Celtic Crusades 3 - The Mystic Rose by Lawhead Stephen R

Author:Lawhead, Stephen R. [Lawhead, Stephen R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780380820184
Publisher: Bill
Published: 0101-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

This reverie proved so pleasant, she imagined sleeping in a dry bed heaped with furs in a room warmed with burning braziers, and the delicious feeling of fur against her skin - then realized with a start that she was imagining her chamber at home in Caithness. How many times, she wondered, had she slept in that room in just that way?

Dag had the wagon unhitched and a small store of firewood collected by the time they reached the camp. Despite his throbbing head, he had spent the short span between midday and dusk doing what he could to set up the camp, and they were grateful for it. Indeed, the prospect of warming themselves by the fire so cheered the knights that, with wild whoops and ecstatic cries, they raced down the last slope to the picket line Dag had strung between the trees beside the trail; they hurried through unsaddling and grooming the horses - rubbing them down with handfuls of dry straw before watering them and tying on the feedbags. That chore finished, they hastened to thaw their freezing hands and feet before the flames.

After they had warmed themselves awhile, Rognvald said, 'We will need more firewood tonight. See what you can find.'

While the others moved off in search of more wood, Cait, Dag, and Rognvald set about making a supper of boiled salt pork with beans and hard bread. It was ready by the time the knights returned, and the childlike abandon with which they gave themselves to their food made Cait smile.

'They are just overgrown boys,' she observed as she and Rognvald 249

Moors are fleeing into the mountains. If we are to have any hope of catching them, we cannot return to the wagon each night.'

'Do you think it will be very many nights?'

'In truth, I hoped we would get sight of them today, and the matter would have been decided.' He paused, and then as if thinking aloud, said, 'We shall take with us as much food and fodder as we can carry, but the tents, poles, and irons and all the rest will have to stay behind.' His expression became apologetic, and Cait realized he meant the chests of extra clothes and personal belongings.

'If that is how it must be,' she replied, steeling herself for the privation ahead, 'so be it. We will catch them. We will get Thea back.'

'Never doubt it.'

250

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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.