Read Online Return to Alastair by L. A. Kelly - Free Book Online

not been for Martica’s willingness to take her in.
    It didn’t matter about Mikal. As soon as she was out of his sight, she quickened her pace, despite her soreness. The streets seemed especially quiet, as though everyone knew there was something strange afoot.
    Then coming around the corner by the potter’s home, she saw them. Two horses and their riders in front of Martica’s old painted house. And the ancient woman, wonder of wonders, was standing outside with her oil lamp in her hands.
    Tiarra’s heart pounded. Neither man was very big. One had short light hair. The other had hair of long dark waves like hers.
    “Go away!” Martica suddenly shouted. “I have nothing to say to you! Go!”
    One of the men said something, but Tiarra could not make it out. Martica was screaming at them again to leave, and the one with the long black locks turned to his horse and mounted without another word. His friend followed, and they were soon riding away, leaving Martica standing alone.
    Tiarra ran to her, the tension leaping into her throat.
    “Get in the house, child, before they see you,” Martica ordered. But she was leaning down weakly, and Tiarra wouldn’t go without helping her in first.
    “It was Tahn Dorn, wasn’t it?” she asked immediately, taking the lamp from Martica’s hands.
    “Ah, child. You know too much. Don’t ask me more.”
    “Why, Martica? What would they do if they saw me?”
    “What do evil men do when they carry off a girl? I couldn’t say! But I pray God they don’t come back.”
    “What did they want? What did they say?”
    Tiarra set the lamp on the table and helped Martica to lie down again, realizing that she’d hardly heard her cough since that stranger Lucas had been there.
    “He probably knows your mother had jewelry. He probably came to claim it for himself.”
    Tiarra felt suddenly hot inside. “Is that what he said?” She could scarcely believe it, despite all she’d been told about him. Would he really come back here for that? Only for that, after all this time? But she remembered something suddenly, and it made her doubt. “Martica, you told me they took her things and you never saw them again. He would remember that. Why would he think there is more? Why would he come?”
    “Child . . .” Martica hesitated. This was all too close now, and she was afraid. She had recognized Tahn Dorn immediately, though it had been so long and he’d been so small. Why would he come, indeed? He was asking about the day of the hanging. He was looking for someone to tell him about it. And she was afraid, lest he discover Tiarra and take her away with him into the life he’d inherited, the lawlessness their mother had loathed. “Child,” she repeated, “I didn’t tell you true. There were a few pieces they didn’t take back then. You didn’t see them because they had to be sold as you grew, to provide for you.”
    Tiarra was looking at her with an unreadable expression. “I’m sorry. Your mother would have wanted you to have them, but I had no choice.”
    “ You sold them, Martica?”
    “There were only a few pieces left. That devil your father really did make off with the rest.”
    “Then my brother’s come for nothing.”
    “Let’s hope he realizes that quickly.”
    Tiarra forced a smile. “You were bold to them. I didn’t know you had the strength to be up so long.”
    “I’ve been up more today, even while you were out.”
    Tiarra sat quietly for a long time, and Martica tensed, wondering what the girl was thinking. No one in the neighborhood talked of that shameful, long-ago day. No one wanted to speak of their part in it to the girl who was left behind. Tiarra had only Martica’s word for what she knew. And everyone had wanted it that way.
    “I would have liked to have seen something that was my mother’s,” Tiarra finally said.
    Martica sighed. “Perhaps there’s a way. I sold one piece to Mrs. Ovny, Tiarra. I will go and ask her if she has it still and if