Chapter 12: The Mud and the Echo

The rain did not stop for three days. It turned the training grounds into a sea of brown sludge, sent rivulets down the stone corridors, and made the air thick with the smell of wet earth and pine. Classes were moved indoors, and the usual sounds of the academy—the clash of practice weapons, the bark of instructors, the laughter of students—were muted, replaced by the drumming of water on roofs an...