Read Online Promised by Caragh M. O'brien - Free Book Online Page A

as the soldiers were no taller than her thumbnail, she would be out of rifle range, and the guards on the wall were still smaller than that.
    Views change , she thought. She was no longer a kid.
    Maya held her thumb up, too, puzzled.
    Gaia laughed. “We’re home, bug,” she said. She turned to Dinah, Peter, and Will, opening her arms wide. “This is the place.”
    Dinah compared it to the site plans she’d pulled out and nodded. “I see. It’s good. Will?”
    He absently hooked a hand around the back of his neck as he looked over Dinah’s shoulder. “Yes.”
    â€œWe’ll secure the perimeter,” Peter said.
    In no time, the clan leaders began filing people to their predetermined areas, adjusting in a fluid, flexible way now that they were confronted with the actual terrain. Archers appeared on three outcrops of rock that provided a clear vantage of the entire area. Mikey propped Gaia’s standard in the place where clan nineteen would settle, and Gaia set Maya on her feet as Josephine came up with Junie. The two little girls gave each other hugs.
    â€œCute,” Josephine said. “I’ll watch them. You sure you want us setting up here, under the gun, so to speak?”
    â€œYes, closest to the path up to Wharfton,” Gaia said, indicating a boulder that marked where the trail rose.
    She took another look at the organized chaos around her. Norris was directing several expools to lay out his kitchen gear along a shelf of stone, and Angie, with a serious expression, was letting the little girls take turns with her goggles.
    â€œAngie,” Gaia said. “I thought you were staying with Jack.”
    â€œShe’s no trouble here,” Norris said.
    â€œI know, but I want it settled who’s in charge of her, and I expect Myrna to take Jack up to the house on Sally Row.” Gaia considered the girl. “Would you rather be here with Norris, or with Jack?”
    â€œJack,” Angie said.
    Gaia agreed. “Then I want you to stay with him and not wander. You can help out Myrna, at least until we’re settled. Is that clear?”
    The girl stood slowly and retrieved her goggles from the toddlers. She nodded.
    â€œI have to go see about Munsch and Bonner,” Gaia said. “They need to be released and I want to check on getting some fresh water for tonight, too. It’s strange that no one has come down to see what’s up with us,” she said, thinking of Emily’s parents and Leon’s birth father.
    â€œI’ll get Peter to put an escort together,” Will said.
    â€œI’ll take Peter and some archers,” she agreed. “I’d rather have you stay here. You’re in charge in case anything happens to me.”
    â€œAnd have Vlatir slit my throat for letting you go without me? No, thank you,” he said. “Meet us up ahead.” He started up the trail.
    She took off the sling she’d used for Maya and checked to make sure she had her knife in her boot. Then she glanced back at the stream of people still winding their way down into the unlake. Jack’s stretcher was coming, and she caught a glimpse of Leon giving Myrna a hand down a steep chute. Below, people were spreading out, clearing stones and setting up campsites.
    She turned her back on New Sylum and trod up the familiar path, past the places where her mother had first taught her about motherwort and where her father had taken her to pick early morning blueberries. With each step, she was closer to home, closer to all she’d left behind, and it felt like time was reversing, too. Absently, she stroked her fingers along her scarred cheek, and wondered if she would find herself in her old skin.
    As she came over the last ridge out of the unlake, she saw that Sally Row was deserted.
    â€œIt’s not right,” Gaia said. “It’s too quiet.”
    â€œThis isn’t necessary, you coming up here,” Peter