Role

Chapter 4

Much can change in a few short years, and much has changed in Tamhas's
life as he has grown from a young boy and into a man.

Tamhas, once known to the world as merely another slave boy, is now known
as a Squire to the Holy Brigade of the Phoenix. He is known as a devout
priest of the Lord Korsgaard. He is known as a Paladin, a protector of
the innocent and hunter of the wicked.

While he maintains the humility one might expect of an enslaved youth,
Tamhas knows what he has become and is even somewhat proud of it. He has
done good and he has done well, and Thera is in some small way better for
it. But something troubles him still.

Tamhas, after all, is a Paladin and like all Paladins, he has taken a
sacred oath to follow the Paladin's Code. He has sworn to respect the
laws of Thera and those whom it protects. But Tamhas the Paladin is also
a criminal.

Or at least, he is branded as one by what he sees as corrupt and
misguided Magistrates. Tamhas the Paladin is now called Tamhas the
murderer.

But how does a man who strives so hard to be incorruptable serve the pure
and innocent of Thera, when so many view him in the same light as Thera's
most vile? It is a question with no easy answer, one which Tamhas must
navigate with the utmost care.

One thing is certain at least. While Tamhas has long suspected the
twisted motivations of the Blood Tribunal, he now knows for certain that
they are self-serving at best, and utterly corrupt at worst. While their
dark-hearted Magistrates have largely been given safe passage by the
Brigade in the past, Tamhas can no longer see them as Thera's arbiters of
justice. Far too many of them are a corruption of the law rather than
enforcers of it, their wicked men no different than the wicked men met
outside the city walls.

If only the noble guards could see the truth that Tamhas sees. Until
then, he must be very careful indeed.