Free The Rogue Knight by Brandon Mull Page B

Cole asked.
    Twitch scratched his cheek and rubbed his nose. “Kasori isn’t large. It isn’t rich. For generations, our champion never fought. He was more alderman than warrior. We’re simple people. There were hardly any taxes. Nobody got rich from them. We didn’t fight with our neighboring grinaldi villages, and who besides those villages would take the trouble to bother us? Then Renford came.”
    â€œWho is that?”
    â€œThere’s a swamp not far from our village.” Twitch scrunched his nose. “A stagnant place full of reptiles and slime. Some ragged people live there, a few big families. The grinaldi plant, reap, and store. We work the land. The swamp folk are trappers and scavengers. They live like rats. After years without much contact between us, some of the swamp folk began to notice what we had, even though it wasn’t much. They sent their sons to train as soldiers, declared themselves a community, and named Renford Poleman their champion.”
    â€œOh, no,” Cole said.
    â€œRenford showed up one day with five knights, all dressed in mismatched, secondhand armor. He challenged Brinkus, our alderman, to single combat. None of us really thought of Brinkus as a champion, though technically that was his job. He was an older man with a bad wing, forgetful and funny. His son asked him to step down and let him fight in his behalf, but Brinkus faced the challenge himself. And he died.”
    â€œMaking Renford your champion,” Cole said.
    Twitch nodded. “Borus, the son of Brinkus, went to a neighboring village and asked to replace their champion. Their champion was no warrior, so he agreed to step down. You’re not supposed to challenge a new champion for six months, so Borus waited the correct amount of time, issued his challenge, and died as well. Renford went on to challenge and defeat the champions of the other two grinaldi villages in the area. He really is a skilled fighter. His knights, mostly brothers and cousins, are capable as well.”
    â€œSo an outsider took control of your villages,” Cole summarized.
    â€œNot just any outsider,” Twitch said. “A lazy bully. Many of the swamp folk came to live on our land. My family was thrown out of our home. Soon his knights exceeded the limit of twelve. They didn’t take care of the land and property they confiscated. Tame fields grew wild. Livestock was wasted. Renford not only raised the taxes, but he increased them beyond what anyone could pay. No Ellowine champion is permitted to tax above fifty percent, but his fees came closer to eighty. The best of our workers could barely scrape by. When a group of our people protested, they were slaughtered.”
    â€œWhat a mess,” Cole said, horrified.
    â€œMy people gave up,” Twitch said. “There weren’t a lot of us. Many of our bravest were killed. I had to do something, but attacking the swamp folk myself would have been pointless. I was a kid, and not much of a fighter. I snuck out of Kasori and traveled to Wenachi, the last of the grinaldi villages, too small and too far away to interest Renford. I told them our problem, and they agreed that if I could find a champion, he could represent their village. So I left in search of a hero.”
    â€œAnd then you got captured as a slave,” Cole said.
    Wings trembling, Twitch bowed his head. “The grinaldi live in isolation. We never bothered with freemarks or bondmarks. We had no needle masters. In my desperation to find a hero, I forgot how dangerous the rest of the world could be. I was caught, marked, and enslaved.”
    â€œYou still need a hero,” Cole said.
    â€œFinding one won’t be easy,” Twitch replied. “I’ve tried. The few outsiders who even know about the grinaldi don’t care about us. Our villages seem rich to the swamp people, but not to the champions of prosperous towns. I wasn’t having much luck, so I went