The Narrowing Path (The Narrowing Path Series Book 1) by David J. Normoyle

Author:David J. Normoyle [Normoyle, David J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-11-13T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

13 Days Left

Bowe twisted the azure cloak in his hands. He’d put on his tunic and pants, then taken them off after deciding they were too hot, and now had put them back on. He had nothing else to wear to an ascor event, so he would just have to suffer the heat. It was crazy to have an event take place in the afternoon this close to the Infernam, but he had to put up with it. This Harmony match was important—at least, he thought it was. Eolnar had, as promised, arranged a place in a qualifying match—if Bowe won, he’d play against the Guardians on the evening before the Infernam. Glil considered playing too risky, but Bowe tended to ignore Glil’s conservative advice. The Path didn’t leave much room for prudence.

Bowe walked onto a balcony that looked out over the central courtyard. He hoped that the fresh air would cool him. But the outside was worse—like a furnace expelling hot air. Beneath him, Edison trained alone, hacking and slashing the stuffing out of several dummies. In the center of the courtyard, Thrace was putting a row of escay teenagers through their paces. Bowe didn’t understand how they trained in this heat. Their arrival at Bellanger Mansion had been one of many shocks for Bowe when he had woken up.

He couldn’t even remember persuading the Deadbeats to join with him, though he’d heard the basics repeated by the newsbards many times since. How Bowe Bellanger had recruited a handful of Defenders while lying in his sickbed was their new favorite story. Only shards of his five fevered days in bed remained in his memory. Much good had come out of that fever, though—he’d achieved more in his short time of sickness than in all the time he was well.

He’d apparently insisted that they bring him to Bellanger Mansion in a stretcher. He didn’t have to fear the Raine marshals now that his loan was repaid. The whole brotherhood now resided here—plus others. He wasn’t sure why the escay girls had arrived to clean, or why escay boys had arrived to start training as guards—though he knew Iyra had something to do with it.

The escay boys barely knew which end of the sword to hold when they’d first arrived. Edison had tried to train them, and they’d all left nursing more bruises and cuts than they were willing to bear. After they had been coaxed back, Thrace had started training them. He shouted a lot, but he didn’t hit them as much as Edison. Things were improving. They were now able to pick up the sword by the handle instead of the blade nearly every time.

Bowe rubbed his fingers along the wooden balcony railing. It felt great to see the mansion coming back to life. In the courtyard, scrub brush had been cleared away to make room for the sparring. There were still many weeds, but it was getting better. The escay girls had started cleaning up years upon years of dust from the interior one room at a time.

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