Reign of Madness (Revised Edition) Read Online Free Page B

rest of us,” Malcius muttered.
    “Speak for yourself,” said Brandt. “ I am utter
perfection,” he remarked facetiously as he ran a hand through his long silky
hair.
    Palis punched Brandt in the arm and replied, “Yeah, perfect
for using as a practice dummy.”
    Brandt sniffed and said, “You laugh now, but I am going to
beat you in the tournament.”
    Palis barked a laugh and said, “You will be lucky to make it
into the same tier as me.”
    “I placed high enough in the spring tournament,” Brandt
defended.
    “Only because most of us were stuck at the field training our uncle insisted upon,” Palis remarked.
    Rezkin arched a brow. “Field training?”
    Brandt rolled his eyes and answered, “The general got it in
his head that we should all know how to survive in the wild ‘ just in case .’ 
Luckily, I got to leave early to participate in the tournament.”
    Malcius added, “It was supposed to be survival training for
young lords, but try telling a bunch of nobles to leave their finery at home.
Everyone had massive tents and soft cots, wine and bread and cheese aplenty. It
was more like a three-week social gathering. Uncle Marcum was furious.”
    “You were there with the rest of us,” Brandt chided.
    Malcius shrugged, “I admit it. I like my fine things and
prefer to live in comfort. Besides, it was ridiculous. When would we ever need
such skills? It is not like we go wandering off into the wild. We live in the
city, and we travel by ship or in a caravan of coaches and guards with people
to see to our needs. I do not see why I need to know how to trap a
rabbit or build a fire pit.”
    Frisha, who had been very quiet up until now, straightened
and lifted her chin. “Rezkin can do all of those things. He is quite the
skilled woodsman.” Rezkin gave her a warning glance, but she ignored it and
continued. “When we traveled the river before, much like now ,” she
emphasized, “we encountered a problem with a massive gang of bandits. We were
forced to abandon the ship and travel by land for a week with not much more
than a single pack each. Rezkin and the soldiers hunted for food, set up camps,
and battled the bandits. Rezkin even treated the soldier’s wounds afterward.
What do you think you could do if the ship went down and you lost all of
your finery?”
    Mouths were agape all around and Frisha felt a small
satisfaction with the nobles’ loss of composure. Eyes darted back and forth
between Frisha and Rezkin. Rezkin cocked his head and studied Frisha curiously.
It was interesting that when she finally gathered enough courage to speak with
conviction, it was to do so in his favor.
    Malcius recovered first and waved off Frisha’s claim, “Yes,
yes, but you had the soldiers with you to take care of things, and killing a few
bandits can hardly be considered a battle .”
    Frisha scowled. “There were several dozen bandits and
only six soldiers. Tam and I had no weapons training at the time, and we were
pretty much useless. Rezkin was magnificent, though,” she said as she took a
note from Shiela’s book and batted her lashes at him. Frisha had not really
seen much of the battle, actually. She was too busy trying to keep the panic at
bay, her eyes darting in every direction, seemingly all at once. She had picked
up bits and pieces of the discussions between the soldiers and Jimson
afterward, though. She knew Rezkin had been quite impressive but did not know
to what extent. “Besides,” she continued, “that was only the first time
we battled with bandits.”
    The others were a mixture of confused and impressed, but
Tieran was terrified. He had seen the look of death in Rezkin’s eyes when they
first met in Kaibain, and now he knew for certain that Rezkin was no stranger
to bloodshed.
    Rezkin suddenly laughed boisterously and waved away the serious
mood, “You know I can never seem to sit still for long. I am always picking up
some new hobby. I suppose I have acquired an odd assortment of