The Flyer
Page 28
When the questions failed to materialize immediately, Blue cracked an eyelid. He spied on Dale as the boy tucked his legs beneath his bottom and squatted on the rock a foot or so away. The scent of soap and beef wafted on the evening breeze.
Dale squinted into the bright orange and yellow rays. He looked much like his mother, with bright blue eyes and wavy hair the same golden shade as new wheat. The boy may have inherited the color of his mother’s eyes, but the curiosity that sparked in them, as well as the often determined set of his strong jaw, came from his father. Finally settled, he asked, “What are you looking at, Blue?”
“Nothing. At least, nothing out there.”
“Why do you sit here like this every night?”
“I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. I watch you from my window.” As if to prove the possibility, the child twisted and pointed toward the large house that sat a short distance from the rocky tower. “You sit here for the longest time. Every night, you do.”
“I’m in the Dreaming.”
Dale’s eyes formed full moons in his unlined, pudgy face. “When you’re awake? How do you dream if you’re not sleeping?”
“It’s not that kind of dreaming. The Dreaming is the place that holds all the answers. Out there. At the beginning of time.”
“Like what?”
“Many things. Like why the eagle flies higher than the magpie.”
Dale heaved a sigh.
Blue cracked the same eyelid and hid a smile. “You must learn patience, mate. Not all answers are yours to have. They are given when you are ready to listen and understand.”
“What are you dreaming about now?”
A heavy weight settled on Blue’s shoulders. He carried more than his share. The boy’s question needed more than a simple answer. Should he tell Dale the whole truth, now? He was so young. He couldn’t possibly understand. But, then again, why would Blue see the dream before the boy was ready?
Not often did the spirits visit him without purpose. But they were ever cryptic in their messages.
He released a long breath and looked at Dale. Dale stared up at him with trust and love in the deep blue of his eyes. His bottom lip, still bruised and full from the fall he’d taken off his horse the day before, was tucked between his teeth.
Blue shifted his eyes to the pastures along what the whitefellas called the Coongan River. Mangrove trees dotted the shoreline and squat palms grew in majestic groups on the outside edges. Short, stubby trees dotted the open pastures where hundreds of sheep grazed in cloud-like bunches. A family of kangaroos raced over the field where Charles, one of the owners of Castle Winters, often camped rather than stay in the house.
“Look at the ‘roos, Blue. Do you see them?” Dale jumped to his knees. “Look at them go!”
The huge, bouncing creatures turned as a unit and headed toward a grove of trees. A clump of sheep screamed and scattered from the intrusion. Short, black legs carried the sheep in one direction, while the kangaroos’ powerful hind legs made short work of their travels.
Overhead, a bird of prey called on the dry wind. It was an eagle. A good sign. But deadly.
The kangaroos disappeared into a sparse forest of gnarled gum trees on the edge of the river. From there, they leapt over the shore and splashed through the low waters. Dale watched them, as he watched everything, with eyes older and wiser than they should be. His path would be difficult. Hardship would follow him on his journey to peace. How much of that could the four-year-old boy grasp? How much should wait until he grew into a strong, capable man? How much knowledge was too much?
When it grew obvious that the kangaroos had disappeared for the evening, Dale settled back into his crouch. Small fingers laced together until his tiny knuckles turned white. “Can I go to the dreaming place?”
“No, child. You cannot.”
He seemed to think for a moment; his head tilted to one side as if he solved some immense riddle. “It’s because I’m a whitefella, huh? Dad says that blackfellas can see the past and the future better’n anyone. Are you seeing the future, now? Or the past?”
A chuckle tickled the back of Blue’s throat. Everything was simple to the boy.
Past? Or future?
Blue sobered. He saw neither, really. He saw only death.
And life.
“Go find your mother. Ask her when Joel will arrive.”
“Who’s that?” Dale’s face broke into a wide grin. “Is he a friend to play with? Paul lives too far away. I get bored.”
“Yes. You can play with Joel. Go ask your mother.”
Dale leapt to his feet and scurried over the tower’s eastern edge. Once he cleared the edge, Blue returned his gaze to the setting sun. The boy would not find death from the tall, slippery, silt-covered rocks. He would not find it for a very long time, in a different place.
ISBN#1932815457
ISBN#9781932815450
Jewel Imprint: Sapphire
Historical Romance: Australia Post WW1
US $6.99/CDN $9.99
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MARJORIE JONES
An ancestral sword has been stolen…
The Jewel
Following the ensuing battle with the Earl of Ravenstone’s forces, Meghan Douglas tends to the wounds of her father’s men, the Laird of Clan Douglas. Among the fallen, she finds a sorely wounded English knight. Though he is an enemy, Meghan takes pity on the handsome, burly stranger, and has him taken to a chamber. There, once he has been securely bound to her father’s bed, she attempts to save his life, attending to the most intimate details of his care.
The Sword
When Devlin Barnett regains consciousness at last, it is only to find himself tied to a bed, being cared for by a beautiful young woman. Not just any young woman, however, but the daughter of his treacherous foster brother, the Laird of the keep, for whom he is now being held as ransom. To make matters worse, he finds his traitorous, vulnerable body responding to Meghan’s tender ministrations in a most alarming, and conspicuous, manner.
Meghan cannot deny the powerful attraction she feels for the captive in her bed … the captive who so stubbornly refuses to give up his name. She knows only that he is one of the Earl of Ravenstone’s knights.
Devlin finally manages to escape, both his imprisonment and the danger to his heart. He has not gone far, however, when he realizes he is being followed. His emotions are in peril once again, for the lovely Meghan insists he take her to Ravenstone’s castle that she might plead for her father’s release. She has no idea of her former prisoner’s true identity. Or the forces of evil that will be unleashed to separate and destroy…
ISBN#9781932815061
Jewel Imprint: Sapphire / Historical – Medieval England, 1233
US $6.99 / CDN $9.99
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