The Tempered Turns of Time by Becky James EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Becky James
- Language: English
- Genre: Contemporary Fantasy Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 3.4 MB
- Price: Free
LANDING THE FLAT OF MY FATHER’S BLADE WITH A THWACK, I SPUN
and launched three Artist blades with my other hand. Two sank into the
practice dummy with a satisfying, solid thunk while the outlier bounced,
clattering down the dummy’s armour.
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“Damn and blast.” I scraped sweat from my face. Cool wind chilled my
skin, the light fading fast. Soon, glowstones and torches would flicker to
life in the city below, delineating the districts.
Glittering gems set in lords’ and ladies’ homes surrounded the castle
walls, and, further down, the Dinahen district boasted concentrations of
glowstones in the public spaces, highlighting the trees and long tables set
out for the shared evening meal. The Rushia district had small fires, lighting
their coloured fabric with shining blues, greens and pinks, and next to it the
Daronian district was dark as usual, each family hearth kept behind their
doors. Below it all, the warehousing district at the foot of the mountain was
well-lit, as busy with deliveries through the night just as much as in the day.
I plucked the Artist blades out of the dummy. “Best three out of five,
old friend?”
The straw-and-wood training man twisted slightly. I waited for it to
settle, trying to calm and still myself, my mind turning on even so.
Liara was still nowhere to be found. She had escaped through a portal a
mooncycle ago, tearing her way through someplace Evyn couldn’t follow.
Not that I would want her to; we wanted to ask the only portal travellers we
knew about it, but they were absent as well.
I threw one knife to sink into the dummy’s throat.
Soon, Gavain would arrive. Word had been sent that he was well
enough to travel, and Gough had arranged official transport by barge. It was
due to arrive in the city any day now. Gough would speak with him and
determine for himself what responsibility he bore and what the punishment
should be for his part in a hazing incident against me that nearly caused
Evyn’s death.
Gavain tricked me. I trusted him and he had made out he was trying to
help me, and I fed her a sleeping draught mixed with bruswurt. It could
have killed her. He could have killed her.
With a snarl, I sent another knife out. It sank dead centre into the
dummy’s forehead. I gave Gavain a second chance after Torgund, and he
hurt Evyn. He does not deserve or warrant a third chance. I hefted the third
knife, feeling out the balance.
The target for the third knife was the eye. Penetrating one would kill
instantly; a blade to the brain guaranteed instant, painless death.
People change. For good and for ill. Even if I did not want them to, and
wanting otherwise was childish and immature. Time marched on and so did
the people around me, forging their own paths.
Like Aubin had.
I flung the knife. It spun, hilt smashing into the eye target. I growled
obscenities, hunting at my feet for my waterskin.
“Here.”
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