Walk the Wild With Me by Rachel Atwood

Author:Rachel Atwood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2019-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Nick picked his way along the rutted road that the spring rain had turned to mud. He longed to sit before the suppertime fire among the Woodwose. They lived precariously, but they had a warm fire where the abbey’s stone walls always held the chill and compounded it in winter. His new friends had each other, bound together by friendship and family—and blood; the same kind of blood that ran through his veins. The abbey folk might strive toward brotherhood in their faith, but they did not hug each other, did not touch in any way. They weren’t truly family, and he was alone. He had no family except distant Tuck, but he might find more kin among the illegal forest dwellers.

Dom had Hilde. His sister and his twin. She would cry and mourn him.

Would anyone ever cry for Nick? Perhaps Father Tuck and, maybe, Little John.

He jerked his thoughts away from his lack of family, dwelling instead on how he’d fulfill his promise to Hilde to help her escape the convent. Not taking care where he placed his feet, he splashed into another puddle that rose above his ankles and mud sprayed up to his knees. A chill ran through his body, moving upward in waves of cold, far above the splash of water. He sought higher ground at the center of the road where a few tufts of grass clung bravely to the less-disturbed mound.

He paused, looking upward toward the faint glimmer of the quarter-moon hiding behind fitful clouds. “Dear Lord, please grant me, your humble if disobedient servant, a respite from this endless wet,” he intoned, then remembered to cross himself and conclude the prayer with proper promises of prayer chains with his beads and extra time devoted to his duties.

The comforting rhythm of a plain chant swirled in his mind. He found the words and cadence and sang them under his breath. He missed the tolling of the massive bells calling him to prayer, to meals, to rest. His body remembered the routine of life even without the bells. A bit of weight lifted from his shoulders, and he found the strength to trudge on, going back to his dry, if not especially warm, bed. He might as well start in on those prayer chains while he walked. He reached for his beads in the deep sleeves of his robe. A niggle of disappointment weighed him down again when his fingers found only his beads and not the little silver three-faced pitcher.

A familiar chuckle eased the tight cords of his neck. “Are you back, my lady Elena?” he whispered into the darkness.

Not yet. A little while longer.

“Why do you laugh at me?”

Silly boy, you will figure out what you need to do. Think, but don’t think, on the problem.

“Think but don’t think? How am I supposed to do that? Either I am thinking about something, or I’m thinking about something else. I should be saying my prayers.”

Then say your prayers as you hold your breath.

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.