Read Online A Lily on the Heath 4 by Colleen Gleason - Free Book Online Page A

had an heiress for a bargaining chip as well as a greater portion of the rents from Lilyfare and Kentworth to flow into his coffers.
    And now, six years after Gregory’s death, Judith knew she’d never have to worry about her belly growing to the size of basket.
    Don’t think on it , she told herself fiercely. ’Twill do you no good to stew . Your lot is your lot…and it could be much, much worse.
    And so she climbed higher, and higher…and finally the nest was just above her head. One more branch and she’d be just high enough to look down into it. She couldn’t see Piall on the ground any longer, but she knew he was still below.
    As she approached the nest, Judith hadn’t seen any sign of a parental hawk coming or going. Her optimism waned that she’d find anything in the large bundle of sticks, but she’d come too far not to check. The branches were strong and steady beneath her feet, and she hoisted herself up once more and peered into the nest.  
    “Greetings there, young chick,” she said softly in surprise. A bundle of gold, black, brown and rust-colored feathers tufted with thick white baby molting nestled in its rudimentary basket. “Or shall I say, chicks .”  
    There were two of them, shifting and moving about hungrily. Judith looked around again, expecting to see a parent charging toward her at any moment, talons and fierce beak at the ready…but the sky was clear.
    She pulled herself up onto the branch nearest the vee-shaped crook where the nest was situated and got a better view into the bedding. “Oh,” she said sadly when she saw that there were—or had been—two other eyases. Their soft corpses had fallen down half beneath their siblings as the survivors begged for food, jockeying for position.
    “Something happened to your parents, then,” Judith said. And glanced around once more. It wasn’t an uncommon thing. Between disease and predators, not to mention injuries—for even the graceful hawks flew into trees while hunting, often killing or damaging themselves—it was rare for an entire family of raptors to live out their first year. As she looked down at the babies, she noticed the barking dogs were closer now and fancied she heard them rustling through the forest nearby. Perhaps it was the lord of Marchmonte on a hunt with his dogs.
    “Hail, Lady Judith,” came Piall’s call from below. “What do you see?”
    “Two fledglings,” she shouted down. “Orphans. I’ll feed them a bit then be down in a trice.”  
    Judith took a minute to loop the rope around the trunk then her waist, tying it securely the way her father and Tessing had shown her. Now she could move about more easily without fear of falling. She pulled off her climbing gloves and tucked them into their place on her belt, then loosened the drawstring on her food pouch. The hawks would prefer fresh meat, but the dried beef would do in a pinch.
    She had just slipped a morsel of food into the second eyas’s wide-open mouth when a horrible, snarling barking sound came up from below. Piall shouted and then Judith heard the unmistakable scream of a horse.
    The sound of a dying horse was enough to haunt one’s dreams, and Judith jerked upright against the tree, her heart pounding. The snarling and growling became even louder and more fierce as she cried, “What is it? Piall!”
    Her knight shouted something, but whatever he said was drowned out by squealing, snarling, barking and growling. She heard more snarling and wild barking, thrashing in the brush below. Then the clang of a sword and an agonized human cry.  
    “ Piall! ” Judith screamed and untied herself quickly from the tree trunk. She began to work herself down, branch by branch. All the while, the horrible sounds continued below—clearly a ferocious battle between a pack of dogs, her man-at-arms, and the horses.
    By the time she got low enough to see what was actually going on, her heart was in her throat. Piall hadn’t responded to her multiple