Steel And Flame (Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

Marik with
no recourse except to seek quick jobs from the townsfolk.  He wanted to forgo
his apprenticeship to give him time for jobs which earned coin, but Lilly
insisted he continue.  Her health failed steadily so he acquiesced, though he
skipped days without telling her when the promise of high pay arose.
    Pate knew full well about Marik’s problems, and while
he held his tongue around his apprentice, the master crafter never lost a
chance to degrade Marik to anybody who would listen in the taverns.  He had
never made a secret that he disliked taking on a mercenary’s son.  Since Marik
began failing to show up regularly, and seemed disinterested when he did, he
became Pate’s favorite topic to rant about.
    “What can you expect from the get of a cutthroat? 
He’s never wanted to do an honest day’s work in all the time I’ve had
him!  Begging for coppers now from whoever’ll listen.  Be thieving wherever he
can next I’ll wager, like his daddy!  You watch your possessions when you know
he’s about, that’s my advice.
    “I’ve seen that chunk of gold he was flashing about,
too.  Minta showed it to me when she was commissioning her last safe box to
hide valuables like that during transport.  Big as my thumbnail it was!  I just
ask you where a sword-for-hire could have gotten something like that ‘nless he
stole it!  That’s if he ever got it himself in the first place!  What?  Huh! 
That’s what she says, but who knows, eh?  A woman who’d take up with
that kind of man in the first place, well, who knows what she gets up to while
he’s not around to keep her bed warm…”
    Tattersfield had never trusted Marik to any degree. 
Now, Pate’s ramblings were making matters worse for him.  Pate held respect in
the town and the people listened to him on a variety of matters.  Marik knew
the woodworker to be the cause behind the increased wariness he experienced
from the people he met but he was at a loss for anything to do about it.
    If he confronted Pate, it would turn nasty.  His
temper, which used to be less volatile than the woodcrafter’s, would get the
better of him.  The entire town would likely stand behind Pate, however unjust
it might be.  Marik gritted his teeth, deafened his ears, and spent entire days
wishing as he sweated under hard labor that Rail would finally return home so
all these bastards would be put in their place.
    His mother’s condition worsened as the summer
progressed.  The herbman gave them various medicines, none of which made any
improvement.  Marik barely made enough to buy new stocks when the pouches
emptied.  In the dark candlemarks of the night he wondered if the coins were
being thrown away.  Such thoughts sickened him.  He met with the herbman
several times to receive different medicines.  All proved as ineffective as the
previous ones.
    A few coppers could usually be earned helping caravans
unload their cargoes and helping tend their horses.  He took to asking if any
members were learned in medicines.  When he discovered one, he would explain
his mother’s situation.  Most were indifferent to his problems, but others were
willing to listen for a few moments.  The ones who gave him advice usually told
him to try the same medicines he had been using already.  Few ever offered new
suggestions.  Unfortunately, the new medicines they did recommend were hardly
cheap or easily found in the regions around Tattersfield.
    Further inquiries among the caravans led him to obtain
small quantities of exotic cures.  Yet despite his best efforts, Lilly’s health
continued to falter.  His frustrations mounted as the long days drew on without
improvement.
    Marik chose to work off his anger with old equipment
left behind by his father.  The blade remained in fairly good shape.  Not
wanting to carry heavy spare equipment around, Rail had left it at home.  He
had dutifully cared for the equipment during his time spent with his family in
Marik’s