by Randy Nargi
Gambrin rode in. His face was all smashed up.
“What happened to you?” I asked.
“They paid me a visit this morning. A couple of hours after you left. Blamed me for the stolen horse.”
“I’m sorry.”
He looked around and saw the three bodies of the miners and then he saw Davan Connaught’s body. “What happened to him?”
I said, “Revenge.” And then I passed out.
Chapter Seven
I AWOKE BACK IN THE BREWERY. It was warm and light filtered in through a small round window. Little Lomas was curled up next to me in a tangle of blankets. My wounds had been cleaned and bound, but blood crusted on my face and stomach. My entire body hurt and every breath I took resulted in a stabbing pain in my side. I needed a healer.
I wasn't sure how I got here, but it must have been because of Gambrin. Although I had no idea how a one armed man got me loaded on a horse. But in any case, I was grateful. Very grateful.
The view through the small window showed an overcast sky. It was late in the day. I tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea caused me to collapse back down. Then I passed out again.
When I awoke, a woman was there with a bowl of soup. I think it was the smell of the soup that woke me.
“The dead man rises,” she said with a smile. She was young with a round face and kind eyes.
I tried to ask her who she was, but all I could manage was a croak.
“Calm yourself, sir. Take some broth. It will help you.”
And she was right. After I drank down a full bowl of the soup, I was able to speak. “Where’s Gambrin?”
“I’m right here.”
He had just entered the room. Along with Raley, the big black dog. Gambrin thanked the woman and she bowed and departed—taking her soup bowl with her.
I said, “I was hoping for some more food.”
He laughed. “I’m not surprised at your appetite. You’ve been sleeping for three days.”
“Three days?”
“Aye. For a time there, we weren’t sure you’d wake up at all.”
I tried to sit up. The room danced. But I made it upright and took a deep breath.
Gambrin explained that he had just about given up on trying to get me on a horse when three men arrived from the north. They were kin of Gurran at the mill and were traveling there. They helped him get me back to Fort Sindal. And then there was some sort of negotiation—now that the Connaughts were out. And something about the previous owners—the Nechtally family—returning to Fort Sindal. I couldn't follow it all and I couldn't stay awake. But I got the feeling that everything worked out for the best.
Six weeks later I was fit enough to leave, but by that time there was already two feet of snow on the ground and there was no way I’d be able to make it to Prentel until spring.
So over the next six months, I decided to learn how to make beer. And I made a number of very good friends. Including two remarkable dogs.
And then one day in late March, under cool grey skies, I decided to dare myself again.
Could I leave Fort Sindal early—nearly a month before the likely last snowfall of the season—and make it to the next city?
I wondered…
Dear Reader
Thank you for coming with me on this journey and sharing Bander’s adventures.
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Revenge of the Battle Mage, The Temple of Fate, The River’s Bane are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Randy Nargi All rights reserved. Published by Bogwood Press, a division of Bogwood, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Nargi, Randy. The Bander Adventures: Books 4-6 / Randy Nargi. pages cm.
