Free Exodus: The Windwalker Archive: Book 3 (Legends of Agora) by Michael James Ploof Page A

harbor. Talon watched Elladrindellia fade into the distance at the back of the ship, and he couldn’t help but smile.
    Crag came to stand beside him. Talon glanced up at the looming man, whose childlike face was filled with wonder.
    “Did you enjoy meeting the elves?” Talon asked.
    Crag’s eyes lit up and began to water, and a serene smile spread across his face.
    “The alfrs are nothing like the Vald make them out to be. They’re…they’re…it’s hard to say. You know?”
    “I know what you mean,” said Talon.
    “Last time Crag sleep like that he was a baby. Did you see their lights, and those towering crystals, and their magic? Talon, did you see their magic?”
    “I saw it.”
    “I wish I had magic like that,” said Crag.
    “What would you do with the elves’ magic?”
    “Me?”
    “Yeah,” said Talon. “Say you had magic like the elves. What would you use it for? What would you do?”
    Crag’s brow furled under the intense contemplation. “Well, I guess I’d make it so nobody could pick on nobody no more.”
    “And how would you stop people from picking on other people?”
    “How? Well…I guess, you know, with my magic.”
    “You mean you would physically force them to stop?”
    “Well…No, if I did that then I would be the bully.”
    “What if that was the only way? Through force, I mean,” Talon asked, liking the insight of the special man.
    “I’d find a way,” said Crag.
    “But what if that is the only way?”
    Crag looked troubled. His once jolly red cheeks had become blotchy in their pinkness, and his mouth was made small and turned to the side as he thought about it.
    “I’d find another way. There ain’t ever only one way to do something.”
    Now it was Talon’s turn to be stumped. The line of questioning and answers that followed had enlightened him, when in truth he was trying to teach the big man a small lesson. As it turned out, the small man was taught a big lesson.
    Talon had the combined power of Kyrr and Chief, and all he could think to do to free the Skomm was fight.
    Something occurred to him then; if he followed his present course, thousands of Skomm, if not all, would die in the fight for freedom. Argath was too war-minded. Talon realized then that the Skomm could never win a direct war. Even with his magic ring and spirit wolf, even with the help of the skilled gladiators aboard, the Skomm would lose in the end. Talon understood then that he could not fight fire with fire, for the Vald were too big, too strong, and had spent too many years practicing the art of war.
    We have to beat ‘em with our minds.
    Majhree’s words came back to him then, and once again he listened.
    “Thank you, Crag. You are indeed a wise man. It seems as though a little bit of the elf magic has rubbed off on you.”
    Crag glanced at his own hands with wide-eyed wonder.

Chapter 14
There is Always Another Way
     
    I wonder sometimes, what have I taught the Skomm? What kind of nation will come of them if it is indeed their fate to be free? The Morenka would argue that I have made a grave error. Perhaps I have. All I know is that I have stopped the suffering of thousands of innocent children. That is enough for me.
     
    -Azzeal, Keeper of the Windwalker Archive
     
     
    “Sir, Captain, may I come in?”
    Argath looked up from the scrolls on his desk and smiled when he saw Talon standing with a foot in the doorway.
    “Please, come in, come in,” said Argath. He rose from his chair and moved to the bar as Talon knew he would. He remembered Captain McGillus doing the same thing a half dozen times. It seemed as though the captains had always been contemplating a drink, and the formality of company was the only excuse that they needed. Indeed, Argath seemed to have already put down a few, for he grinned from ear to ear, and there was a sleepy quality to his smile.
    “You served your people well in Cerushia,” said Argath as he laid the drinks and the bottle on the desk. “I’d like to