War God for Hire- Gladiator David Burke (bookreader TXT) 📖

kids and wondered if he had missed out on that. They’d certainly seemed happy about having kids. For all the poverty that Lucas and Freja obviously lived in, their kids were an equally obvious source of joy.

Freja was out the door a moment later. She paused and looked at Kyle as though to ask if it was okay for her to go to her husband.

He felt bad about that. He had always liked the attention in public, but not the type of fear that he saw when Freja or those workers had looked at him today. He simply nodded and then walked into the small home as husband and wife greeted one another.

He decided to offer them some money. He had certainly earned a bunch today and knew that it would be easy to repeat the same performance again. The more he learned, he might even be able to do better. They had greeted him when he was just a stranger, and maybe they could help him learn the language. That, and help him find a place of his own to stay in. He needed to begin finding his own way in this world.

Kyle immediately missed baseball and all the time and effort he had put into excelling at it. That wasn’t an option here. But just the same, he was committed to finding something else that he could excel at in this world.

Chapter 6 - Career Counseling

That evening, Kyle worked to try to get Lucas and Freja to be more comfortable with him. He gave them what was a fortune in coins. After all, he needed help, and what better way to get it than by sharing his wealth? He knew he could make plenty of money in the limestone quarry, so he wasn’t worried about giving away a fifth of the money he had on him now.

It had the desired effect, along with a few comments that he dragged out of Hilde. She didn’t seem to want him to be nice to Lucas and Freja, or even the children. Kyle hadn’t quite figured out what that was about yet, but he had no patience for her snark, so before long he found himself sitting in front of the fire and singing silly songs with the children.

One of the things that he had figured out a long time ago, was that children were the best at learning languages. They picked it up naturally because they had no other choice and it often began with silly little rhymes. He got Hilde to translate a few words for him and before long he was singing a song with the kids. As near as he could tell, it was Verden’s equivalent to Three Blind Mice.

The exercise made the children laugh. They seemed to have lost all fear of him, and seeing him being so gentle with their children obviously went a long way to making Lucas and Freja seem less fearful. He still caught furtive glances from them when they didn’t think he noticed, but it was understandable, especially after how they’d met him.

Once again, they offered him a blanket and the spot next to the fire to sleep. He now realized what a sacrifice that was for them. The days were very warm here. He would guess it had been in the low eighties earlier, but the nights got very cold. It didn’t seem to bother him much, but he noticed how the children shivered. It showed in the way that they cuddled up to him for warmth while singing.

So Kyle, with help from Hilde, insisted that they take the spot next to the fire and soon the entire family had huddled up there and were sound asleep. Lucas was the most resistant, likely because he didn’t want to feel he’d abdicated his responsibility to protect his family, but once Kyle said he would sleep next to the door, they all felt better.

After Kyle had taken up a position next to the door, he found that sleep wasn’t coming. He lay there awake, his mind awash with the possibilities this new life presented.

A cranky voice sounded in his head, “If you are done playing with the mortals, can we discuss what your plan is?”

“What is it with you and the mortals anyway?” Kyle thought back to her.

He could just feel the scowl on Hilde’s face, assuming she had a face, when she answered, “I think I found a phrase in your head from one of the books you read. It called them meatbags. That is all they are. Sure, they have a soul, a teeny tiny little one incapable of holding much essence, but they are essentially just a bag of meat and bones, really little more than animals.”

“Well, I was a mortal who achieved a great deal. People just need to be given a chance to prove themselves. Those who seize it will rise or fall on their own merits,” Kyle replied.

“Now, you really do sound like him. For all that the other gods hated Krig for encouraging constant war, he really did care about the mortals in his own way. He alone had no prejudices for country or occupation. He always said he judged based upon an individual’s merits. He even treated elves and humans alike. Of course, he also treated celestials the same as he treated mortals, so no one is perfect,” Hilde said.

“Didn’t he have a natural preference for warriors and soldiers? You know, being the god of war and all that?” Kyle asked.

“Krig thought all of life was a battle. He saw it in everything from sjakk, a game much like your chess, to cooking, to the battlefield. It was how one excelled in their given profession, which was how he judged them. And he was wont to say that even the best warrior is supported by a dozen others, from the smith, baker, farrier, medic, and even the whores,” Hilde answered. Her tone made it clear that she didn’t agree.

Kyle didn’t respond,