Read Online Bloodstained Oz by Christopher Golden, James Moore - Free Book Online Page A

allowed passage from inside the wagon up to the
driver’s seat. And the crucifixes . . . there were nearly as many as there
were bottles of Romany Elixir. So many that anyone poking their head into the
back of the wagon would presume that the travelers sold crosses as well as
elixir. But they were not for sale. They were Stefan’s, symbols of his faith.
          Elisa did not believe in God. If He
existed, she was certain He cared not at all for ordinary people. Never in her
life had she felt any hint of His presence. Stefan insisted that Jeremiah was
proof, that the love she felt for her child was a part of God’s love, but Elisa
hated that notion. She and Stefan had made love and created a child between
them. Cows did the same thing, but didn’t presume God was paying them any
special attention.
          Her love was her own, and that was what
made it precious to her.
          Again her gaze swept the back of the
wagon. Stefan’s gun sat propped against the inside and she shuddered to look
at it, thinking of the lion they had seen that day. It seemed impossible to
her, but when she thought about it, she decided it must have escaped from some
traveling circus. Not that she’d heard of any such show passing through the
area, but what other explanation was there?
          A small snore came from the baby in her
arms. She laughed softly to herself and studied Jeremiah again. With her
right hand she brushed at the thickening hair on his scalp. Time to put him
down, now.
          “All right, my darling,” Elisa
whispered. She slid off of the bed and turned, putting the baby onto the bed.
There was a small cradle in the back of the wagon, but she rarely used it. She
and Stefan were thin enough that there was room for Jeremiah with them, and it
felt safe, having them both so close to her.
          With her son snoring lightly, Elisa
smoothed her skirt and went to the back of the wagon. Stefan had buried the
remains of their dinner in order to keep animals away, particularly after
they’d seen the lion. As she climbed out of the wagon, Elisa saw him walking
back from where the horses were grazing. It was getting cold, as it so often
did out on the plains at night, even when the summer days were at their
warmest. The fire flickered, beginning to die, and she considered throwing
some thistle onto the flames to make them last longer.
          “Jeremiah’s asleep,” she told her
husband.
          Stefan smiled at her and reached for
her. Elisa took his hand and let him pull her into an embrace. There by the
fire he held her, and she thought that perhaps life on the plains was not so
terrible after all, even with the storms and the traveling and the clash
between her husband’s faith and his willingness to say whatever was necessary
to sell his magical “elixir.” How he justified it, she did not know. It was
something—like her lack of belief in the Lord—that they avoided
discussing whenever possible.
          He kissed her neck.
          Elisa smiled and caressed his strong
back.
          Something rustled in the night, in the
darkness above them. There were no trees, no branches for the wind to blow
through, and so she thought it must be a bird. She frowned and pulled away
from him, and heard a strange chittering sound.
          An animal. Not a lion, certainly, but
not a bird, either.
          The horses whinnied and stamped their
feet, raising dust in the darkness thirty feet away.
          “Stefan,” she began.
          But he was not looking at her. His gaze
was focused past her, and Elisa turned to see what had drawn his attention.
Amazed, she could say nothing at first.
          A monkey sat on the ground perhaps a
dozen feet from them, light and shadow from the flickering fire playing across
its face. Elisa smiled, staring at it. Like the lion, she assumed it must
have escaped from some traveling circus. How strange and careless that such
beasts would be