Read The God Warriors for Free Online

join the guard and to not try to change her mind, he had swept her into his arms, all six-foot two inches and one-hundred and eighty pounds of her, and cried with happiness. Then he packed their farm wagon, left mother home amidst teary goodbyes, and bundled her and her sisters off to the capital of Jordache, Crystal City.
    Once they arrived at Crystal City, their father led the three girls to a small, yet cozy, boarding house on the outskirts of the city and settled them in a room that had a nice view of the river. The innkeeper, Widow Rosa, was especially nice to Da and Elsa. She refused to ask any questions about how her father knew this woman or why the two of them appeared to be so friendly with each other. She knew her father brought produce to the city, sometimes several times a month, and in her limited years she was still wise enough to “let sleeping dogs lie.” A phrase her father had taught her. It was important to note that their father did not share the room with them but slept elsewhere, and she sternly instructed her younger sisters not to ask any questions.
    The following morning, Da spent a small portion of the family's hard-earned money to buy her sisters and their mother new, yet modest, dresses, and Elsa a well-tempered sword that she promptly strapped to her side. Then, leaving Elisa and Eleanor with Rosa to help in her garden, her father told Elsa to dress in leathers and escorted her to the city guard barracks where recruiting took place.
    "Oye, Mad Dog!" Shouted one of the two guards they found at the entrance. Turning into the open doorway behind him, he shouted out, "Get your lazy tails out here, you dogs! It's Captain Mad Dog! I want to see full kit ready for inspection in sixty seconds!"
    "Mad Dog?" whispered Elsa to her father.
    "Best not to ask, daughter of mine," he whispered back. Elsa raised her right eyebrow but refrained from saying anything, instead simply stood back and waited.
    In a matter of minutes, a full company of guardsmen had assembled in the courtyard. A man dispatched after a whispered conversation with the guard officer on duty saluted her father, a salute he returned with military precision. Elsa knew her Da had been in the guard but never realized he had been an officer, let alone a captain.
    "Sir!" Barked the grizzled war veteran as he marched up to her Da then came to attention, arms straight down his sides with palms inward against the thighs. "King’s Own ready for inspection, Sir!" Then he saluted, which her Da returned. Each man raised his right hand to lay over their hearts. It held for a brief few seconds before both snapped their hands down again. The rest of the men and women continued to stand at attention as her father surveyed the ranks before him. Her eyes widened in amazement as she remembered the king’s Own was the elite of the elite and charged with guarding the royal family. That her father earned such respect from these hardened and deadly veterans was beyond amazing.
    Each man and woman wore nearly identical cuirasses of lightweight burnished steel that covered the front and back, the woman's being pre-formed in the chest for breasts. In addition to steel gauntlets that covered hands and forearms, each wore bracers over their upper arms and greaves over their thighs and shins. All the additional armor was of thick boiled leather, and leather boots covered their feet while across their back slung a rectangular shield approximately two feet wide by three feet tall made of vulo wood strips bound by steel bands. Finally, a steel helm covered their heads and the sides and back of their necks. The entire ensemble strapped to a thick leather blouse and pants, and at each side hung a steel short sword with leather wrapped hilt.
    She knew that the entire outfit, though lightweight, would protect against the average arrow and sword stroke. She also knew that all the countries of the Alliance wore uniform armor and shields. The only way to tell one country’s