Free The Staff of Sakatha by Tom Liberman

lost and was almost killed. My father’s friend, the druid, Tarragonius, intervened and saved him. After that my father and Tarragonius left the others and set out on their own.”
    “Blue dragons are evil, at least that’s the way it is down here in the south,” said Sorus. “I kind of see where the paladin was coming from; I don’t mean to say anything bad about your father,” went on the young brewer one hand spread out as he shrugged his shoulders.
    “My father thought about that, and he and Tarragonius talked about it all the time. My father finally decided that maybe there wasn’t such a thing as good and evil.”
    “Sure there is,” said Sorus. “Look around, there are lots of evil things in the world.”
    “Do they think they’re evil?” said Jon and turned to the boy with a suddenly hard edge to his gray eyes. “Don’t we all do what is in our own best interest?”
    “Well, yeah,” said Sorus. “But sometimes I do things that hurt other people and I know that’s wrong.”
    “Why is it wrong if it’s in your best interest,” said Jon. “At least that’s what my father would say. I don’t really believe everything he says but sometimes it makes a lot of sense. Let’s say you were starving, would killing and eating your horse be a good thing?”
    “Yes,” said Sorus. “Otherwise you’d starve.”
    “But it’s not good for the horse,” said Jon.
    “The horse is just an animal,” replied Sorus.
    “That’s true, but every day you have make decisions about what is good for you and a lot of times that isn’t so good for someone else. For example, Thorius is doing what he thinks is best for him and for the town of Black Dale by trying to get rid of me. I’m doing what I think is best by staying and trying to complete my mission, which one is good and which evil?”
    Sorus shrugged, “Well, I guess it depends on who I’m talking to.”
    “Right,” said Jon. “That’s my father’s point. Anyway, my father decided to take himself out of the equation.”
    “How’s that?” asked Sorus.
    “He decided to stop trying to influence other people and remain neutral in all things,” said Jon.
    “That’s impossible, how can he be the king of Tanelorn if he doesn’t make decisions?” said Sorus.
    “He’s not the king, he’s the Gray Lord,” said Jon. “In Tanelorn people don’t tell other people what to do. People decide what is best for themselves and do it. At first it was just my father, Tarragonius, and a few others but over the years the city grew as other men and women who were tired of fighting, of deciding right and wrong, joined him. Now it’s a city full of people like that.”
    Sorus rode along in silence for a long time, “It doesn’t seem like a very efficient system, I mean how does anyone get a well dug if they can’t tell anyone to dig it?”
    “They dig it themselves and if someone else thinks it is a good idea they join them,” said Jon. “But, you’re right, it’s not very efficient and sometimes things don’t go so well. Do you know what I’m supposed to say when I meet someone who might be tired of deciding good and evil and would be a good candidate to come to Tanelorn and live?”
    “No,” said Sorus and shook his head.
    “Tanelorn has few luxuries to offer other than peace of mind. Some have found that allure enough and perhaps you might be among those so inclined,” said Jon looking intently at the young brewer with gray eyes and a firm jaw.
    Sorus sat in the saddle for a long time and thought as the two young men rode side by side in silence for several hours until the young brewer broke the quiet, “I think your father might be on to something,” he said and Jon nodded silently.
    “What about this mission of yours?” said Sorus. “We’ll be stopping for lunch soon and I’d like to hear about it before we catch up to those two.”
    “My father thinks that relics of the Old Empire are influencing people unduly,” said Jon.
    “The