Rise of a Hero (The Farsala Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and twenty-three, to serve for five years,” said Kavi. In all fairness, that was exactly what Patrius had told Kavi before the Hrum invaded—all men fit to fight. After the battle Strategus Garren—Governor Garren, he was now—had announced the draft to all the people of Desafon and given them three months to set their lives in order before reporting. Patrius had been astonished when Kavi burst into his tent and accused him of lying. But Kavi had told him that Farsalan peasants never fought, that that was a deghan’s job.
    He should have realized that an army like the Hrum’s, that admitted women into its ranks, would also consider peasants fit to fight. It was Kavi who had assumed that the Hrum wouldn’t consider making peasants into warriors, any more than the deghans had.
    When the Hrum patrol had captured him, Kavi’s one intention had been to lie fast enough to survive and escape. It was only after the long, rainy night he’d spent talking to Patrius, that he had come to believe that the Hrum would be better masters than the deghans. And they were, in many ways. But now that the invasion was uponthem, the few ways the Hrum weren’t better seemed to be mattering more.
    “Is it safe for you to be here?” Nadi asked quietly. “You’re nineteen. I’d think you’d want to stay as far from the Hrum as possible. In fact, I wondered . . . We were worried about you.”
    “Near twenty now,” Kavi told her. “But you needn’t fear for me.” He held up his scarred hand. “This isn’t holding a sword any better than it will a hammer.” The relief in Nadi’s face lightened his heart. There weren’t many in this world who worried about him. “But what’s this about Sim being drafted at twelve?”
    “It’s only for two marks each morning,” said Sim, with a slightly guilty glance at his mother. “And for now it’s just building strength and endurance. They make us lift things over and over, and run forever. But when we get strong enough, we get to start with a sword. Just a wooden one at first, but . . .”
    He babbled on, as Nadi went to get a bowl of bean-and-sweet-potato porridge left over from the family’s supper, and Hama made up a pallet for Kavi in front of the fire. Hama even managed to push in a few sentences. It seemed working inthe laundry was boring after stealing gold and selling fake pots, but her mother was giving her more and more responsibility, and some of the little ones were becoming old enough to help. And the business was doing well, Sim chimed in. Well enough they could spare him for a few marks in the morning. The fighting had shut things down for several days, for folk were afraid to go out. But now, with the Hrum patrols about, it was actually safer on the streets than it had been under the old, corrupt city guard.
    The rule of law, just as Patrius had promised. And better for his folks than the deghans’ rule, just as Kavi himself had promised. He hadn’t been wholly wrong.
    Still, he wasn’t surprised the next morning, that after Sim went to his training, Nadi sent Hama and the young ones to open the laundry without her.
    Nor did Hama seem surprised, though Kavi could tell that her mother’s trust pleased her. He waited as Nadi cleared up the breakfast dishes, wrapped the leftover bread in a tight-woven cloth, and finally brought the kettle over to refill their mugs.
    “I hesitate to ask for more help, after all you’ve done for us.” She put the kettle down on the hearth and sat on the bench opposite Kavi as she spoke. “No, that’s a lie. I don’t like it, but it doesn’t look like I’m going to hesitate for a moment, does it now?”
    Kavi grinned. “I’d be insulted if you hesitated, and you know it too. But what’s the problem? The business is doing well, all the children are well and happy—even Hama, for all she says she’s bored.”
    “It’s Sim. No, it’s not him, it’s those Flame-begot Hrum and their draft. I’m not having Sim go off to