The Kingdom

The strength of his enigmatically searching gaze gentled and he spoke in an audible voice for the first time, "So Rollan, what brings you to this place of lost dreams?"

I glanced down, thinking about what my answer should be. Something drove me to be honest with this man and in a stuttering voice I said, "I killed a man. A man of Rollanic."

I glanced up then to see what my fate would be. Was this man of one of the Nicationer Nations?

Surely, if he was, he would even now pull free his sword to avenge the death of one of his own.

The large sword stayed by the man's side though and slowly my eyes met the piercing intensity of the man's brown eyed stare that seemed to gaze straight into my soul.

"Why Rollan?" he asked.

I felt the need to cry, but I was so dehydrated that I couldn't even manage the evidence of my grief. "I was protecting my mother, at least I thought I was."

I sank to my knees then in the sand, as the losses of my life piled up to a heaviness beyond my soul's ability to bear. I asked, "Are you going to kill me now?"

Instead of answering the man knelt down and pressed a skin of water to my lips, which I began to drink in great gulps.

"No Rollan," he finally said in answer to my question. "I'm going to give you life."

I stopped drinking for a moment to stare into the man's eyes and I asked, "Why?"

The man's lips parted in a smile that had warmth to it, "It's what I do."

I drank some more, but then made myself stop. It wasn't good to drink too much water too fast and I didn't want to drink all of this man's water. Already I respected him too much to do that. Akin to that thought was that I wanted this man to respect me, even as I wanted to please him.

I offered the skin of water back to him but he shook his head and rose back up to his feet, "Keep it Rollan. The day will be hot and you will need more."

The man made as if to leave and I tottered up to my feet quickly, "Can I come with you?"

The man stared towards the southern horizon once more before again turning and probing me with his gaze. His gaze seemed to measure my inner worth and I could only wonder as to what he saw in me.

"Rollan, the journey before me is by no means an easy one. You are welcome to come, but know that it could lead to your death."