“At least we’re here now,” Aunt Mara hugged both Renna and Brandi. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
Renna shook her head. “No.” Would he have hurt them if he’d had the chance? What would he do when he recovered?
Brandi cocked her head north towards the town. “Will Sheriff Allen look for him here?”
Uncle Abel nodded. “He might.”
“We’ll have to hide him. And his horse.” Brandi crossed her arms.
Renna clenched her fingers. Hide the Blade? Maybe it would be fine to hide someone good, but was it right to hide an evil person? She glanced at Aunt Mara and Uncle Abel. Both of them wore somber frowns.
Uncle Abel gripped the mule’s reins. “Should I go in with you?”
“No, he’s safe at the moment. He’s too weak to even sit up.” Renna dug her fingers into her palms. At least, she thought he was too weak to sit up. Was he stronger than he seemed? Had he been waiting his chance?
Uncle Abel trudged forward. “Brandi, why don’t you come to the stables and help me with Stubborn?”
Brandi bounced to his side. “I can show you Blizzard. That’s Leith’s horse. He let me name him.”
Renna resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Brandi skipped through the snowdrifts, Uncle Abel and Stubborn plowing a furrow in the snow behind her. Renna turned to Aunt Mara. “Let’s…go in.”
Aunt Mara followed her into the kitchen. They hung their cloaks on pegs and stomped the snow from their boots on the front rug. The Blade turned his head to face them, his green eyes expressionless.
Renna tiptoed across the room, swallowed, and waved at her aunt. “This is my Aunt Mara.”
The Blade gave a nod by way of greeting. Aunt Mara knelt beside him, lifted the blanket, and undid the bandages. The Blade tensed, the muscles in his arms outlined below his skin. Renna reached a hand towards the fire poker.
Aunt Mara inspected the wound, her face relaxing into the small frown she wore when concentrating. She gave a crisp nod as she rewrapped the bandages. “You did a good job, Renna. He’ll live.” Those last two words lacked warmth.
The Blade’s shoulders relaxed. Renna caught a glimpse of relief in his eyes before he turned his face towards the fire.
Aunt Mara creaked to her feet. She bustled around the kitchen, nudging things here and there to bring the organization back to her standards.
Uncle Abel stomped inside, followed by Brandi. He hung his cloak on a peg, brushed snow from his trousers, and crossed his arms. He faced the Blade, his blue eyes assessing. The Blade met his gaze.
“Did you kidnap that girl in Stetterly?” Uncle Abel’s voice rumbled in his chest, a tone that demanded respect and attention when he spoke from the pulpit.
“My fellow Blade kidnapped her. I was ordering him to return her when the men arrived.” The Blade continued to hold Uncle Abel’s gaze.
“While you’re under my roof, there’ll be none of that nonsense, understood?”
Renna’s heart lodged in her throat. He was giving orders to a Blade?
The Blade nodded, his eyes calm. “Understood, sir.”
Uncle Abel turned to Aunt Mara. “Which room would you like him in? I’ll build a fire and warm the place up.”
Aunt Mara bit her lip. “The one on the end of the hall will do.”
Uncle Abel grabbed several logs and pieces of kindling and strode from the room.
Renna stepped aside to let her aunt and uncle take over. Aunt Mara readied the room while Uncle Abel started a fire and fashioned a stretcher.
Together, he, Renna, and Brandi carried the Blade to the last room in the corridor. They laid the stretcher on the edge of the bed and transferred the Blade. Renna flung the blankets over him while Uncle Abel checked the fire.
Aunt Mara gave the Blade a drink and another dose of pain-killer. As the Blade drifted to sleep, Renna hurried from the room. She felt better, knowing she had a door and a long hallway between her and the young man who could learn enough to destroy her family.
7
Leith blinked at the sunlight streaming through the broad window across the room from his bed and studied his new surroundings in the daylight.
The walls were painted a dull blue, chipped in a few places but still serviceable. The bed stood near the center, a small table on one side and a washstand on the other. Along the one wall, a multi-paned window let in the southern sunlight. At one time, this might have been a favorite room among the staff who served the lord and lady of Stetterly.
