Rise of a Legend by Amy Jarecki

Author:Amy Jarecki
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Time travel
Published: 2015-11-05T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

The men roused early as the clatter of weapons began before dawn. Regretting the stupid argument from the night before, Eva wasn’t sure if she’d actually slept. Her head throbbed. Oh to have a heavenly cup of coffee today.

Before leaving the sanctity of her alcove, Eva pushed away the boulder hiding her stuff. She slid her roll of notes into her satchel, brushed her hair and smoothed wonderfully minty toothpaste over her teeth. William could be damned if he expected her to leave her things behind, and knowing a little about what lay ahead, she couldn’t be sure if she’d ever return.

After securing the satchel over her shoulder, she took one last look at the alcove and chuckled. “Never in a hundred years will I forget the passion shared in this tiny haven.”

She blew out the candle and placed it in her bag along with the flint.

The cave hummed with a flurry of activity. Men rolled up the furs and tied them with leather thongs. Brother Bartholomew lumbered across the uneven ground with his arms laden with pots and baskets. Eva hurried over to him. “How can I help?”

He inclined his head toward the back of the cave. “There’re parcels of oatcakes and bully beef. Fetch them and meet me by the pack mule. Miserable heathens didna give me enough time to prepare. I fear we’ll all starve.”

Wallace’s resourcefulness was one thing she didn’t doubt. “If I know William, he’ll find a way to feed everyone.”

“Dunna be so certain. He has more mouths to feed than ever before, lassie. Sooner or later, there’ll be too many.”

Eva chuckled and headed to retrieve the food. Brother Bartholomew has no idea exactly how large this army will grow.

After collecting all she could carry, she headed outside. A horse sped toward her at a brisk canter. Eva dodged aside nearly dropping her armload of food. “Watch where you’re going.” Straightening her bundles, she looked both ways before taking another step. Though mud squished beneath her boots, only wispy clouds sailed above.

The entire clearing aflutter, shoulder-to-shoulder the men worked, helping each other tie their weapons and possessions to their backs or waists. She spotted the monk with the pack mule already laden with parcels. Brother Bartholomew beckoned her. “Come, lass. We’ve no time to dawdle.”

Eva huffed. In no way had she been wasting time. “Where is William?”

Bartholomew took the parcels from her arms. “How should I ken? He’s probably preparing to set out like all the others.”

She scanned the tops of the heads for Wallace’s exceptional height. “Will most of the men be marching, then?”

“They’re not fixing to crawl.” With a hearty shove, the monk stuffed the parcels of food into a cooking pot, somehow defying gravity as it hung precariously strapped to the side of the mule’s harness. “At least God has seen fit to hold the rain at bay for today’s march.”

“Thank goodness for that.”

“Hello, Miss Eva,” Robbie called from his horse. Lachlan rode double behind him and waved.

“Lachlan, how are your stitches?”

He pointed to the patch she’d sewn on his shirt.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.