PrologueIt could never be said John Ruger didn’t live his life on his own terms.
Like most sentries, he’d been born into the job. It was his life and, for John, his first love. It was the tradition of sentries that skills and knowledge were passed from parent to children. Sometimes a family would take in those not born into a sentry family if they showed aptitude and interest.
The Rugers took in one such young man: Victor Raleigh. Victor and John learned, lived, and worked together along with others in their age group to become full-fledged sentries. Being born into a sentry family or being trained by one certainly didn’t guarantee one would become a sentry.
John and Victor competed for everything, including the love of a woman and to join the elite ranks of sentries. John became a sent
