Read Online The Old Ways by David Dalglish - Free Book Online Page A

his eyes, he saw blood, and a vicious scar, but the bleeding had stopped. She’d still be weak, and he knew it would take several days before she recovered from the loss of blood. But her pulse was strong, and when he touched her face, she smiled at him.
    “Do strange men and women attack you often?” she asked, her voice hoarse.
    “More than I’d prefer. Can you stand?”
    Sandra nodded. He stood, gently took her into his arms, and lifted. Her feet were unsteady beneath her, but he kept her still. She looked like she might vomit for a moment, but it passed. Her whole body trembled as if she were cold.
    “Who was that?” Sandra asked, glancing about the forest.
    “Someone with a grudge.”
    “Is she dead?”
    He shook his head.
    “I don’t know.”
    She tried to step away, but it was too much. He caught her, and looked back to Kaide’s camp, torn. Could he really take her with him, wounded as she was? A day or two of bed rest was what she needed, not rough travel.
    “Sandra,” he started to say, but she cut him off.
    “I’m going,” she said. Her fingers clutched his arm in a vise-like gripe, and her other hand pressed against her stomach. “If not now, I never will.”
    Jerico couldn’t believe her strength. If that was what she wanted, what she was capable of, then who was he to deny her?
    “So be it, but we rest whenever you cannot go on. If your brother gives chase, he will catch us, no matter how much we hurry. Are you prepared for the consequences?”
    She smiled a delirious smile and pulled her hand away from the hole in her dress.
    “How could he do any worse to me than what he already has done?”
    Jerico chuckled, then patted his shield.
    “We’ll just have to be careful. Take my hand.”
    With the rest of her things tucked away on his back, she accepted his aid, leaned much of her weight against him, and followed him out of the forest.

    K aide stood before the dwindling campfire, hands clasped behind his back. The stars were out, but they’d soon vanish, the morning sun only an hour or two away. He should have been asleep, but one of his scouts had woken him, fearful to say what he’d discovered. Kaide had had to badger it out of him.
    “It’s Jerico,” said the scout.
    Now Kaide waited as several men searched the surrounding area. He’d known Darius was leaving, but he thought Jerico would stay to ensure his friend’s safety. It seemed that was not the case. Was it a bluff, a reproof? Or perhaps Jerico’s pride was injured? It didn’t seem to matter. After twenty minutes of searching, he knew for certain Jerico was not just sleeping in the distance. He’d left for good.
    “Damn you, Jerico,” he said, sadly shaking his head. The paladin had meant so much to him, but that was his fault for putting his faith in a man who valued gods above all else. Ashhur couldn’t care less for his plight, couldn’t care less for his quest of revenge. Where had the god been when the deep snows piled up around Ashvale after Sebastian’s knights had ransacked every bit of their food and livestock? Where had Ashhur been when they threw the first of the dead upon the fire? When the smoke wafted up, and their stomachs growled, and their children cried in hunger?
    Adam approached, looking tired and angry for the disruption of sleep. His lips were still swollen, and he had done a poor job cleaning off the blood from his chin.
    “You’re not gonna like hearing this,” Adam said.
    “Out with it.”
    “It’s your sister.”
    He started to ask what about her, but Adam’s look was enough. A stone shifted in Kaide’s stomach, and he looked to the dying fire.
    “Do we go after them?” Adam asked. “You did say...”
    “I know what I said.”
    Adam shifted, his arms crossed.
    “Then what do we do?”
    Kaide drew his dirk, and he twirled it before his eyes, staring into the multitude of reflections cast by the light of the dying embers before him.
    “Let them go,” he said, jamming it back into