Path to Honor by Alexa Aston

Author:Alexa Aston
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Medieval
Publisher: 0
Published: 2018-09-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

NAN SURVEYED THE archers as the group who had just fired at the earthen targets collected their arrows and the next set of men readied themselves for their turns. A week had passed since she had come to Thorpe Castle and the progress Tristan’s troops had made pleased her. After the incident that first day with the jeering soldier, the men had been very respectful toward her, even keen to learn what she had to teach them.

She hadn’t spent much time around Tristan since usually she worked in the butts while he remained in the training yard when he wasn’t working on the estate’s affairs. Nan had learned Tristan also served as the Leventhorpe’s steward. She found it hard to believe he carried such a heavy load of responsibility and believed it was because he found it difficult to have confidence in anyone. Her curiosity burned, wondering why he found it hard to trust. To love. To open up to others. His own sister seemed starved for his affection but he held her at arm’s length, only politely inquiring about her day at the evening meal. Nan doubted he truly listened to Gillian’s response, which only made the girl even more desperate for her brother’s attention. At least Gillian now had David in her life, hopefully for good. Nan believed them well suited for one another and didn’t foresee Tristan having any complaints against a union between the two. If he wanted his sister wed, he could find no better man than David Devereux to be her husband.

Seeing the first group of archers was now out of the way, she gave the orders in quick succession, telling the second set to ready themselves, nock, mark, draw, and finally loosen their arrows. She repeated the instructions until five arrows had been fired and inspected the targets to see where the arrows had landed and how accurate the archers had been.

“Diggin, you have done the best work today of those present. I commend you.”

The soldier grinned broadly and accepted a few slaps on the back from his comrades. He had been the one who mocked her that first day. Now, Diggin was her biggest supporter on the range, eager to listen to her advice and even helping others as he proved to be more competent than his fellow soldiers. Nan would make sure Tristan knew this. Hopefully, Diggin could be given more responsibility to reward his efforts.

“Collect your arrows,” she told the men. “That will be it for the day.” Pausing, she added, “I think we should hold an archery contest tomorrow, both with crossbows and bow and arrows. It’s time to see you put into practice what we’ve worked hard on this past week.”

The soldiers gathered up their equipment and left the butts, excitedly discussing tomorrow’s competition and ready to spread the word to the others. Seeing them leave, Nan wished again that Tristan could take on more men and wondered if lack of coin to pay them was an issue.

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.