Swords & Riches

By Chad Shenberger

In the world of Zera, even a simple journey can hold the promise of becoming a great adventure.

Sometimes God uses adversity as a way to make us mature. Alastor finds this out the hard way when he becomes separated from his father after an accident. With the only way for him to reunite with his father being to travel across the continent, he must race against the clock and arrive before the end of a strict deadline.

A long and difficult journey awaits him. He is forced to confront physical exhaustion, mental confusion, and a host of unknown dangers that seek to destroy him. In the midst of these trials, he meets new friends and mentors that give him insight into important Christian values. With their encouragement, he gains the strength of character to never give up and learns that no matter how hopeless the situation may seem, he must trust the Lord's guidance to see him through.

Despite the challenges he may face, Alastor is sure that he can reach his destination in time. And perhaps with a bit of luck, learn what it means to be a man along the way.

All things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685703165

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Swords and Riches

Chad Shenberger

ISBN 978-1-68570-315-8 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68570-316-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Chad Shenberger

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

On the Docks

Chapter 2

An Unexpected Discussion

Chapter 3

Making Waves

Chapter 4

Constellations

Chapter 5

Slack Tide

Chapter 6

All on His Own

Chapter 7

What Happened Next

Chapter 8

The Boy with the Book

Chapter 9

Love Thy Neighbor

Chapter 10

Best-Laid Plans

Chapter 11

Grassy Fields

Chapter 12

Building Bridges

Chapter 13

Boar Fight

Chapter 14

The Long Walk

Chapter 15

Cloudy Skies

Chapter 16

Running in the Rain

Chapter 17

Respite

Chapter 18

A Dangerous Creature

Chapter 19

The Hunt

Chapter 20

The Wise Old Man

Chapter 21

Ninevar

Chapter 22

Sewer

Chapter 23

Off Course

Chapter 24

Up the Ninevar Mountains

Chapter 25

And Down the Other Side

Chapter 26

A Sticky Situation

Chapter 27

Out of the Spider's Web and Into the Fire

Chapter 28

And After That

Chapter 29

Smyrna

Chapter 1

On the Docks

Lazata was the name of a famous port city located on the western peninsula of the continent. Its location made it an ideal place for travelers and ships to rest and resupply before continuing on long voyages. Because of this, the city was a very busy place. There were always new people coming and going, and the streets were filled with crowds stretching their legs after longs trips at sea. This was good for businessmen and traders, especially those involved in the shipping industry.

Despite the abundance of trade, Lazata was old and rusty. The docks were worn and had barnacles. The buildings were unmaintained and sometimes falling apart. The streets were congested and noisy, even at nighttime. The walkways and back alleys were cramped, dirty, and dangerous. The sailors and travelers did not seem to mind; after all, their visit was only temporary. However, it was a different story for the people who lived there.

In the city lived a thirteen-year-old boy and his father. The boy's name was Alastor, and his father was named Broad. They lived in a small apartment above a fish market. The building itself was an ugly gray color. The sun and salt air had baked the paint, which caused it to peel and chip. The floorboards creaked and groaned. The entire place smelled like fish, and to make matters worse, you could hear the noisy seagulls outside. It was located near the docks, which was where Broad worked. The prime location meant that even this tiny apartment was very expensive.

Alastor did not like life in the city. The adults were rude and greedy. They always seemed to try to take advantage of people and cheat them out of their money. Alastor had a knack for making friends, but there were no other kids his age in the city. Sometimes there were ships with families that would arrive at Lazata to take a break in the middle of a long voyage. However, they usually only stayed for a day or so before the family returned to their ship and continued their journey.

The only constant friend that Alastor had was his father. Broad would listen to his bizarre ideas and silly sense of humor. Unfortunately he was always working. He worked from sunrise to sunset every day, with only Sunday off to relax. This did not leave much time for them to spend together.

Even on his day off, Broad was usually busy with errands and household chores. Their apartment did not have many decorations or fun things to do, and Broad seemed to hesitate before buying new things. It seemed that despite working around the clock, Broad had hardly any money to spare. Alastor tried his best not worry about those types of things, but he noticed that his father rarely laughed anymore.

Typically Alastor would spend the day down at the docks, waiting for his father to finish his day's work. He would pass the time by watching the sailors working and the ships as they came and went. Although it was nice to just sit and watch the action, he found it more entertaining to play pranks on the sailors when they were not looking. He would tie up random ship's ropes into jumbled knots so that the sailors would have to waste time undoing them. He would pour a bit of seawater into their drinking water so it tasted bad. His favorite prank was to take the sailors' equipment and move it about two feet away. When the sailors went to get their things, they would think that it was stolen and get flustered before realizing that it was hidden right beside them the whole time. His pranks were stupid and pointless, but they made him laugh anyway.

