Lord Jalal knew that he wasn't a great warrior compared to the champions of the Vale of Mists or even the Golden Maned Children of Destiny who roamed the Southern Steppe. Airgead Mountain had never sought great power, nor had it built the sort of coalitions that gave rise to warriors like the gladiator beside him, who had fought against warriors from at least a dozen clans.
Whether a person derided them as lazy or praised them for their artistry, one thing everyone agreed on was that Airgead Mountain depended on its neighbors for protection from the humans, and they were lucky that the mountains beyond their home were too inhospitable for any but a few remote bands of outcasts to call home.
