Read Online The Twins of Noremway Parish by Eric R. Johnston - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Eric R. Johnston
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neighboring parish for schooling.
The memory of that day would never leave her. She felt so angry…and so disrespected…but she had to find the strength to move on, to forgive and hopefully forget. Neither seemed possible, not with that woman’s constant bickering and bullying.
Back in the present, as these thoughts danced in her mind, sleep took her in its merciful hold.
***
“ We need to go out to that house,” Urey said as he and Phoenix left the cathedral. “The remains need to be collected. The funeral will be held tomorrow.”
Phoenix smiled. Everything seemed funny to him today for some reason. “I’m more interested in those three demons that attacked them in the field.”
“ Aye, agreed. The wolves are a known quantity. These demons are something else entirely. For the safety of the parish we should investigate.”
“ Let me get my crossbow,” said Phoenix and he started heading toward the jailhouse, which was nearly a quarter mile away, while the chancellor readied Jasper for another ride. “You might want to arm yourself,” he called back.
“ I have my knife,” he replied.
“ Knives; I much prefer my crossbow. It’s a real man’s weapon.”
“ Just be careful,” Urey warned. “It’s night so the wolves are out.”
“ Yeah. I know. That’s why I’m getting my crossbow.”
He continued on to the jailhouse at a jog. Urey looked after him, growing weary of the sheriff’s growing disregard for his authority, but decided it wasn’t important enough right now to worry about. Franz Phoenix had always had an independent streak in him. It seemed more pronounced than usual tonight, but in the grand scheme of things, it probably didn’t matter. The sheriff was sworn to uphold the law, and uphold the law he would, even if he was the occasional pain in the ass.
The stables were near the jailhouse anyway, so he would just pick Franz up when he got Jasper ready. The horse was not in any kind of mood to go back out that night, but the other two horses that were available for public use—Rhizo and Haman—were asleep, and it wouldn’t do well to wake them.
He climbed aboard the carriage and began riding it to the stables. Jasper was thirsty. Water was always hard to come by, but the rains should be starting again soon; maybe even tomorrow.
He had to think about Tomias’s funeral, as well as Lynn’s, and their baby’s. The services would be the next day, maybe sometime in the afternoon. Have it soon, but not so soon that anyone who wished to speak would be short on time to be able to come up with anything thoughtful. Oh, how he wished he could prevent Rita Morgan from attending. How he wished she would just go away and keep her thoughts to herself. It would be one thing if she had an opinion worth voicing, but listening to her rants was like listening to a child in a sandbox. A child who didn’t want to share with the other children, and didn’t want to acknowledge that she wasn’t privileged or entitled to absolutely everything her heart desired.
When he got to the stable, which the stable boy Johnny had nicknamed “The Three Mares” after the three public-use horses, he untied Jasper from the carriage and walked him over to the trough to get a drink. The horse was thirsty and so was he, having not had a fully satisfying drink in at least a week. The water rations were running a little thin, but scarcity in the water supply was common at this time of year. All that would change when the rains started.
He imagined the somber event of the mayor’s funeral interrupted by the jubilation-causing rainfall. Tears of sadness would turn into tears of joy as the life-giving substance—that had been so plentiful in millennia past—once again fell to the earth in continuation of the cycle.
“ If I didn’t know better I’d think that was a camel,” Phoenix said, coming to the stable from the jailhouse, carrying the crossbow on his back. “That deputy is an idiot–just sitting in
The memory of that day would never leave her. She felt so angry…and so disrespected…but she had to find the strength to move on, to forgive and hopefully forget. Neither seemed possible, not with that woman’s constant bickering and bullying.
Back in the present, as these thoughts danced in her mind, sleep took her in its merciful hold.
***
“ We need to go out to that house,” Urey said as he and Phoenix left the cathedral. “The remains need to be collected. The funeral will be held tomorrow.”
Phoenix smiled. Everything seemed funny to him today for some reason. “I’m more interested in those three demons that attacked them in the field.”
“ Aye, agreed. The wolves are a known quantity. These demons are something else entirely. For the safety of the parish we should investigate.”
“ Let me get my crossbow,” said Phoenix and he started heading toward the jailhouse, which was nearly a quarter mile away, while the chancellor readied Jasper for another ride. “You might want to arm yourself,” he called back.
“ I have my knife,” he replied.
“ Knives; I much prefer my crossbow. It’s a real man’s weapon.”
“ Just be careful,” Urey warned. “It’s night so the wolves are out.”
“ Yeah. I know. That’s why I’m getting my crossbow.”
He continued on to the jailhouse at a jog. Urey looked after him, growing weary of the sheriff’s growing disregard for his authority, but decided it wasn’t important enough right now to worry about. Franz Phoenix had always had an independent streak in him. It seemed more pronounced than usual tonight, but in the grand scheme of things, it probably didn’t matter. The sheriff was sworn to uphold the law, and uphold the law he would, even if he was the occasional pain in the ass.
The stables were near the jailhouse anyway, so he would just pick Franz up when he got Jasper ready. The horse was not in any kind of mood to go back out that night, but the other two horses that were available for public use—Rhizo and Haman—were asleep, and it wouldn’t do well to wake them.
He climbed aboard the carriage and began riding it to the stables. Jasper was thirsty. Water was always hard to come by, but the rains should be starting again soon; maybe even tomorrow.
He had to think about Tomias’s funeral, as well as Lynn’s, and their baby’s. The services would be the next day, maybe sometime in the afternoon. Have it soon, but not so soon that anyone who wished to speak would be short on time to be able to come up with anything thoughtful. Oh, how he wished he could prevent Rita Morgan from attending. How he wished she would just go away and keep her thoughts to herself. It would be one thing if she had an opinion worth voicing, but listening to her rants was like listening to a child in a sandbox. A child who didn’t want to share with the other children, and didn’t want to acknowledge that she wasn’t privileged or entitled to absolutely everything her heart desired.
When he got to the stable, which the stable boy Johnny had nicknamed “The Three Mares” after the three public-use horses, he untied Jasper from the carriage and walked him over to the trough to get a drink. The horse was thirsty and so was he, having not had a fully satisfying drink in at least a week. The water rations were running a little thin, but scarcity in the water supply was common at this time of year. All that would change when the rains started.
He imagined the somber event of the mayor’s funeral interrupted by the jubilation-causing rainfall. Tears of sadness would turn into tears of joy as the life-giving substance—that had been so plentiful in millennia past—once again fell to the earth in continuation of the cycle.
“ If I didn’t know better I’d think that was a camel,” Phoenix said, coming to the stable from the jailhouse, carrying the crossbow on his back. “That deputy is an idiot–just sitting in