Kate Moore by To Kiss a Thief

Author:To Kiss a Thief
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-11-23T15:43:50+00:00

11

DUSK OVERTOOK THEM on the road. A parley in the gloom as to whether they should push on or seek shelter degenerated quickly into a shouting match between the brothers, with the rising wind snatching away half their words. Then a traveler coming upon them from Amarante itself settled the dispute, for, according to him, they would find no accommodations there. The town, he claimed, was filled with Holy Week pilgrims. Jacob pressed the man for details. And Drew’s translation of the ensuing exchange filled Margaret with dread. The pilgrims were members of a cofradia, a brotherhood, journeying to Zamora for Holy Week. Jacob’s obvious satisfaction with this information could only mean that they could expect to meet the Viper soon.

Esau, who had been most in favor of stopping along the road, soon found a deserted barn. Three of its stone walls were standing, but the roof had fallen in at one end in a tangled pile of charred timbers. They entered through a doorless portal in the south wall, and for a moment Margaret stood unmoving, her senses adjusting to the calm of the interior after enduring the buffeting wind for so long.

Apparently others before them had used the place as a makeshift inn. A circle of stones surrounded a pit of ashes, and most of the wood in the place had been pulled down. Esau promptly broke apart the few remaining stall partitions, and soon a fire blazed, casting eerie shadows about the empty barn. Jacob and Drew settled the horses and donkey along one wall near the fallen timbers. The animals were restless with the storm but weary enough to accept the meager provision made for them. The men dragged their saddles to the fire for seats while Margaret set out the bread and roasted meats they carried with them.

Later she thought how pleasant it would be to sit by such a crackling, warm fire out of the wind, talking to her thief, if they had not just passed such an awkward afternoon, and if the scrutiny of the brothers from across the flames were not so disconcerting. Jacob regarded them with cold speculation. And Esau, who ate and drank steadily without glancing at his food, fixed Margaret with a look that made her feel she was likely to be his next course. A sharp word from the thief drew Esau’s gaze away from her. With ill-disguised resentment the big man set down his food and shuffled off to fetch a board for the fire. Margaret turned to thank the thief, but he was looking down, trailing a stick across the dirt floor between them. She watched as he drew a square and filled it with intersecting lines. When he began to collect and arrange pebbles and bits of wood, she recognized the figure as a makeshift chessboard and joined in the search.

“How will you distinguish your bishops from your knights?” she asked as he filled more of the squares. “They seem much of a size.”

“Ah,” he said, “don’t you see the bishops’ mitres?”

Margaret confessed she did not.

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