Jabone's Sword Read Online Free PDF

brother."
    "Why I oughtah," he raised his fist again and again Jabone pushed him back.
    "Who are you calling whore, virgin," Jestia spat at Ufalla.
    "I'm pretty sure I was talking to you," Ufalla spat back. To her Jestia was no one special, they'd been playing together and arguing their entire lives. They were friends. It didn't faze Ufalla one bit that Jestia was the princess of the kingdom she lived in. If she didn't want to be called a whore she shouldn't bed any man who walked past her.
    "You ugly little toad, you're just jealous because no man would have you," Jestia hissed.
    "I don't like men, remember, dumb ass?" Ufalla hissed.
    "If no man would have you it's a sure bet that no woman would."
    Jabone listened to them with only half an ear, more interested in hearing his madra weave yet another story. This one was about some battle that had taken place here. A small skirmish in which she and Harris and Elis had killed an entire contingent of Amalites by themselves.
    He finally had to give up when the argument got so loud that it was a wonder that everyone in the room couldn't hear it.
    "Gods, Ufalla! You are such a stupid, wretched little child," Tarius hissed.
    "I'm a whole six months younger than Jabone and Jestia. I'm going. If you're all going then I'm going and if you won't let me then I'm going to tell our parents, everyone's parents," Ufalla swore.
    "Why shouldn't she go?" Jestia now seemed to be on Ufalla's side which was common for their friendship. At each other's throats and name calling one minute, standing up for one another the next. "She's a better fighter than you are."
    Tarius made an angry noise. "She most certainly is not."
    "Quiet!" Jabone hissed. He turned away from his madra to look at them. "I am not sneaking away without telling my parents that I am going and neither should any of you. That would be the actions of a child, and if we aren't children why should we act like them? Listen to them, to all of them. They will all try to stop us but when it comes right down to it, we will go with their blessings. These are people who have lived by the sword and they will understand our desire. But perhaps if we can't even get along for a few minutes without fighting we shouldn't even think about going. We have heard these stories our whole life but I wonder if any of you have ever really listened. They didn't win those battles by fighting and arguing with each other. They won them because they worked together, always together, they trusted each other without hesitation. Your parents and my parents fought side by side, taking each other's council and direction, never doubting the others' ability or loyalty. They shaped the world that we have grown up in. A world that didn't have to fear death and annihilation at Amalite hands because they cooperated, not because they bickered amongst themselves like spoiled children."
    They all mumbled but agreed that he was right.
    * * *
    Hestia and Dirk seemed almost relieved at the prospect of sending their middle child to the Jethrik to fight the Amalites. They saw it as her finally taking some real direction. At the very least it got her out of their hair for awhile, maybe even permanently.
    Harris and Elis were more upset about their two oldest children leaving home than they were by what they wanted to go do.
    Jena, Dustan and Arvon were resigned. Surprisingly, Jabone found that the one kink in his plan turned out to be his madra who he had assumed would be the first one to cave.
    "Absolutely not!" she bellowed from where she sat on her throne just outside their dwelling, looking in that moment every bit the monarch that she was.
    "But Madra . . ."
    "No, I say! No, I absolutely forbid it. There is no discussion, Jabone. There is nothing to talk about. You will not go. You won't!"
    "I am a grown man, Madra. I can go if I wish and you can't stop me," Jabone said angrily. His madra glared at him in a way that he imagined she had looked at hundreds of men just before