Leith tried to push himself up but grimaced and fell back onto the pillow. His recovery was going to be slow. Wounds like his didn’t heal overnight.
His door breezed open, admitting Brandi. She smiled as soon as she saw he was awake. “Aunt Mara said to check on you. Do you need anything? A drink?”
“A drink would be welcome.” Leith couldn’t resist the smile that tugged on his mouth as the girl turned to fetch the glass of water. Brandi was so…irrepressible. Nothing scared her for long.
Brandi returned a few minutes later, carrying a cup of water. “Got it!” She brandished it like fetching water was a hazardous, grueling quest that she’d completed in record time. Judging from the amount of water on her skirt, hazardous wasn’t too far off.
She lifted his head and held the cup to his mouth. He managed to drain the full glass.
Brandi plunked it onto the end table and tugged up a chair. “Blizzard’s doing good. He and Ginger—that’s one of our goats—are best friends. Ginger follows him around.”
It took Leith a minute to remember that Blizzard was Brandi’s name for his horse. “Thanks for taking care of him.”
“It’s no problem, really. He’s a nice horse. He likes dried apples and carrots.”
Leith suppressed a sigh. By the time he recovered, his horse was going to refuse to leave. Not that he blamed it. He clenched his fingers around the spot his knife’s hilt normally rested. He should question Brandi while they were alone. She might innocently tell him something worthwhile.
Yet, he hesitated. Using Brandi that way was wrong. Bad enough that he knew they were Christians. If he should learn they were part of the Resistance, King Respen would order them killed immediately.
“Would you like me to tell you a story?” Brandi cocked her head at him.
He nodded. Another minute, and his sense of duty might’ve banished his hesitation.
“There once was a boy named Daniel. He and his three friends were captured by an evil king and taken far from their home.” She leaned forward as she waved her arms to show a long journey. “A bunch of other boys were also captured. When they arrived at the evil king’s palace, the king ordered that they all be fed food from his own table. But Daniel and his three friends refused to eat the king’s meat.”
“Why?” Leith frowned. A captive would be smart to eat all the food he could get.
She rolled her eyes. “He was an evil king. They had their reasons. Now do you want me to keep telling this story or what?”
He twitched his hand at her. He had nothing better to do. Might as well let her continue.
“They asked the man in charge of them if they could eat only vegetables instead. The man hesitated. He was scared that if Daniel and his friends looked sickly, he’d be punished.” Brandi chopped her hands together.
Leith understood the man’s fear. King Respen had executed people for less reason than that.
Brandi leaned her elbows on the edge of the bed. “Daniel proposed a test. He and his friends would eat only vegetables for a certain amount of time. At the end of that time, the man in charge would compare them with the other boys. He agreed, and Daniel and his three friends ate only vegetables for the agreed time. When the test was over, the friends looked much healthier than the other boys, and the friends were allowed to avoid the food from the king’s table.”
Leith raised an eyebrow at Brandi. “That shouldn’t be possible. The other boys would look healthier. They were eating the better food. Daniel and his friends
were only eating poor man’s food.”
Brandi smirked like she knew something he didn’t. “Exactly.” She waltzed from the room as if she’d accomplished her mission.
Leith stared at her back. What was she doing? She seemed like she didn’t have a somber thought in her head and yet there were times she seemed to know more than she let on.
Renna handed another dripping dish to Aunt Mara as Brandi skipped into the room. Brandi dropped a cup into the bucket and splashed scuzzy water onto Renna’s bodice.
“Were you with the Blade this whole time? What took you so long?” If that Blade hurt her sister, she’d...there wasn't much she could do.
“I told him a story.” Brandi grinned, her eyes scrunching and twinkling.
Fear tore down Renna’s spine. “Which story?”
“Daniel and his friends refusing the king’s meat.”
Renna’s heart stuttered to a stop. “Brandi! What if he recognizes that as a Bible story? Do you know how much trouble we could be in?”
