up.
While Laurin cleaned up their bowls and utensils, Conner and Steven moved to a sunny spot in their small clearing. The foliage opened just enough for a bit of sun to break through the tops of the trees. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to comfortably warm them.
“How much longer,” Conner asked, nodding at Laurin.
“The baby? A while, yet. She is about half a year. We want to get to Iseron and settled in before the baby comes. I certainly don’t want to be stuck out here in the middle of winter.”
“So what’s the story?” Conner asked. “You said it was complicated.”
Steven glanced at Laurin, and then down at the ground. “Well, Laurin, like I said, she’s not my wife. At least not yet. We had planned to be married. I was still working up to pay her dowry that her father demanded. But we…” He turned his head as his cheeks began to turn red. “She and I just… you know. Heat of the moment kind of thing.”
“Her father threw her out, calling her a whore and all. The village wanted to burn her as a witch.”
“A witch?” Conner asked.
Steven glanced at Laurin and a sad smile fell across his face. “Yeah. My father is the village leader. He told everyone that there was no way that I could be at fault. It was her fault for seducing me and only a witch could do that. My father was trying to protect me, I know. But he just made it worse. I was to be the village leader after him and he knew that the village council would not support me if I had a bastard child.”
“So you just up and left?”
“No, not right away. We tried to make it work. I love her and she loves me. We were still going to get married, but my father and her father could not get along. They got into blows and then my uncle and one of her cousins got in a fight. That’s when the accusations of witchery really went crazy. My father actually convinced the village to build a burning pile to burn her alive. That’s when we left. It’s been several weeks that we’ve been in the forest, heading to Iseron. It’s the closest city and we can start fresh.”
“You two, all alone,” Conner said. “You’re pretty brave.”
“No,” Steven countered. “Pretty stupid. We weren’t careful and we came across that group.” He glanced down at Conner’s bloodied shirt. “Thank you for coming to our rescue. If not for you, we would be dead. I’m just sorry that they hurt you.”
“I’ll be fine,” Conner said. “But you won’t have to worry about them anymore. I’ll take care of them.”
“Conner, please don’t. There are too many of them. Not just those four, but so many others. They run in packs. You might come across them when there are twenty of them. You may be a knight, but surely you can’t go against twenty? We will be okay. We just need to stay to the deep parts of the forest. It’ll take us longer, but we’ll make it.”
Conner looked away, a furious anger burning inside of him. “They hurt me and they’re going to pay. Last time I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t have any weapons. This time I’ll get myself a sword and then we’ll see how well they go against a Karmon Knight.”
“Can you really swing a sword injured like you are? As soon as you try, you’ll tear the threads, the wound will open up and you’ll bleed to death. You need to heal. Stay with us at least to Iseron. Laurin can clean your wounds and put more salve on. In a week, you will be almost
While Laurin cleaned up their bowls and utensils, Conner and Steven moved to a sunny spot in their small clearing. The foliage opened just enough for a bit of sun to break through the tops of the trees. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to comfortably warm them.
“How much longer,” Conner asked, nodding at Laurin.
“The baby? A while, yet. She is about half a year. We want to get to Iseron and settled in before the baby comes. I certainly don’t want to be stuck out here in the middle of winter.”
“So what’s the story?” Conner asked. “You said it was complicated.”
Steven glanced at Laurin, and then down at the ground. “Well, Laurin, like I said, she’s not my wife. At least not yet. We had planned to be married. I was still working up to pay her dowry that her father demanded. But we…” He turned his head as his cheeks began to turn red. “She and I just… you know. Heat of the moment kind of thing.”
“Her father threw her out, calling her a whore and all. The village wanted to burn her as a witch.”
“A witch?” Conner asked.
Steven glanced at Laurin and a sad smile fell across his face. “Yeah. My father is the village leader. He told everyone that there was no way that I could be at fault. It was her fault for seducing me and only a witch could do that. My father was trying to protect me, I know. But he just made it worse. I was to be the village leader after him and he knew that the village council would not support me if I had a bastard child.”
“So you just up and left?”
“No, not right away. We tried to make it work. I love her and she loves me. We were still going to get married, but my father and her father could not get along. They got into blows and then my uncle and one of her cousins got in a fight. That’s when the accusations of witchery really went crazy. My father actually convinced the village to build a burning pile to burn her alive. That’s when we left. It’s been several weeks that we’ve been in the forest, heading to Iseron. It’s the closest city and we can start fresh.”
“You two, all alone,” Conner said. “You’re pretty brave.”
“No,” Steven countered. “Pretty stupid. We weren’t careful and we came across that group.” He glanced down at Conner’s bloodied shirt. “Thank you for coming to our rescue. If not for you, we would be dead. I’m just sorry that they hurt you.”
“I’ll be fine,” Conner said. “But you won’t have to worry about them anymore. I’ll take care of them.”
“Conner, please don’t. There are too many of them. Not just those four, but so many others. They run in packs. You might come across them when there are twenty of them. You may be a knight, but surely you can’t go against twenty? We will be okay. We just need to stay to the deep parts of the forest. It’ll take us longer, but we’ll make it.”
Conner looked away, a furious anger burning inside of him. “They hurt me and they’re going to pay. Last time I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t have any weapons. This time I’ll get myself a sword and then we’ll see how well they go against a Karmon Knight.”
“Can you really swing a sword injured like you are? As soon as you try, you’ll tear the threads, the wound will open up and you’ll bleed to death. You need to heal. Stay with us at least to Iseron. Laurin can clean your wounds and put more salve on. In a week, you will be almost
Similar Books
