An excerpt from Tribesman
In the beginning there was only the Benouin. They
farmed the fertile land nourished by the Great River .
Their herds and flocks grazed on the lush green pastures. Golden corn, wheat,
and bounteous fruit trees flourished in the dark, rich earth. The women of the
Benouin were just as fruitful and the people swelled in number. The cantankerous
god of thunder, Dourab, provided them with precious metals from his lofty
mountain home; iron, tin, and gold.
They formed communities, building villages and
towns. Their numbers and wealth grew, and they thrived. A king ruled over them,
a wise and just ruler, his name was Sarouk Ur-Dal. He took a wife from one of
the villages and his wise men advised him he should get her with child and
produce an heir.
And so, Sarouk’s power and fame grew. He built a
city that would be the capital of a growing nation. He named it Azral-Laldra; the
City of Light .
People flocked to build their homes within the confines of its walls. His wise men advised him to build
an army and make weapons from the bounty of Dourab’s rocky mountain peaks.
“Who should we make war on?” Sarouk asked.
“Whomever shall oppose us,” they answered.
“And who shall oppose us?” The king asked.
“Let us go forth and find them,” they said.
The armies of the Benouin poured forth from the gates
of Azral-Laldra conquering all before them. An empire was born and the wealth
of the people, together with their arrogance, grew. The once wise and merciful
king listened to words of false praise and flattery whispered in his ear and as
a result became vain and cruel. His councillors called him a God and had
statues fashioned in his honor. The people knelt before his image and worshiped
him.
The gods of the Benouin are many and guard
jealously the prayers of the faithful. They were not inclined to accept another
to their ranks. The priests and mages of King Sarouk gathered in the great city
with the sole intent of challenging the gods and replacing them with their Lord.
King Sarouk was a god in name only. All the gods
of the Benouin came together and they scattered the people on the wind. They
tore down their cities and ripped up their crops, cursing them to forever
wander across the burning sands that were once lush meadows and rich earth. Sarouk
and his council of mages were trapped within the jewel of the empire to linger
there for all time. Azral-Laldra became Azral-Murbo, the City of the Dead.
You can buy Tribesman, an epic fantasy novel on Amazon.com.
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