Chapter 18
A New Threat
Iomar: the Zaldeaan Realm, the Siege of Tarlah, Day One
Air streamed past as Iomar rode through the countryside, grain fields stretching left and right as his horse galloped along a cart track. This had always been his favourite way to ease tension, and with his father ruling as regent in Zaldeaa City and Kyura fighting a war he opposed in Tarlah, Iomar needed it more than ever. It wasn’t to last. As he and his bodyguards neared a town nestled against Wilder’s Forest, a few bowshots from the coast, he reigned in.
“What is that noise?” he asked.
“Shouts,” his captain replied. “From beyond the village.”
Iomar looked up to where a group of children had lined up to play throwing stones beyond the last cottage.
“Get inside!” the woman running towards them from the
