Chapter 14, Hope Shoemaker:
Parlor tricks, that was the best Hope had been able to master. Controlling fire to a small degree and light to a small degree. She needed more power. The army her father developed wasn’t nearly large enough to fight three wars at once, and slaves as a fighting force never proved useful. The population of her city-state would not be enough to defeat Zar, let alone this new threat advancing from the south. Her fleet was built for commerce not warfare. Why her father backed the population of North Shakopee she would never understand. Now she had to contend with them.
She had a tome, a book of great age that promised to increase her army size a hundred-fold with some stipulations, but she was fine with the cost. Her desire: everyone would understand the price. If
