Legends of the west. Preamble

By X. F. Moix

Discover some of the events that marked the past of the novel’s protagonists.

What events forced little Isidro to be separated from his family? Why would a young and rebellious lad renounce to any hope for salvation, just to become a vulgar thief? In this preamble, some of the key episodes that forged the character of two men completely opposed will be revealed. A priest and an outlaw united by a very uninspiring past, that will drive them unknowingly to the greatest adventure of their lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Mar 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781071594469

Book preview

CHAPTERS

DISTANT DREAMS

TRANSGRESSION

A FAR AWAY HOME

THE HUG FROM THE TREES

SMUGGLING

AMBUSH

THE BANDITS’ BOOTY

MACHINATIONS

FOREIGN THREAT

INMATES

LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS

THE MERCY OF ANGELS

A FEATHER TO REMEMBER

MASTER AND APPRENTICE

GUIDE SPIRITS

THE CALL FROM THE DEAD

FURTIVENESS

THE FIRST DROP OF BLOOD

CHARTING A NEW PATH

DISTANT DREAMS

The firewood’s smell gave off an intense scent at home, during the cold nights in which Isidro’s family gathered around the fire. It was in those instants, when the light produced by the flames formed strange and disturbing shadows cast on the walls. Legendary creatures from other times seemed to come back to life when someone narrated those fantastic stories, that delighted little Isidro.  

A loud noise interrupted the peaceful family gathering. His father left the room and headed towards the house entrance. The mother silently closed the door and pushed away some furniture to reveal a small nook. Following her orders, Isidro took shelter inside it.

Don’t make any noise!, the woman said, while she covered the hideaway with a rug.

The door opened violently. An armed man grabbed her and took her away. A second individual stayed for a moment in the room, looking around.  

These bastards have surely hidden something around here.

He inspected drawers, throwing to the floor all what he did not consider valuable. Isidro got scared and made one of the wooden planks under his feet creak. By looking for the origin of the suspicious noise, the man did not take long to find him. Isidro fought him off and screamed, trying not to get caught. His father intercepted the attacker and gave him a strong punch.

Run, son! Flee this place, he commanded him.  

Without thinking about it, Isidro sneaked through a window. While crossing one street, someone grabbed him and hid him between some stinking rubble. When the men stopped patrolling the zone, his opportune benefactor offered him shelter at his home. He was Bernardino, his most loyal friend.

For once, your skirmishes at stinking sites have worked for something!, the father said after seeing them. Now, it’s time for us to make important decisions. The future of our community is seriously at peril.

That night was the first in which Isidro would suffer from sleeplessness. Many more were yet to come. A dense brume of turmoil, solitude and helplessness. Never would he listened to the melody his mother sang him in the ear, while she cuddled him to sleep.

TRANSGRESSION

The days went by and there was no news about the whereabouts or fate of Isidro’s parents.

It is clear that someone has accused them of heresy. We all now there are spies, posing as citizens declared an angry old villager.

The group of neighbors, among whom was Bernardino’s father, were gathered at a workshop’s basement. Most of them belonged to the craftsmen’s guild, and in their faces was reflected the indignation for what had happened.  

All this is because of the Inquisitors, that year after year feel the wear that the Kingdom suffers since the disputes with France and other enemy countries began. We live in a conflictive period where wars have impoverished the royal arcs. To survive this crisis, they need to rehabilitate commerce. Now the monarchs put their hopes in us, the merchants, stripping the clergymen from their favorite treat towards them. Although faith moves mountains, the money is the one that feeds armies. This fills the Inquisitors with fear and anger, watching their doctrine threatened by the shadow of foreign paganism; that can enter in contact through us. Our actions are each time more controlled.  

"Taverns, markets, public squares and inns, no place would be free from the presence of possible spies that interpret in any look or word a sufficient motive to blame us from transmitting to the population a foreign heretical ideology. The act