The Scarlet Trefoil by L. A. Kelly

Author:L. A. Kelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781441231925
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group

21

Tahn felt the angel’s wings over him like a satin coverlet. The hard ground beneath him seemed now as soft as cushions, and he felt no pain. I am sleeping again, he thought. Another heavenly dream. The smell of roses floated around him. He must be in a garden. Netta liked roses. She planned to plant many of them in the courtyard of their new home when the workmen were finished.

Tahn drew in one more heavenly scented breath and then opened his eyes to the world in the clearing. The angel sat beside him, with one hand on his shoulder. His words were low. “The baron is here.”

The hard ground was beneath Tahn again. The pain came rushing back. It was harder to breathe here. Much harder. “Then . . . if I am to die,” he struggled to answer, “the time has come.”

“The Lord is with you. Always,” said the angel in a quiet voice. “You are in his hands and no one else’s. He has made you free.”

Staring into the angel’s eyes, he pulled painfully against the ropes and trembled. “Look at me. Do I look . . . like I am free?”

“In God, things are not always as they appear.”

He could not feel his bound feet. His hands were strangely cold in the sunlight. The left one, the one Toma had stomped, throbbed now. But the right one seemed dead. His arms, his shoulders, his sides all ached. Especially his sides, where the pain seemed to burn deep into his being. He drew another difficult breath. “Can you not loose me?”

“No, my friend.”

Tahn closed his eyes for a moment. “You do me honor . . . to call me friend.”

“Are you not a friend of God?”

He felt a sudden welling of tears. “I hope so . . .”

The angel placed one hand upon Tahn’s forehead, the other on his chest. “Then you are also my friend.”

“I choose Netta’s life . . . it’s all right if I die . . . so long as she is spared.”

“I know your heart.”

“God’s will for me . . . I’ll be free . . . in his heaven . . .” The angel nodded solemnly.

And a sudden scream in the distance jarred Tahn. Every muscle tensed. “Netta!”

“Peace,” the angel said quickly. “She’s all right.”

“Then why . . .”

Another scream rang out. Another.

“God!”

He felt the angel’s hands still upon him, but now other hands too, unseen, one on each side of his head. He breathed, and the breaths came easier. The pain lessened. Someone was moving to his left. He turned his eyes to see first a group of the bandit guards, and then behind them the dark clothes of Trent soldiers. He swallowed hard, knowing Lionell would be with them. In the distance, Netta screamed again.

The baron strode forward in blue riding garments, complete with a cloak even on this warm day. Tahn had never seen him this close before and had never longed to. The baron was tall, strong. Older than Tahn, but far from old.

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