Venture Unleashed (The Venture Books) Read Online Free PDF Page B

dormitory, and all three of them were packed. He pressed his hand to his chest to make sure his pendant was there, under his shirt. The others were getting Dasher’s carriage ready. Satisfied that he hadn’t left anything behind, Venture shrugged on his coat and put on his hat; it was cold and gray out there this morning.
    He picked up his old bag, and its weight hung painfully on the enlarged, still swollen knuckles of his over-stressed fingers. He slung the strap over his shoulder. Oh, that’s worse . He sucked in his breath, holding back a grunt of pain. He headed down the hall and out the side door, for the carriage.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” Earnest snatched the bag away from him.
    “You try to pick up another thing, kid, and I’m going to leave you behind,” Dasher said.
    Venture let out a sulky breath. He’d healed enough to travel, though not enough to run, let alone fight. And, apparently, in their opinions, not enough to load the carriage. Dasher had arranged for one of his servants from back home to come and be their driver, since they were going to be doing a lot of traveling. Venture watched him arrange the baggage the other men tossed to him, and felt completely useless.  
    While Dasher and Earnest went back inside to get the last of their things, he tried to make conversation with the driver, a husky man in his thirties whose name was Glad, though he had a naturally somber countenance and didn’t like to waste words.  
    “Have you ever been to Three Ponds?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Venture waited, but Glad didn’t elaborate. Thinking it might help Glad to warm up to him, Venture told him, “I’m from Twin Rivers. At home I serve Grant Fieldstone.”
    Glad looked him up and down disdainfully. “I know who you are. I know your place, whether you do or not.”
    “What?”
    “You’d better keep your business to yourself, if you’re to be Mr. Starson’s training partner.”
    “I don’t have a problem with my ‘business’ and neither does Dasher. Why should you?”
    “Someday you’ll know—his place, and yours, and it won’t be pretty.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    Glad climbed down, onto the cobblestone road. He leaned close to Venture. In a low voice, he warned, “A servant is nothing but a servant, and he shouldn’t pretend not to be. Especially a bonded one, one of the lowest class on earth. You aren’t worthy to so much as watch him fight, let alone learn from him.”
    Venture was flexing his hands and debating whether or not to use them, when Dasher appeared, right behind his driver.  
    “Glad,” he said, “you’re done here.”
    Glad jumped, then turned toward Dasher with his head bowed.
    Dasher pulled a leather bag of coins from his pocket and tossed it at the stunned driver. “This should get you back home.”
    Glad caught it clumsily, then reached into the carriage to fetch the small bundle of his possessions.
    “Dash—”
    “We’ll be fine without him.”
    “Ready to take off?” Earnest said from the doorway of the building. Then, as Glad brushed past him, “Where’s he going?”
    “He’s not coming. I’ll drive.” Dasher climbed deftly onto the driver’s seat and took the reins. “Vent, why don’t you ride up here with me for a while?”
    Venture joined him on the driver’s seat, and Earnest muttered, “Whatever,” and clambered into the carriage.
    The carriage began to roll forward in small, regular bumps over the cobblestone driveway that led from this wing of the complex, across the grounds, to the road.
    “You think I was too hard on him?”
    Venture hesitated. He would’ve thought yes, but for the size of that purse, that bundle of money that Dasher hadn’t even counted.  
    Dasher broke Venture’s silence himself. “Well, we’re capable of driving this thing ourselves, aren’t we? It isn’t worth his foul mood to drag that man along.”
    “Dasher, why—”
    “You’re my friend, that’s why. And if he weren’t