Tarah Woodblade Read Free

I was suspicious when I heard you still had a rogue horse in captivity.”
    “We done got two, yer scholarshipness,” said Blayne and though he held his hat in his hands, his demeanor was firm. “We ain’t told no one ‘bout ‘em fer a long while ‘cause Pa wanted to hold onto ‘em fer himself.”
    “No one was willing to pay the sum you wanted, you mean?” Scholar Abernathy asked walking along the side of the rogue, examining its flank.
    Blayne wasn’t about to admit that. He blinked and said, “Naw, it ain’t ‘bout the money. Pa’s fond of ‘em and he didn’t want to sell ‘em to no wizard that’d just accidentally melt ‘em to goop. When he heard you was a scholar, why he said, ‘that Abernathy’d be just the right sort for our . . . Puppy’.”
    Lenui gave his uncle a scowl.
    Abernathy snorted, but continued to examine the animal, walking around to the other side. He kept a slight distance to avoid touching it again, a look of distaste on his face.
    “The High Scholar is not fond of dogs, dwarf,” said the steward with the black sash. “If you had two rogue horses, why did you not bring them both and let him choose the one he wanted?”
    “My dislike for canines will not matter in this case,” the gnome said, waving his hand absently. “However, I must wonder why this one was chosen. It is shivering. Is it ill?”
    “Would you like us to have it examined first, High Scholar?” the steward in the black sash asked.
    Blayne sputtered in offense. “‘Course it ain’t sick. What’re you tryin’ to imply? We ain’t gonna bring no sick goods to our-!”
    “Puppy’s fine,” Lenui interrupted, hoping to keep his uncle from screwing things up too badly. “Pa Cragstalker just chose him ‘cause he’s the calmer of the two rogues. The other’n gets excited too easy.”
    Blayne shot him a glare that promised him a whupping later and Lenui winced. His arse would be just as sore as Donjon’s after they got back to camp. He vowed he wouldn’t show it like Donjon did though. He might be young, but he wasn’t like these Cragstalkers. He was a Firegobbler and tough as iron. Just like his daddy.
    “Bringing the calmer animal was likely for the best, considering its purpose,” said the gnome. “But why does it shiver?”
    “The durn thing don’t like bein’ wet,” Blayne explained. “It hates the water so much it don’t even like drinkin’ from the pond back home.” His eyes widened as he realized the gnome might consider that a bad thing. “But that don’t matter. It’s a rogue. It’ll do whatever you tell it to, whether it likes it or not. You could tell it to swim ‘cross the Wide River’n it’d do it.”
    The gnome didn’t glance at the dwarf, but he smiled to himself. “Even better.” He held out his thin arm and one of the green-sashed stewards rushed forward with a towel and wiped the gnome’s hand clean. “I think I am ready. Pay the dwarf.”
    The black-sashed steward hesitated. “Are you sure, High Scholar? Do you want to pay full price for this animal?”
    “Do it,” Abernathy said.
    “Yes, High Scholar,” she said and gestured. Two of the guards rushed over and retrieved a wooden chest from the back of the steward’s horse and brought it over. They set the chest down in front of Blayne and she handed him the key. “You will find your payment in full within the chest.”
    The dwarf opened the chest and Lenui caught a glimpse of gold before his uncle shut it. Blayne smiled and gestured to Donjon, who carried the chest back to their horses. He looked back to the steward. “You realize we’ll be countin’ this when we get back to camp?”
    “I counted it all myself, sir,” said the steward with a slight frown.
    “Alright, then,” Blayne said. “A few things you’shd know bout this rogue. It’s a meat eater so it don’t much like grains. It’s smart as a reg’lar horse, but not much smarter. Also like all rogues, if you let some wizard pry too much