Brandi rolled her eyes. “I’m not stupid. I was vague on the details.” She grabbed her cloak. “I’m going to the stables.” She whisked out the door.
Renna sagged over her tub of dishes. “What are we going to do?”
Aunt Mara brushed at a lock of hair straggling out of her bun. “Don’t be too hard on her, Renna. The Bible does say to let your light shine before men.”
“Surely Brandi can let her light shine without mentioning the Bible. Or that we’re Christians. Or that Uncle Abel is a minister of an underground church that will meet here in two days.”
Renna gulped in several deep breaths. What would they do? The singing would echo through the whole manor. He’d hear it. Maybe they could drug him so he slept the whole service. That wouldn’t make him suspicious, would it?
Aunt Mara shook her head. “The Bible talks about persecution and being hated of men. It never mentions hiding your faith to be safe.” The lines of her face deepened. “But hiding is easier.”
Renna blinked. “I know. I’m just so scared.”
“Me too.” Aunt Mara sighed into her hair.
Brandi burst into the house, Uncle Abel on her heels. “Renna! Aunt Mara! Someone’s coming!”
Renna glanced from her to Uncle Abel. “Is it Sheriff Allen? Is he looking for the Blade?”
Uncle Abel’s jaw set in a hard line while his blue eyes flashed. “I think so. I don’t know why he’d be out in this cold otherwise.”
Renna eyed her aunt and uncle. What were they going to do? Were they going to hide the Blade? Or let the sheriff find him?
As much as she hated him, she’d made this choice. She’d chosen to save his life once. It made little sense to betray him now. Besides, she could see Brandi’s answer. “So, how do we want to do this?”
Uncle Abel gave a short nod. “Brandi will stay here with Aunt Mara and me. We’ll answer the door. God willing, he won’t do more than ask a few questions. Renna, go to the Blade’s room. You’ll have to figure out a way to hide him if Sheriff Allen decides to search the house. We’ll send Brandi on ahead to give you warning.”
Renna waved at the pile of weapons they’d all left untouched along the wall. “Someone will need to hide those. I don’t want to hide them in his room.”
Aunt Mara picked up the weapons and hurried to the pantry. Renna darted from the kitchen and down the hallway. As she reached the Blade’s room, she heard the first knocks echo through the manor. She whirled into his room and stopped herself from slamming the door behind her.
The Blade’s eyes flew open. He half-sat up, grabbed at his stomach, and collapsed onto the pillow. “What’s going on?”
Renna swallowed to clear her throat. “Sheriff Allen is coming here. Probably looking for you. He wasn’t too happy about his daughter’s kidnapping, and he doesn’t want you to tell King Respen how the other Blade died.”
The Blade’s green eyes sparked, though Renna couldn’t tell if it was fear or something else. He struggled to sit up once again, wincing from his efforts.
Renna hurried across the room and pushed him down. He might tear his healing wound. “No need to move unless he decides to search the manor.”
His eyebrows tipped upward. “You aren’t turning me over to him?”
“He plans to kill you to keep you quiet.” Renna gripped the edge of the blanket. “It’d be murder.”
“Even for a Blade?”
The marks on his shoulder drew her gaze. “Even for a Blade.” She dragged the chair farther from the bed and perched on it, her head cocked. This room was too far from the kitchen for voices to carry.
The seconds dragged by. She twisted her hands together, picked at her nails, and glanced at the window and around the room, looking anywhere but the Blade.
Footsteps clipped in the hall. Brandi opened the door and pranced through. Renna jumped to her feet. “Is he coming this way? Quick, help me get the Blade under the bed.”
Brandi grinned. “Don’t panic. Sheriff Allen stepped inside the kitchen for a minute or two to warm up and left. When he asked, Uncle Abel told him the kidnapper wasn’t here.”
Renna collapsed into the chair. “Hopefully he doesn’t come back.” Unless he came on Sunday. He hadn’t attended church services since King Respen took over, but he might if he wanted a chance to search the manor. What would he do if he found the Blade?
Or, worse, what would the Blade do if he were discovered?
