Season of Sacrifice (Blood of Azure Book 1) by Jonathan Michael (best ebook for manga txt) 📕

of the warriors tattles to Graytu. “He’s too unruly. He’ll never amount to his potential.”

That’s not the first time I’ve heard that comment. It was common during my childhood. That would have been acceptable, but to hear it from this man. It is something I cannot stomach. I have never felt more embarrassed. I attacked one of their own. I’m not worthy. I’m a failure. Sorry, father.

This world is proof knowledge is not for everyone. It is only for those who won’t abuse it. The majority need to remain in the shadows, as only a few can withstand to be enlightened. Yet, there are those who find strength in the shadows. It is they who I will need to be wary of.

28 Elder

Six seasons earlier…

“S

uits and underwear? No thanks. I’d rather go frolic with the pigs. Are there any sties in the area? Any bacon breeders in the city?” I ask. All of them laugh at me. I shrug my shoulders. “What? Hog wrestling is common in Farrow. We have sty tournaments all the time. I’m not all that great at it, though. The more stoutly built tend to take the ranks.”

A simple pleasure. Our entertainment in Farrow doesn’t involve dressing up in uncomfortable clothes and dining with glassware.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join us, dear?” Stone’s mother, Shae, asks with her soft and caring voice. “We made reservations for five at the banquet, knowing you were joining us on this tour to the capital. And, despite your disinterest, formal wear is a must.”

“Yes, I’m sure. But thank you, Lady McLarin. You know where I’m from and who my typical company is. Suits don’t suit me. Even underwear is a luxury in Farrow. I already have two pair and don’t need any more than that. We have a wash day every fortnight, so two is just enough.”

Once again, they laugh. I smile along with them, but it’s an honest truth. I don’t understand how I ever became friends with Stone and his family. They probably have a new pair of underwear for every day of the week. I’ll never understand the lifestyle of the privileged.

“Well, it’s no mind to me what you wear. It’s all a fruitless game of falls and ladders if you ask me. Everyone getting bent sideways about who fancies who and finding the right ladder to climb to the top. In the end, we all fall down back to where we began. But know you’ll get a few odd looks. So no groveling when we get there, and you realize you’re out of style? What are you going to do in the meantime? You can’t stay at the inn all day.”

“I’m going to tour the capital, just as you said. Of all the visits I’ve accompanied you here, I’ve never actually experienced the city. It’s so vast. There’s too much to explore. I’ll be fine. I’ll roam the markets, visit the ports, and definitely take a tour of the Museum of Azurian Artifacts. I’ve never been.”

“Sounds like you already have your day planned,” Arden chimes in.

“Yeah, and it sounds way better than what we’re doing.” Stone gets disciplining looks from both his parents. He cowers and offers an apology, holding back a smile while looking at the floor. Jay giggles at him.

If it were my mother, she’d smack me upside the head. I’d end up doing an extra share of chores for an entire cycle of seasons.

“Okay, Elder, but you’re going to be on your own all day. After the tailor, Arden has a few errands of his own he must attend to. And then we’ll meet back here prior to dinner, okay?” Shae proposes.

“Very good, Lady McLarin.”

“You know you can call me Shae,” she replies.

“Yes, Lady McLarin, I know. My mother would not approve of it, however. And I respect that.”

“Very well. See you this evening.”

And the McLarins step out the door one by one, leaving me in their wake. Jay wrinkles her nose at me on her way. I playfully stick my tongue out at her.

I start down the road in the opposite direction on my way to the market.

Overabundant crowds, brash bartering, and unnecessary knick-knacks are all I find. There are a few eye-catching booths here and there—a gentlemen boasting to be something called a chemist with unusually colored vials of liquid, and a woman claiming to be selling artifacts from the Old Races that I pass off as a ruse. For the most part, I force my way through zealous bodies eager to find the best deals. I quickly move on from the market.

The ports are just as busy. Not with crowds and consumers, but grunts. I walk down one of the piers and get shooed away by a member of the Crimson Guard. They litter the streets of the Crimson Capital. They’re everywhere. You can typically see one in any given direction you look, so I didn’t think he’d pay me much mind.  But he insists I am in the way and don’t belong here. He’s probably right.

I do, however, find it to be far more entertaining than the market, even though I am not allowed to walk the piers. Simply viewing from afar, seeing the vast quantity of vessels coming and going, and trying to predict the logistics behind moving the freight from one barge to another, or from a ship to the dock—It is astounding. It is an evolved, living mechanism with multiple moving parts all working together for a higher purpose. One large organism, like Azure, in which all the cells are communicating and doing their duty.

I look at the back of my hands. Flip them over and look at my palms, wondering if there is a microbiome within our bodies. A similar occurrence to the larger biomes of the moon we live on. A curiosity