Free The First Blade of Ostia by Duncan M. Hamilton

than later.’
    ‘What would you have me do?’ dal Ronvel said.
    ‘You still have influence with the Bannerets’ Commission, don’t you?’
    ‘I’m not on it anymore, but yes, I’m still involved.’
    ‘I want Amero’s first fight to be a mismatch.’
    ‘I can’t do that,’ dal Ronvel said, his voice hushed despite the lounge being otherwise empty. ‘Arranging for your son to win his first duel goes against everything the Commission was established to do.’
    Renald laughed. ‘You misunderstand me, Kristo. I want Amero to be outclassed, defeated and made to feel like a fool. But I want it done somewhere discreet, where there won’t be many to see it happen. One good, sharp kick to his pride should knock this nonsense from his head before he draws too much attention to himself.’
    ‘Even still, Renald. You’re asking too much. The only way I can see of doing it is to have him placed high on the Ladder before he starts, so he meets an experienced, successful duellist first time out. Tampering with the Ladder though…’
    ‘I seem to recall you once telling me you were in my debt. I think I was pulling you out from under a dead horse at the time.’
    Dal Ronvel flushed. After a moment he shook his head and sighed. ‘I’ll see what I can do. But I can’t promise anything. How good is he?’
    Renald smiled. ‘He got his Blue, but he’s young, inexperienced, headstrong. Nothing someone with a few tricks up their sleeve couldn’t handle, I expect.’

Chapter 8
    T here was no fame , no glory and—contrary to what Amero seemed to believe—no adulation from a horde of beautiful women for victory. There was, however, a purse of silver florins that now hung from Bryn’s belt, the weight of which could not have felt more satisfying were it stuffed to capacity with gold crowns.
    It was the first time that he had money earned by his own hand, and small sum though it might be, that in itself brought an extraordinary sense of accomplishment. That he had earned prize money from duelling in the arena was almost beyond his comprehension. There were too many years of dreaming and too many hours of training for him to be able to fully take that in.
    Now that he had fought a duel and won, there was only one thing on his mind. Even a day after the event his name would be on the Ladder, and he had waited a lifetime to see it there in black and white.
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    ‘ I ’d like to see the Ladder please,’ Bryn said. It was early and the Bannerets’ Hall was empty but for some staff.
    The clerk looked at Bryn with sleepy eyes before shuffling away from the counter and into a back room. He reappeared a moment later with a leather folio bulging with sheets of paper. He dropped it down onto the counter with a thud and returned to a stool by the doorway to the back room.
    Bryn felt his skin tingle with excitement as his hand hovered over the folio. He had promised himself that he wouldn’t come to the Bannerets’ Hall to look at the Ladder until he had several winning duels under his belt, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself. His name was in there now, inked onto the same pages as the duellists he had supported obsessively in his youth. Great men, men he very much admired had done as he was now doing; opening the Ladder to see their name contained within for the first time.
    The leather folio—the Ladder in its physical incarnation—contained a listing of every registered duellist in the city and their ranking. It was updated regularly, and Bryn fully expected that his name would now be included in it.
    Being in the Ladder was a rite of passage for any aspiring duellist. Baldario, Rosetto, Calduro; the names of all the greats had been contained within at some point, with all of the retired pages stored within the Bannerets’ Hall’s archive. All of his life he had dreamed of having his name join theirs within. Now it had.
    He flipped open the leather cover to reveal the first page. He knew his name would be far from