Shadow of Flame by Caitlyn McFarland

Author:Caitlyn McFarland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

The Bard

Cadoc leaned on the staff, panting.

The woman across from him, a scarlet-eyed, dusky-skinned Naga named Rajani, stood back and regarded him. She whirled her staff, the hoop in her nose glinting. “Shall we stop?”

“No. Again.”

She planted the butt of her staff on the ground with a thud that echoed through the bare stone room. “I’ve heard rumors that you’re stupid, awenydd. Until this moment, I thought they were wrong.”

Cadoc clenched his jaw at the sound of the nickname. He pulled his glove from his mangled right hand and held it at eye level. “Do I look like a bard to you?”

Shrugging, she raised the staff. “Again, then.”

She struck.

Cadoc hefted his own weapon and blocked her first attack, using his height and strength to match her as she came at him, hit after hit. But it was impossible to win. Without a second hand, he was useless.

Rajani’s staff connected with his temple. Pain exploded in Cadoc’s head. He dropped the staff and bent over, groaning.

Rajani let out a long-suffering sigh. “There are one-handed weapons you could try.”

“The staff is my weapon. It always has been.” Frustrated, Cadoc straightened.

Rajani indicated a long-hafted, single-bladed ax balanced by a wicked-looking spike. “Try a parashu. You’re strong enough to wield it one-handed.”

He couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice. “I don’t know how to use one.”

She jerked her head toward a rack of weapons. “I’ll teach you.”

Cadoc shook his head, throwing down the staff. “There’s no point.”

Rajani glared. “Perhaps we should call you mūrkha, since you no longer wish to be bard.”

“It’s not about wishing.” Cadoc didn’t speak Sanskrit, but he’d heard the insult before. Mūrkha. Fool.

“You have your voice, have you not?” Rajani demanded. “You can sing. You have your dominant hand. You can write music and play some instruments at least a little. Thank the Ancients Owain didn’t know you were left-handed instead of wallowing in your bitterness.”

Cadoc barked a laugh at the Naga woman. “Cut off one of your hands. Then talk to me about gratitude.”

Music jangled in his head, discordant and cruel. And still so lovely. If he’d had both his hands, he could play that tune. Release it into someone else’s ear so it would stop torturing him.

Ophelia came into room and nodded coolly to Rajani before turning to Cadoc. “Mair wants to see you.” One corner of her mouth curved up. “We’re ready.”

Ready. This could be it. Cadoc leaned the staff against the wall and strode after her. The training room, while not at the lowest level of the caves below Mair’s home, was still located underground, about halfway between the surface and bottom, where the hot springs were.

Fear and excitement boiled in his blood. The sooner he broke the curse, the sooner he could go home, where he was supposed to be. With the people he was supposed to be with.

Emerging into the cool, pine-shaded light of the upper floor, Cadoc passed Ophelia and shoved open the door to Mair’s office. It bounced off the wall with a crash.

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