the illness was inflicted intentionally at the very end.
“Realizing her errors in judgment, she sent for me.  We decided that the killer could not be allowed to gain the staff and key your mother still concealed.  You and I would be their next targets.  The only choice was for me to bring you these items and both of us set out in search of the Red Sapphire.

Some people in this world are just gullible.  I mean no offence.  I happen to be one of them.  Particularly when I was young I fell for every story or trick my brothers could come up with.  I believed my brother who told me Bruce Lee was poisoned because he was too fast to shoot with bullets.  Then there was the time he convinced me to try almond extract straight from the bottle.  He poured it on a tablespoon and I smelled it.  It smelled alright to me so I swallowed it.  That was a rude awakening.  Then I was convinced to run speaker wires through the wall in order to place speakers in my room.  That way I could listen to my brother’s stereo.  Soon the morning came when he placed a speaker on either side of my bed while I was sleeping.  Then he turned off the sound to those speakers until the chorus of the song when Peter Gabriel screamed, “Lord, here comes the flood!” I nearly jumped on the ceiling.  When watching the “Lone Ranger” I noticed he never seemed to run out of silver bullets.  So, I asked where he received them from.  I was told he got them from his “mine.”  What heard was “mind.”  So, I asked my brother how he could get bullets out of his mind?  He told me he stuck his finger in one ear and the bullet came out the other.  That’s why he never ran out of bullets.  When I was grown I worked with an abrupt fellow with what sounded like a New York accent.  We didn’t talk much.  So, I asked another associate what his deal was.  He told me the fellow was in the Witness Relocation Program and that no one knew his whole story.  I believed that for 6 years.  Until I talked with him and he gave me a plausible explanation.  There is a silver lining to all this.  I am now extremely skeptical.  If an email looks at all suspicious, I delete it immediately.  Regular mail scams also go in the garbage.  As a rule, I don’t believe people’s stories.  If I ever won a trip or a car I would never know because I delete those messages.  I am still gullible but I have developed a hard-protective crust.  It’s lonely not trusting people but it beats getting burned.

“Messenger!” Linvin called as he entered the camp.  “Take word to the King.  Send this message.  ‘Engaged Marsh Goblins as anticipated.  Enemy utterly destroyed.  Valian losses light.  Will march to capital within the week.  Borders are safe.’  Sign it, ‘Grithinshield, Commanding General.’  Get that off right away.  There are tens of thousands of frightened people waiting for news.”
Linvin and the others passed many open fires with fresh beef and pork roasting, continuing on to his command tent.  Upon entering the tent and leaving view, they collapsed.  Squires attended each of them.  They removed all their masters’ armor and soiled clothing.  Linvin passed out wine from his private stock to celebrate.
Fardar was attended as well.  He was shocked as the squire disrobed him and washed his body of the vile, pungent goblin blood that had stained his clothes black.  “These will have to be discarded,” the squire told him.  “Goblin blood does not wash out of clothing.”
Fardar observed the others in the room.  Linvin’s arm was being stitched and dressed.  It was a far more severe blow than he had acknowledged.
Sculla had been stabbed in the thigh and sliced on his arm.  He, too, was receiving treatment.
Victolin appeared unharmed and healthy until his armor was removed and he held his ribs.  His right side was deeply bruised and bleeding.
Only Githara looked to have escaped without a scratch.  She looked at Victolin and asked, “Was it an ax that hit you?”
He winced in pain, while lifting his arm to allow a bandage to be applied.  “A heavy mace.  I cut down one of their War Chief’s bodyguards and another struck my exposed side, knocking me off my horse.  Fortunately, one of my men cut him down immediately thereafter.”
“What happened to you, Sculla?” Linvin asked.
“Stupid, really,” he replied.  “When the line was advancing, this pathetic remnant of a swamp dweller reached up and stuck me in the leg with one of those cheap sickle swords.  Made me furious!  So I stomped his head.  Wretched, filthy, disgusting little lizard!”
The squire attending him finished cleaning the wound and prepared to stitch it closed.  “If you had not pulled the sword out by yourself, the wound would not be so large.”
“The blade was getting in my way!” yelled Sculla as he shoved the attendant away.  “This stable boy acts like he was the one who was stabbed.”
“Easy, Stump,” Linvin consoled his friend.  “I think he is just frustrated with your disregard for your body.”
“Well, it’s my body!” Sculla snorted.  “I’m here to fight, not compete in a beauty contest.”
“We’re all glad of that,” Victolin joked.  “You’d make an uglier woman than Githara.”
Githara lashed out quickly at the insult and kicked Victolin on his injured side.  Victolin howled in pain.  “You’re mistaken for a woman far more than I am for a man,” she said.
“Enough, children,” Linvin said, gesturing downward with his hand.  “We do not need another fight today.”  They were in many ways like the siblings he had never known.
Once their wounds had been tended and they were all adorned in scarlet robes, the meeting broke up.  Githara and Victolin left to check their units.  Fardar left to prepare his report.  Entering the tent as they left was a centurion.