Free The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) by Mackenzie Morgan

the army. Others had come as men and had been bought to fill local army units. A few had come as runaways, having escaped their captors in other provinces.
    Their stories were varied, but all of them were scarred, both physically and emotionally, by the cruelty of slavers and owners. Most of them didn’t talk about the past anymore, only the future. They trained every day, dreaming of the day they’d get a chance to pay back the men who’d stolen their lives. Their eyes were hard now, cold, and full of confidence. They followed orders, for the most part, but Gen. Crandal had no illusions about what would happen if they went up against a gang of slavers. Some of these men might die, but none of the slavers would survive.
    As soon as Kevin stepped into the dining room, one of the men, Wythe, dropped to his knees and bowed his head. Kevin raised his eyebrows in question at Gen. Crandal, but the general was as surprised as he was.
    Gen. Crandal walked over to Wythe and put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “What are you doing?”
    Wythe looked up at him, over at Kevin, and back to Gen. Crandal. “That’s the Master Sorcerer, right?”
    Gen. Crandal nodded.
    “Aren’t we supposed to kneel and bow our heads when he walks in the room?”
    Gen. Crandal frowned and shook his head.
    “We had to whenever any of the sorcerer’s family entered a room when I was in Landoryn. I figured it was common practice all over Terah.”
    “Not in Camden,” Gen. Crandal said. Then he put his hand on Wythe’s back and nodded towards the table. “Finish your lunch.”
    After Wythe was back in his seat, Gen. Crandal turned towards a particularly burly man and said, “Myron, this is Sgt. Doyle.”
    Kevin shook Sgt. Doyle’s hand, and then nodded towards the rest of the men. “Thank you for coming. Slavers invaded a small settlement Friday night and took seventeen people captive. In a little while, we’re going to take you to a landing near the mouth of the Kivee and put a boat at your disposal. If the slavers are headed for the Agrenon Bay, they’ll have to pass you to get there. When they do, your orders are to rescue the captives, arrest as many slavers as you can, and seize their ship.”
    Most of the men nodded. Gen. Crandal had already given them the basics.
    Kevin looked around the motley crew and asked, “Any questions?”
    One of the men looked at him for a couple of seconds and then said, “I’ve got one.”
    Kevin nodded.
    “How set are you on us arresting those slavers? I mean, there’s going to be some fighting going on, and it’ll make things a lot tougher if we have to bring those slavers back alive.”
    Kevin glanced around the table. The men had stopped eating. They were waiting for his answer. “If you can bring any of the slavers back for us to put on trial, that would be great, but you are not to put yourselves, or the captives, at risk to do it.”
    The man nodded. “Just checking.”
    “Anything else?” Kevin asked.
    When no one else spoke up, Gen. Crandal told the men to finish their lunch. Then he and Kevin stepped back into the hall.
    “You realize you just gave them the kill order, don’t you?” Gen. Crandal asked.
    Kevin nodded. “After what the slavers did, I see no reason why they should survive, especially if it puts anyone else at risk.”
    “You aren’t going to rethink this in a week or a month and end up accusing those men of murder, are you?”
    Kevin shook his head. “No. Your men will be acting in the defense of others. That’s not murder. I just hope all of them survive.”
    Gen. Crandal nodded.
    “When do you want to take them to the boat?”
    “In about half an hour. I’ll introduce Lt. Martyn as soon as they finish lunch. Then we’ll be ready to go.”
    “You know I have no idea where we’re going, right?”
    Gen. Crandal grinned. “Cpt. Lawrence contacted Lt. Janus, a friend of his who’s stationed near the coast in Myndolar. Lt. Janus arranged for a boat to be waiting