Dragon Blood-Hurog 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

outnumbering the blackstone.
    Inside the wall, the bailey was oddly barren now that the miscellaneous small buildings my ancestors had
    added were gone. It had taken a great deal of work to level the bailey, since the earthen mound the keep had sat upon had settled after some of the caves beneath it had collapsed. The new guards' quarters were built against the wall near one of the six towers, the only stone building in
    the bailey except for the forge. The quarters were a neat, rectangular building that took up half the ground
    of its predecessor with twice the usable space. There was stabling in the bailey for a few animals, but most of the horses were outside, between the inner wall and where the outer had once stood. I sighed, thinking of the outer walls, and decided to continue to work on the floor of the main hall—something that might be finished before I died of old age. Tosten was working alone on the floor and I joined him. Tiling was mucky and nasty, and the lime in the grout found its painful way into every
    little cut.
    "Why did you rebuild Hurog so large?" Tosten asked, fitting a tile into the pattern we'd decided upon.
    "It
    doesn't need to be this big anymore. Hurog isn't rich and this seems pretentious. We could have had a hall half this size, two stories instead of three, and half the bedrooms." I could have argued the large. It only felt big because he and I and Oreg were the only Hurogs left to live
    in it. My sister, Ciarra, had married our cousin Beckram and lived at Iftahar, my uncle's estate. Iftahar's keep rang with the sounds of children and seemed much smaller than it actually was. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html I said, "There is little expense involved—the granite is ours and only needs quarrying. I'd be paying the Guard anyway, they might as well do something for it."
    Tosten snickered, "I'd like to hear you say that in front of Stala." I widened my eyes and dulled the expression on my face. "Do I look stupid to you?"
    "No one," he said, fitting a tile against the grout he'd laid down, "is as stupid as that." I laughed and looked around at the keep. "It's not that large; you could fit our keep into the king's palace
    at Estian a dozen times over. The trade with the dwarves isn't much yet, but Axiel tells me that the mysterious illness that had afflicted his people is over. There are dwarven children now, after so many years, and soon there'll be more time to spare for the making of luxury goods for trade." Tosten nodded. "Good for him. I haven't talked to him since he came here last winter and helped finish your room."
    "Neither have I," I said, "but Oreg visits him now and again."
    "How is Tisala?"
    "The only thing we're still worried about is her left hand, but she'll live even if Oreg doesn't manage to save it."
    He nodded again and turned his attention to the floor. After a little while he began humming a ballad. When he began singing, I joined in, too. After a bit we began to attract a group of children, so we hammed it up a little. Tosten found a song with male and female roles. He took the male in a high squeaky voice, and I sang the female in bass. We entertained the children and worked on the floor until it
    was time for dinner. Even Tosten was hoarse, but the cook brought in hot-mulled cider and kissed his cheek in gratitude for keeping the children at bay while their mothers cooked and cleaned. 3—WARDWICK
    Rejecting properly sent invitations is impolite and can cause lasting harm to one's future. After I finished eating I ventured up to check on my guest. One of the maidservants had told me she'd brought soup and bread up but Tisala had been sleeping.
    The Lord's Chamber at Hurog would show well against any room I'd ever seen, including the royal chambers at Estian. It had been a gift from the dwarves who'd snuck in while I was away at Iftahar working out some business with my uncle.
    The wood trim was some exotic southern hardwood, full