The Soldier's Tale
Story of a warrior who ends up alone after defeating all his enemies. Father was a warrior, conscripted (by a clerical error) as a young boy and taken from his small farming village to the great fortress of the city. He worked hard (as if he were tilling the fields that yielded his own life giving crops). He was recognized for his ability to speak in many tongues and was merited for it. He rose in the ranks.
His family (in the country) sent letters to him through intermediaries, but he never replied. He never disclosed his location or any information that would make him vulnerable. He learned the hard way when he was just an infantryman and he sent his first letter home. His sister went to receive the letter and was killed in an attack. After that his family never learned of his promotions, of his marriage, of his first born son.
When the great battles came, he left his city family set out to fight. And with each battle his mind grew more and more tactical and yet more and more battle-worn. He eventually brought his son along and taught him how to think like a warrior, never to trust anyone, to walk in the shadows of the enemy and attack when they were least suspecting it. When the boy was ten years old, he witnessed an unprecedented moment in the history of the great city. His father did not return from the last battle with the enemies of the North. The soldiers returned with much booty, goods and slaves, but a rumor was spreading that they had grown stronger and that the last battle was a stalemate. It filled him with anger to learn that his father died in a stalemate. He would not let his father down.
He became a great warrior just like his father and by the age of sixteen, was one of the great leaders of the military.
They sent emissaries with a peace treaty and watched as his father killed them at the border.