Free The Tale of Onora: The Boy and the Peddler of Death by Dylan Saccoccio Page A

realms. It protected The Trivium from ever falling into the hands of a mortal again. Most importantly, to the Shadekin, it guarded the secret to their power. From then on, the Royal Family only existed as the Shadekin allowed it to, serving the needs of its masters. In Caliphweald, collectivism was a tool that the Royal Family used to make its citizens deaf, dumb, and blind. They performed a useful duty to the Shadekin by unjustly amassing wealth and power, a scheme that did not sit well with Lugh.
    He was a man of principle and logic. He lamented the approaching Oussaneans. He recognized that there was little difference between Rotm örder and him. The Oussaneans had no real freedom, wealth, or power, because they renounced it by remaining in Lunaega. They believed they gave each other freedom, wealth, and power by remaining in their collectivist guild of thieves. Lugh wondered how they could be so unaware that everything went to Rotm örder and served his benefit alone. Lugh empathized with the Oussaneans, for he understood that were he not Shadekin, he too would be stuck in a system in which people attempted to give each other that which they do not possess.
    It produced a sorrowful nostalgia to behold the magic trick that Rotm örder played upon his people. He molded their collectivist minds like dough to fit the shape of his needs. It was a spell that was perhaps as old as time itself.
    Lugh observed the sea of soldiers on both sides. It was the greatest conflict he had ever witnessed. He realized how truly insignificant and powerless he was as an individual in this environment. His mind unearthed a truth that had been hidden from him all his life until now.
    He discovered that these collectivist armies were the last refuges of tyrants, of mobs, and of men who could not recognize their own worth. An extremely uncomfortable feeling awoke in Lugh’s heart. It was the horrific irony of being caught in an illusion that he helped create. He had served the Shadekin to evade his individual responsibility, and it was only now that it dawned on him. He struggled to stomach the burden of his shame. He looked at his two best friends, Rusvi’menel and Taliesin. His search was sincere but the words were hard to find. The only thing Lugh beheld was that he was living the last sentence in the last paragraph of the final chapter of his life.
    “’Twas a short and unentertaining book,” he said. “Perhaps ‘tis as good a day to die as any.”
                Taliesin smiled sadistically. “Death touches all men, R ökkr, but we haven’t been men for a long time.”
                Rusvi’menel chuckled. “Ye manlings of the Shade cannot die so long as my Wakan dwells in thy shadowlight!”
                Everything felt heavier under the burden of sorrow. Lugh could muster nothing of inspiration, but he spoke from his heart. “Let us be done with this barbarianism. Let this be the war to end them all.”
    His words fell upon blank stares.
    “Were we to have real power,” he continued. “We’d never fight another day.”
                Rusvi’menel weighed the gravity of his friend’s words. “Before Woden Caliph found The Trivium, before he used it to conquer my people, we paid no taxes.”
    The random statement gathered confused looks.
    “We had no debt,” he went on. “No rulers. No wars. Wild game and resources were plentiful. Women loved the work that we did not. We loved the work that women did not. We were free to spend all day hunting and fishing, and all night having sex.”
    Hardened faces cracked with smiles.
    Lugh sighed. “Sounds like a bloody good life.”
    Rusvi’menel sternly looked into his friend’s eyes. “Lugh, the Shadekin have mastered nature, space, and time; reality. But only the Shadekin are foolish enough to think they can improve that way of life!”
    The Caliphians exploded with laughter.
    Taliesin chortled so hard that he couldn’t play his xun. He