Ink Mage (A Fire Beneath the Skin Book 1) by Victor Gischler

Author:Victor Gischler [Gischler, Victor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2013-10-21T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Tosh put the girls through their paces, or rather Tenni did while he watched. She, Prinn, and Darshia were nearly as good as Tosh now, which is to say far from master swordsmen, but good enough to keep alive on a battlefield until it was time to run away.

They had to bring the girls down in shifts since there was only room in the cave for about a dozen of them to pair off and have room to spar. Tenni was putting them through some basic stances. When the next shift came down, Darshia would take charge.

When it had been put to the girls that they would now learn swordsmanship, their reply had been surprisingly enthusiastic. Only two women had packed their things in the night and slipped away. Tosh had been surprised more hadn’t left. Perhaps the girls simply didn’t know what they were in for.

Neither did Tosh, not really. Mother hadn’t deigned to say what her plan might be, only that it behooved oneself to be prepared. Tosh had reported frequently on the girls’ progress, and Mother had nodded quietly every time, tensely quiet, as if some secret scheme were coming to fruition.

The cave below the Wounded Bird was thick with girl sweat. Tosh didn’t mind.

The first shift ended, and the women went upstairs to bathe and then pleasure the slow trickle of Perranese warriors who patronized the brothel. Nobody in Klaar could quite understand why the bulk of the foreign garrison had been moved outside the walls when a perfectly good city was available to shelter them through the brutal winter. There had been three harsh blizzards since the arrival of the Perranese, but Klaar was still waiting for the big one, the storm that inevitably arrived each winter to punish anyone foolish enough to dwell in such climes.

When the others had gone, Tenni went to Tosh and planted a soft but lingering kiss on his lips.

“You’re enjoying this too much,” Tosh said.

Tenni kissed him again on the cheek. “Not enjoying, but I think it’s a good idea.”

“Why?”

“No woman starts out to be a whore,” she said. “I hope you think I’m worth more than that.”

Tosh sighed. “Of course. I didn’t mean—”

“I want to do something else, to rise above where I am. What I am. And I want to fight against those who’ve invaded my home. This way I can do both.”

Tosh nodded, kept his face serious. He didn’t want Tenni to think he wasn’t listening, wasn’t taking her seriously. “I know. Honestly, I do. But the thought of you ending up like Freen …”

She moved in quickly, her arms going around behind him to pull him close. Her face against his chest. She heard his heart beat. “I know. But this is the time. Don’t you feel it? History is thrusting us into the path of … something. I don’t know. Really, I’m not sure how to explain, but can’t you sense it? The world is being tossed into chaos, and there are just

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