left for generations and murdered us all in our sleep. How silly of me to think
it was the empire trying to extend its influence into one more place it wasn’t
wanted. I should have realized it was only trying to defend itself from a
ferocious attacker.’
Zaibar swayed forwards, his hand going to his sword hilt. Then He regained his
composure and hardened his features.
‘I am done talking to you. You can’t understand the minds of decent men, much
less their words.’
He turned to go, but somehow Jubal was in his path – on his feet now, though he
swayed from the effort. Though the soldier was taller by a head, Jubal’s anger
increased his stature to where it was Zaibar who gave ground.
‘If you’re done talking. Hell Hound, then it’s time I had my say,’ he hissed.
‘It’s true I make money from distasteful merchandise. I wouldn’t be able to do
that if your “decent men” weren’t willing to pay a hefty price for it. I don’t
sell my goods at sword point. They come to me – so many of them, I can’t fill
the demand through normal channels.’
He turned to gesture at the corpse-littered courtyard.
‘It’s also true I deal in death,’ he snarled. ‘Your benevolent Rankan masters
taught me the trade in the gladiator pits of the capital. I dealt in death then
for the cheers of those same “decent men” you admire so.
‘Those “decent men” allowed me no place in their “decent” society after I won my
freedom, so I came to Sanctuary. Now I still deal in death, for that is the
price of doing business here – a price I almost paid today.’