Grog IV (The Ebon Blades Book 4) by RW Krpoun

Author:RW Krpoun [Krpoun, RW]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

The hill-folk fed us a big meal, and then there was music and dancing, but I did not take part. I soaked the pants I had worn in the fight, threw away the socks I had been wearing, and set about cleaning my boots with hot water and saddle soap, trying to get out all the blood I had sloshed through at the bottom of the ditch. Burk secured a bucket of barley beer and joined me.

“That wasn’t a bad fight,” he observed, scrubbing his left boot. “The skeff weren’t real challenging, but there were plenty of them.”

“Other than getting my boots full of skeff juice, I liked it well enough.” I dabbed more of the foul-smelling soap onto my boot. “You’re getting pretty good with your puppet.”

“It just takes time. The trick is following a script for a play; I’m a long way from that.”

“How will you make a script?”

“You get them from a book; I found a book of them a while back, but I haven’t really read it yet. You need more than one puppet, for one thing.”

“Huh.” I wasn’t very happy that Burk was doing well in this hobby, while I hadn’t found one yet; it seemed unfair.

Torl, mug in hand, strolled up and sat on an overturned wash tub. “Not dancing?”

Burk snorted.

“Can’t dance,” I rubbed the seams of my boot hard. “Don’t know how.”

“That doesn’t stop some,” Torl observed.

“Why aren’t you dancing?” Burk asked.

“Dangerous thing, dancing,” the scout mused. “It can lead to farming if you aren’t careful.”

“How?”

“Spinning a pretty girl around the dance floor has led many a lad down a short path that ends in marriage and responsibilities. Best not to risk it.”

“Do you know how to dance?” I asked.

“I used to, learned when I was young. Might not be able to do it now, though.” He took a long drink. “My sisters taught me. They were older than me, and mad for dancing.”

“What was it like, having sisters?” I finished the seams and started scrubbing the inside of my boot.

Torl was silent for so long, I thought he wasn’t going to answer, but finally he shrugged. “Good.”

“Is Hatcher dancing?” I decided to change the subject a bit.

“Like a whirlwind. Everyone is dancing except us three. Even Provine Sael, and she’s bone weary from patching up the wounded.”

“I’ve seen her dance a little,” I nodded. “She sang earlier today, too.”

“I think I could sing, if I knew the words,” Burk observed. “We sang while we marched, in training.”

“That was more just like yelling in time to the march,” I switched boots.

“How much different is that from singing?”

I thought about it. “Probably not all that much. Torl, can you sing?”

“Badly.”

We sat in companiable silence for a while.

“Will the Dancers try again?” Burk asked after a while.

“Enfran has a half-dozen good scouts watching them, and it looks like they’re leaving. Hunter says they can’t burn any more pillars in this area.”

“I could do without all this arcane stuff.” I sniffed the interior of my left boot, and decided it was as good as it was going to get.

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