One time, Alastor had nearly been caught while attempting a prank. It was lunchtime, when a new sailor decided to take a nap. Alastor had previously thought of a risky two-part prank that involved a rope and a bucket of water. Unfortunately the prank was too elaborate, and while Alastor was busy tying a rope around the sailor's ankles, he had woken up. Alastor managed to scramble away while the sailor fumbled with the rope and bucket. From then on, the sailors dubbed the mysterious boy the East Dock Trickster, which was a name he wore with pride.

This string of pranks caused a bit of trouble for the dockmaster, who happened to be Alastor's father, Broad. The sailors on the docks always grumbled about the Trickster, but Broad did not seem to mind. After all, an occasional prank never hurt anyone. Whenever a plan to catch the Trickster began to form, Broad had a way of dismissing these ideas and getting the sailors back to work.

Broad was a large muscular man with a fierce and intimidating presence. All of the sailors admired him and treated him with a great deal of respect. It was common knowledge around the docks that Broad had decided to become a dockmaster after his wife had died. He had previously been a sailor that traveled to all corners of the world and been on great adventures. It was obvious at just a glance that he had some stories to tell. His journeys easily lasted several months at a time, but he hardly ever talked about them. Even though becoming a dockmaster was less prestigious and less lucrative than being a normal sailor, it allowed him to stay on land and look after his son.

*****

Alastor met his father as he was returning home from the docks. Broad had finished his work a bit later than usual and seemed tired.

Alastor—Hey, Dad. What's up?

Broad—Looks like the East Dock Trickster struck again.

Alastor—Oh? What did he do this time?

Broad—He somehow swapped two guys' lunches. They got into a fistfight with each other and fell off the dock. It set us back a half hour.

Alastor—Hahaha! I wish I could have seen that! Did you hear the one where he put a rock in someone's sandwich? I heard he broke a tooth.

Broad—Pft, how can you not notice a big rock in your food? He almost deserved it.

Alastor—What about the one where he tied a long rope around two guys' legs? So when the first guy pulled the rope, it made the second guy slip off the dock, then as he was falling, the other end of the rope pulled the first guy off too!

Broad—Heheheh, okay that one was actually pretty good. Anyway that's enough talk about the Trickster, let's get going. I wanna finish dinner quick and get to bed. It's been a long day.

Alastor—Okay. I can help with that.

Broad—That sound nice, I appreciate it.

Alastor—I can also help out at the docks, if you need me. I know what to do and everything.

Broad—Ugh, here we go again.

Alastor—And I wouldn't mind making some money, if you catch my drift.

Broad—I believe you, but you still got a lot of growing up to do.

Alastor—You said that last time, what do you mean?

Broad—Well, the sailors down at the docks wouldn't exactly like working with a kid, especially if you got paid the same amount of money. I know they would complain that a kid just gets in the way and can't do as much work as adults. Then they would say that they should get paid more, and so on and so on. It's a recipe for disaster.

Alastor—But I'm not just some kid! I know what I'm doing! I can keep up with them!

Broad—It's not just about age, it's about how they see you. People will respect you when you show them you are a man.

Alastor—I'm a man! Just look at me!

Broad—Okay, Mr. Man, I watched you giggle to yourself for twenty minutes talking about some prank the Trickster did with a piece of wood and a seashell.

Alastor—Pft! Oh yeah, that was a good one!

Broad—Mm-hmm. Its stuff like that which makes me skeptical about you working with me.

Alastor—Okay, okay. So what do I need to do to be a man?

Broad—Well, I guess you'll just have to figure that out for yourself! Just the way that I did.

Just then a sailor came running toward Broad, requesting his help with the late arrival of a large ship. The ship was larger than any Alastor had ever seen before. The ship had fancy purple flags adorning the mast and a figurehead of a golden lion. The sailor seemed excited and nervous and was clearly in over his head. Broad let out an annoyed groan and reluctantly agreed to help. He told Alastor to head home on his own as he would be working late.

