Rab'k, strongly built and walking with strides of one recognizing his new strengths, paced around a grand room not far from the hall where the meetings were to be held.
"But, Father, why am I here? What have I done?" the boy was brusque. He was frightened, but Rena'x wasn't going to reveal what he knew.
"You've done nothing wrong, Rab'k. This is to be a special day for you, one that will be noted in the great epistles of this Age. You're a part of what will come to be the history of this world. The moment has finally arrived when you'll be rewarded for all your hard work," the older man answered, lounging comfortably on one of the divans.
Rena'x sat and watched his son being young and impetuous, as he should be.
Maybe this is the last time I will see him at all. Maybe.
"But I don't want to be rewarded for anything. I want to ride through the mountains and slay the infidels who do nothing to deserve the land they possess," he flung himself around to face his father.
"I want to tear it away from them and bring our people to a land of blessing to rest from this misery. I want to do that instead of prancing about foolishly before this being, this one who isn't from our land!"
Rena'x jumped up, crossed the room and slapped Rab'k a-cross his face with a violence that would have flattened a lesser man.
The boy's head snapped aside, but sprang back instantly; his hand reached for his sword instinctively, but he stopped before he withdrew the blade, though his hand lingered on the grip.
"You. You will not speak of this one in that manner. Without him, our people would not have been. I've known him for long years and I'll never let him be spoken little of, by anyone!" Rena’s face drew close to the boy's.
Rab'k glared at the older man but turned and walked away. His face was crimson from the blow, but he would never admit there was any pain.
"But, Father, I don't see the need for this," he turned to face Rena'x again.
"There are reasons, old reasons. We'll be told today what must be done and when we must do them to right the wrongs about which I have spoken before.
We cannot and must not slack from our duty to fight for these things, and this one, this Om-Esfer'n, will be the one to whom we must and will turn to when the day of reckoning comes for the offenders," Rena'x spoke slowly and deliberately. "We cannot but follow his wisdom and his will in these things".
Rab'k began to pace again. He threw one of the ornate chairs across the room, shattering it against the cavern walls. The sound of impact echoed through the chamber. All was quiet again except for the boy's boots striking the floor.
"Rab'k. Come, sit and talk for a moment," Rena'x implored and held his hand out, gesturing toward another sofa, "Come and I'll tell you the history of this thing."
PRIDE