Strings of Chance (The Ballad of Bards and Bastards Book 1) by Jeff Pryor

Author:Jeff Pryor [Pryor, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-06T22:00:00+00:00

Barbarians and Barmaids

“How long do you think it will take for us to reach Bithe?” Porter asked, forcing Edson away from his memories. Had it really only been three days since they left Eveltour? He was struggling to get Seynia out of his mind. Their second night together had been much more pleasant than the first, though there had still been a few terrifying moments. “Will it take as long as it took to go from Zorbelix to Eveltour?”

“Longer,” Jacob Turnstel said, saving Edson the trouble of replying. The leader of the caravan they were accompanying seemed to always be there whenever Edson opened a wine bottle but never around when the time came to buy more. “We'll be on the road at least three weeks.”

“That long?” Porter groaned and stood up. They were tending a small campfire, with Jacob's drivers and guards sharing a bigger one. “We should just ride on without the caravan. We can get there much faster on our own.”

“If you make it that far.” Jacob filled his goblet again with Edson's wine. Perhaps Porter's suggestion was worth considering. “There's a reason I have so many guards. There's safety in numbers.”

“I looked at Conrad's maps before,” Porter said, “Bithe didn't look to be that far from Eveltour.”

“It's not. The problem is the hills. All of the roads wind around the many hills and valleys between here and there.” Jacob sat back, lifted his goblet, and smiled. “You might as well enjoy the journey.”

“I have something that should help improve your mood,” Edson said. With Seynia dominating his thoughts, he had forgotten about Porter's gift. “There's a package wrapped in leather with my packs. Grab it for me.”

“I've been wondering what was in that,” Porter said over his shoulder as he walked toward the tent they shared. He was quickly back to the campfire with the package. “It's not more of that henbane-infused wine, is it?”

“Open it and find out,” Edson replied. If he had more of the vision-inducing wine, he would give it to Jacob instead. Perhaps that would discourage the man a bit. “Just be careful.”

“What's this?” Porter asked as he took a wooden case out of the leather wrapping. His eyes grew wide as he opened the case. “This is beautiful. What is it? It's not like your harp.”

“Alwin's harp, not mine.” It would always be Alwin's harp. “It's a lyre. You need something else besides the lute.”

“This is for me?”

“I have the harp.” Alwin had given Edson a similar lyre in the early days of his apprenticeship. He lost it in a night of bad dice rolls and worse wine. “Let me see it though. I'll show you how you hold it and some of the basics. We'll work on it every night.”

“Thank you.” Porter handed the instrument over. Edson had tuned it before wrapping it up but that was well before they had left Eveltour. He showed Porter how to hold and tune the lyre before playing a couple basic songs, including one of Alwin's early hits.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.