Page 4     

August 16, 1745 EQ, 

Disputed Territory of the Erdi Desert, Epi

Trinel's Sword

Five-year-old Talon and his parents rode along in their carriage at the head of a caravan full of food and goods.  Talon peered out his window at the desert outside.  He could just see over the window’s ledge and it bumped his nose as the carriage made its way down the rarely used road.  He expected to see sand but didn’t.  Like most “deserts” it was just arid and void of lush vegetation.  He looked up at one of the companion guards that rode alongside him.  The guard wore chain mail and a leather cap brimmed with iron.  A sword was strapped to his side and his shield dangled from his horse’s saddle.

Talon sat back and looked at his mother sitting across from him.  She was beautiful, or at least he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world with a lovely name of Mushina.  She, like other ladies of the court wore her black hair pulled back in a bun.  She sat back gazing out the window with a distant look in her eyes.  She wore a red dress and a jade necklace of a tiger, the family insignia of the second born of the house of Rongxing.  She was not born into the house of Rongxing; she married into it. 

That was her husband’s heritage, Trinel, the Earl of the East Gate of Cannor, Talon’s father.  He sat beside Talon and wore his light dress coat and black trousers and his sword lay at his side in its scabbard.  He was reading a scroll the best he could given the bumpy ride.

Talon looked back at his mother.  “Why are we coming here, mama?”

Scroll 1: History's Mirror                                                                                    Chapter 1: Treasures from the Past