As Alastor was leaving, he turned back and saw a strange-looking man stepping off the ship. The man was wearing expensive-looking clothes and something that looked like armor but was clearly more for decoration. He also wore a striking-green cape and carried a sword on his hip. There were a few more men following behind him that were wearing normal-looking armor and helmets. They also carried swords with them. Broad seemed to be taken aback at first and approached the man with the green cape. After speaking to him for a few moments, they shook hands and slapped each other's backs jovially. They looked like old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

Chapter 2

An Unexpected Discussion

Over the course of the next week, Broad was busy working with the crew of the large ship. Two more ships had arrived at the docks and joined the large ship. These two ships were smaller than the first one but were still large compared to the normal ships Alastor was used to seeing. Alastor noticed that these two ships had lots of soldiers onboard.

Alastor could easily tell the soldiers apart from the normal sailors. The soldiers wore armor and carried weapons. Most of the armor was the standard chain mail that you could purchase mostly anywhere, but there were several soldiers that wore full-plate armor and helmets. While their armor was not as fancy as the armor worn by the soldiers from the large ship, it was still pretty nice, all things considered.

Alastor noticed that most of the soldiers carried swords on their hips. Swords were rare and expensive. Typically soldiers would wield spears or axes, since they were cheaper to make and easier to use. The fact that so many soldiers had swords, not to mention full armor and helmets, was a sign of great wealth and power.

During the course of the week, Alastor tried to spend time with his father. However, Broad was very busy helping the three ships and had no spare time. He seemed to be doing much more work than he would normally do for ships like these. There were several times when Broad went onboard the large ship and disappeared for hours, presumably counting what supplies they had and what they needed. Alastor thought that it was unusual for a dockmaster to be doing this kind of work for a customer, especially because he had never seen his father do it before.

Broad had become very preoccupied and lost in thought ever since the ships came into port. He spent most of his day off sitting at the kitchen table, writing lists and sketching maps. Alastor managed to sneak a peek at a piece of paper that Broad was working on. The paper had times, dates, lists for supplies, tables of figures with money signs, and a bunch of names he did not recognize. Alastor assumed it was more work for the ships, but it was unusual for Broad to be doing this type of work at home during his free time. Whatever Broad was doing, it was obvious he was preparing for something big.

Broad began leaving for work before sunrise every day and did not come home until after sundown. Alastor asked his father why he was working so much lately. Broad said that he would tell him everything by next Sunday.

Alastor was restless the entire week. When the next Sunday rolled around, Broad called for Alastor to join him at the kitchen table. When Alastor sat down, he noticed that his father was trying to conceal a subtle smile. Alastor could feel a sense of excitement and joy emanating from his father, which was something that he had not felt for a long time. After taking a deep breath, Broad began to explain what he had been working on in secret for the past week and a half.

*****

Broad explained that the large ships that had arrived belonged to royalty from somewhere in the East. Broad told Alastor the name of the royal family, but Alastor was not paying attention and quickly forgot. The man with the green cape, who happened to be the one in charge of the ships, was named Cormac and was an old friend of Broad's from back when he was a sailor. Cormac had begun to serve the royal family some time ago and had become a high-ranking member of their military.

Cormac and Broad began to reminisce about the days when they sailed together. Cormac remembered the time when their captain fell ill during a storm, and Broad stepped up to command the vessel. It was because of Broad's leadership that they were able to survive that storm and several other near-death experiences. As they continued talking Cormac revealed that he was in port not just to resupply but also to find good sailors he could trust.

Cormac had been given a secret mission. The mission was to deliver a large shipment of swords to the city of Smyrna, which was located on the eastern coast of the continent. The royal family planned on arming all of their soldiers with new weapons. Cormac did not exactly say why, but Broad figured it would be better not to ask. The mission was time sensitive, and the swords needed to be delivered within two months. Cormac had a strict deadline and would suffer serious consequences if he failed.

Unfortunately Cormac had been having trouble with his current crewmen. They were working slower than expected and complaining a lot. Most were unprofessional and careless, which caused frequent accidents. A handful of them decided to quit without warning and left after arriving at the last port. Some of the sailors had gotten curious about the cargo and began to snoop around. Two of the sailors discovered that they were transporting swords and tried to steal some for themselves. They had to be restrained by soldiers and were fired. Cormac said that if he could not find more sailors to hire, he would not make it to Smyrna before the deadline.

Cormac expressed his concerns to Broad. He asked if there were any sailors that Broad knew and trusted. Broad knew some sailors, but none that were any more trustworthy than the ones Cormac already had. Cormac asked if he knew any sailors that would work around the clock without complaining. Broad said sailors complain all the time. Cormac asked if Broad wanted to join him and work as a sailor. Broad laughed it off and said that he