8
Brandi plunked herself on the chair beside Leith’s bed. The morning sunlight glinted red in the waves of hair that trailed over her shoulders and down her back. “I’m here to keep you company.” Her eyes twinkled with some sort of mischief. “Want another story?”
Leith heard voices—more voices than the family accounted for. “What’s happening today?”
She cocked her head. “Do you want to hear my story or not? It’s another Daniel story.”
Leith tried not to smile. Brandi could dance around a topic as nimbly as a yearling foal. Music and singing echoed somewhere in the distance.
Were they having church in this manor? If they were, then they had a lot of guts, having church in the same place as a Blade. No wonder they’d sent Brandi to distract him.
Brandi still stared at him. He adjusted his pillow so he could look at her more comfortably. “Sure. I’m beginning to like this Daniel character.”
She grinned, like that had been her plan all along. “Well, Daniel and his three friends were wise, so they were promoted from captives to positions among the wise men of the kingdom. One night, the king had this dream. So he rounded up the wise men in the country, but he wouldn’t tell them what the dream was, claiming that if they really were wise men, they’d be able to tell him his dream and interpret it too. When they couldn’t, the king ordered all of them killed. Since Daniel and his friends were wise men, they were going to be killed too.”
Leith reached for his knife but patted only air. Daniel and his friends were innocents in danger from an evil king…the story nudged at him. As if this was a parallel with King Respen and…no, don't even think about it. Just enjoy the story.
Brandi straightened her shoulders and puffed out her chest like she was a soldier. “When the king’s men came to arrest them, Daniel stopped them and said that he could do as the king asked. So the next day, he went before the king, told the king his dream about a statue made of many different materials that was eventually destroyed by a big stone, and interpreted it. The king was so happy with Daniel that he made Daniel a ruler under him and promoted his friends as well.”
“Next time, Daniel will have to control the weather or something. That’s the only way to top that story.”
Brandi’s mouth quirked as one eyebrow arched above her knowing, blue eyes. “Daniel didn’t do all those things by himself.”
Leith blinked. She was talking in riddles again. Why did he get the feeling he was missing something important?
Brandi chattered away, talking about
other things such as his horse and the weather outside. After an hour, music started up once again. He didn’t mention it. Brandi seemed intent on distracting him and pretending that both of them couldn’t hear anything.
When the music quieted once again, Renna slipped through the door carrying a tray of food. Lines pinched her eyes. What would a smile look like on her face? Had he ever seen her smile? Even without a smile, she looked pretty in a faded, pink dress trimmed with lace.
She placed the tray on the bedside table. “Is everything all right?”
Brandi grinned. “Everything’s fine. Except, you might need to check his ears because I think I talked them off.”
Leith tugged on one of his ears. “Nope, still attached. I must like your chatter.”
Renna pursed her lips. Leith should promise that he wouldn’t harm Brandi. But, he couldn’t. A Blade couldn’t make those kinds of promises.
“I told him the story of Daniel and the king’s dream of the big statue.” Brandi crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. Renna’s eyes narrowed, a frown tugging on her mouth. Brandi replied with a roll of her eyes, as if saying, Give me some credit. I’m not dumb.
Leith studied their expressions. Renna didn’t want Brandi to tell him the Daniel stories. Why? They were nothing more than tales, right? Unless they could get Brandi in trouble somehow.
Renna headed for the door. Leith waved at the tray. “Why don’t you stay?” His heart thumped for her to stay.
She clasped her hands, her eyes darting between him and the door. Her shoulders sagging, she turned back to him and Brandi. “I can probably stay a few minutes.”
She glanced around. Leith searched as well. The chair Brandi sat on was the only seat in the whole room. A strange feeling lurched in his chest. Renna might have to sit at the end of the bed.
Brandi popped up. “Take my seat.” With a bounce that rattled the whole mattress and sent a spasm of pain through Leith, she plopped onto the bed near the middle. Leith gritted his teeth and sucked in a breath. He didn’t want his pain to curb Brandi’s exuberance.
Dare (The Blades of Acktar Book 1) Page 4