Chapters 7-9 - The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett (Also: The Painted Man)

The third character the series will follow gets the least amount of 'air time' here. Rojer is very young, where I thought, for some reason he would be older. The Jongleur is a coward; but I suppose Rojer is too young to understand what happened. Perhaps he does. It will be interesting to see how music will be used as a weapon- and how Rojer will intend to play it with two fingers missing.

When the story returns to Arlen, he inspects a minor lord's keep and discovers it is very old- from before 'the returning', whatever that is. Back on the road he spots Regan and Keerin- but his body cuts out and he collapses. He is lucky to be alive, but drowns in sorrow to realize that a common weed could have saved his mother from infection. 'We have to take you back to your father' is counteracted with a solid 'no' and a hard, determined stare. Regan realizes that the child may have some talent and inherent understanding of warding that may be worth educating. Again, the one armed rock demon chases Arlen and continues in its rage to attack the wards unsuccessfully. I wonder if it will have a major role to play later in the story.

I would not be able to tell you when I first saw the big world for the first time, or when I saw my first country other than the United States, or my first beach, mountain or skyscraper. Arlen saw his first city, Miln- and it was impressive. Since I imagined Regan to look like me, I told myself 'nice' when they arrived at his home and the description given. When Arlen makes the comment about how the city stinks, the first scene in my mind is from Monty Python where the following dialogue is exchanged:

Must be a king.
Other guy: How do you figure that?
Well, he ain't got shit all over him.

We also see that the 'hovel' Arlen came from is bumpkinville out in west bumblefrick. A small, insignificant place out in the middle of nowhere that the Duke could care less about. What a bitch. Even beggars are a new concept to him. Perhaps he has not yet encountered greed and everything it entails. Cob should be an interesting character. Essentially, he says 'oh so you are eyeballing your wards eh? it's going to get you killed. Show me what you've got. I will apprentice you for seven years'. Arlen seems a little... ungrateful? lest we forget that the ways of the city and its people are still foreign to him.

Unfortunately, now I imagine Arlen to have a country accent, and a slight one later on as the story progresses and he gets older.