Free Faith Of The Dragon Tamer (Book 2) by Cole Pain

made him feel like he was above the world.
    He decided he wanted to climb one.
    Slowly, he moved. His feet dug into the grass. His hand pushed his weight.
    Then he saw the blood.
    What had happened to him? Blood coated his arms. A moan escaped his lips.
    Tol had been taken from him. Tol had died in his arms.
    He began to weep. He had never cried before. He never knew he could cry. The tears felt odd against his cheeks. One fell into his mouth. It tasted salty. The taste startled him. He licked his cheek. Yes, he tasted salt, but it was mingled with another flavor. He thought about it for a short time: salt and moisture and … pain. That was it. Tears even tasted like pain.
    Why did the Maker have to take Tol away? Why couldn’t the Maker have taken him: a man who would never be missed, a man who had never looked at someone with such love or need, a man who wasn’t innocent?
    He had grown up with unloving parents. His father stayed drunk and beat him every night. His mother watched but never intervened, never shed a tear. He held no love for either of them.
    When he was thirteen his mother had given him a large sum of coins to purchase supplies for the winter. He had never returned.
    He went to the next town and found employment with a farmer. He had always been tall and broad and was able to pass for being older. He worked there three years. The owner treated him admirably. He was well paid and well feed. The farmer’s daughter tried to talk to him on more than one occasion but he just smiled and walked away. Why would he want to let anyone close if his own parents could be so cruel?
    That was why he was the way he was. When he left the farm he had gone directly to Stardom to try out for the guard. It had been a mere dream in his mind. He couldn’t even hold a sword. But he had a driving need to try. When Ren had allowed him in, despite his clumsiness, Bentzen had been humbled. His prince believed in him when all others took him for a mere beggared. He would do anything for Ren.
    As Bentzen watched the trees bend in the breeze he suddenly hoped Ren knew how much he respected him. Even when Ren asked Bentzen to be in the guard little if any emotion had touched his face. He had decided long ago to feel no more. His parents had taught him that.
    Now he knew love. Bentzen felt the knife wounds on his arms from where he had sliced his flesh in punishment. Would he have rather never felt love? He thought about it for a time. He honestly didn’t know. He was used to being unfeeling yet determined, liked but unknown. No, he didn’t want to be the old Bentzen, but he didn’t know if he wanted to be this one either. The pain was too great.
    He heard horses. Bentzen lifted his head. Galvin and Neki cantered across the field. Neki had a cocked arrow aimed at a scurrying doe. Bentzen cried out, but his voice was only a whisper. He cursed himself for his stupidity. He owed Ren a report yet he had wounded himself almost to the point of death. He could always end his life after he had done his duty. Now he may have ended two more lives he cared about, that Ren cared about.
    “No.” Bentzen forced his legs to stand. He concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.
    A horse stopped beside him. Bentzen looked up into Galvin’s dark eyes.
    “Fates, Bentzen, what’s happened to you?” Galvin bent down, encircled Bentzen’s waist, and heaved him up on the palomino. “Hang on. I’ll take you to camp.”
    Bentzen leaned into Galvin, feeling the other man’s heat. He felt so cold.
    Bentzen forced his eyes open when Galvin’s mount came to a stop. Quinton and Markum tended a fire, but Ren was nowhere to be seen. Bentzen furrowed his brow. Where was Ren? From the looks of it the camp had been set up for quite some time. Neki dropped from his horse and flung the doe before the fire, lips broadening into a wide grin.
    “We eat well tonight, my friends,”
    Quinton looked up from the fire and smiled. His eyes flickered to