Read Legon Awakening: Book One in the Legon Series for Free Online Page A

work
now.” Legon tried to make his voice sound pompous and
important.
    Edis laughed and shook his head. “You should respect
your elders.”
    Before Legon could retort, Edis walked to the ice box
to get the deer. Legon walked back to the wall and grabbed a large
cleaver. This one boasted a three foot handle and a blade that was
about a foot and half long and six inches wide. They used this one
for splitting carcasses. He walked to the cow hanging from the
ceiling, raised the cleaver high above his head, and brought it
down on the center of the cow’s back. His aim was perfect; the
cleaver cut right against the vertebrae about two feet down the
back. Legon pulled the cleaver out and repeated the cut, and within
a few minutes the cow was split in two. Legon and Edis took one
half to the ice box and then placed the other half on a counter in
the back of the shop. He spent the rest of the morning cutting up
the piece of meat.
    They didn’t break for lunch until two. When Legon
walked into the house he saw Sasha sitting in the kitchen looking
put-out and talking to their Mother.
    “Mom, I’m okay now. Everything is fine. Let me help
you,” she said.
    “No no, dear, I can do it myself. I have been making
meals without your assistance for some time now and I can do it
today. Besides, you need to rest,” protested Laura, waving her arms
and hands in a dismissive manner.
    “Hey Sash, how do you feel?” Legon asked sitting next
to her at the table.
    “I’m feeling fine. I can help mom, but you know how
she is,” she said, shooting a look at her mother and folding her
arms.
    He chuckled. Laura placed a plate of food in front of
him. She’d made chicken and some flatbread for lunch. He began to
eat his food with delight. He was very hungry from the day’s work,
and they ate fast since they didn’t have much time.
    “Ey ash ii,” he began with food in his mouth.
    “Swallow,” Sasha said flatly, shaking her head and
rolling her eyes. “ Boys they can be such animals,” she
thought.
    Legon swallowed and began, “Sorry Sash, but if you’re
feeling a bit useless you can always get me some water. You know,
if it will make you feel better.”
    “Put the food back in your mouth. I liked it better
that way,” she said, giving him a stern look, but she got up and
brought him some water. Legon nodded in thanks.
    “Are you going to go over to Kovos’ today?” she
asked.
    He began to talk with food in his mouth again but he
realized what he was doing, swallowed, and began again. “Sorry, no.
We have too much to do. You know how it is— either we are bored to
tears or there’s not enough time in the day.”
    “I’m sorry I made you late this morning.” She sounded
mournful.
    “Don’t ever say that, it’s not your fault.” He was
serious. He hated her thinking that things like this were her
doing.
    “It’s not you, its dad, because he’s such a slave
driver!” Legon said in an elevated voice to Edis.
    Edis gave him a wicked grin. “Ha! Wait until this
afternoon!”
    “I love you too, dad.” At this, Edis nodded his head
and took another bite.
    It was a hard afternoon, but it wasn’t the work that
weighed on Legon. The work was nothing to him; he was in good shape
and his dad had been training him to be a butcher from the time he
could hold a knife. In fact, Legon would be setting off in a few
months to start his own shop. He was turning eighteen this year,
which meant that he would be a man. His family would keep him
around for a while since he was a help to them in the shop, but the
problem was taxes.
    In The Cona Empire, the queen had decreed that all
should be taxed fairly. This meant that families who pooled their
resources together were treated as though they were trying to put
themselves above their fellow men, or at least this was the queen’s
public stance on the matter. Therefore, a house consisted of two
adults and however many underage children they had. If a child grew
to be eighteen and