The Shadow Companion Read Online Free PDF Page B

over, exposing a knight’s belongings to the weather and resulting in the hapless squire responsible having his ears boxed.
    Newt had come along while the boy and two of his friends were trying to get the fabric back up, while the knight took refuge with a neighbor, drinking wine and watching the boys struggle.
    “Fine example of chivalry,” Newt had said, but only to himself. Out loud, he had ordered the smallest boy to collect all of the objects still lying in the grass and place them under a small, oiled tarp.
    Meanwhile, he and the two other boys began replacing pegs, careful not to trip over or stumble into any of the neighboring tents in the dark. The rain finally let up just as he was about to tell them to bring out the top-most fabric. They were able to unfold the cloth and set the ropes without too much difficulty, despite the lack of light beyond the torches the knights had put up.
    “Down, boy,” Newt said now, holding his hand at hip level to illustrate what he wanted, the way he would if working with a half-trained dog. His voice was soothing, gentle, and shaking with laughter, as he teased the younger boy who held the other end of the rope.
    “Grrrr.” The boy at the other end of the rope bared his teeth and growled, but obediently went down onto his knees in order to tie the rope to the peg without losing any of the tautness.
    “You pull a good rope,” one of the squires called. “Pity it’s bound to end up around your neck.”
    Newt laughed and went to the third rope, makingsure it had been tied properly. There were few things you learned faster working in the kennels, the way he had as a young boy, than how to tie a secure knot.
    “Up the tent!” Newt called, and they hauled on the ropes until the pavilion cover was upright once again.
    “Good, dog-boy!” one of the squires called, continuing the rough-handed teasing. “Say woof!”
    “That’s horse-boy to you, and I say to you ‘neigh.’”
    “Four legs, a tail, and no brains—not so much of a difference between horse and dog.”
    “You take that back!”
    Newt looked up from tying off the final rope only to see the squire flat on his back in the mud, Gerard looming over him, holding him down. “You don’t speak to him like that—not until you’ve done as much as he has,” Gerard growled.
    “Ger!” Newt knew that Gerard had a temper—he had, in fact, been at the receiving end of it many times—but this seemed extreme. “Gerard, it’s okay!” He hauled Gerard off the now muddy squire, shoving him, gently, to arms’ distance away.
    “What was that all about?”
    “He said—”
    “I heard what he said.”
    “He—it doesn’t bother you?” Gerard looked at Newt, then up at the now clear sky as though there might be some answer up there.
    “It would have if it meant anything.” Newt knew that he had sore spots, things that riled him when poked, but he very rarely got angry. His mother had taught him to let things slide off his shoulders, and working with animals sensitive to your moods had set the lessons in stone. Anger had no place in his life, especially over such a foolish thing as name-calling.
    “I appreciate the championship,” Newt said. “But I don’t need it.”
    He was tired of Gerard always playing the squire role no matter what, as though that were the only thing that mattered. He was tired of hiding his participation in events, of staying quiet in order to keep any rumor or hint of trouble at Camelot from spreading.
    “If you’d fought like that when we first met, you might actually have won,” he said instead.
    “If Sir Lancelot hadn’t shown up to save you, you’d have been wearing your face backward,” Gerard retorted, reaching to help the squire he’d justtackled up from the mud. “Callum, isn’t it?”
    “Yes.”
    “Sorry about that, Callum. Newt’s a friend of mine, and I don’t take well to him being mocked. Even in jest.”
    “I’ll remember that.” The boy was unhappy, but