Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 92771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Walter squared his scrawny shoulders. “Nay, I’m going home.”
The three laughed.
“You are a brave one, but foolish to think we’ll let you go,” one of them said.
“You will let him go,” Quint said, stepping from the depths of the forest.
Two laughed. One didn’t.
The one fellow sized Quint up in one glance. “You’ll make a good one to fight for Lord Torrance.”
“Leave him be,” the one who didn’t laugh ordered hastily.
The other two looked at him as if he was daft.
“We’ll be going,” the one said. “Leave the lad.”
“Nay. He’s one man against three,” another man said.
“I would listen to your friend if I were you, or you will not live to see another day,” Quint warned.
“We want no trouble. We’re leaving,” the one said, raising his hand briefly as if in surrender. Then he whispered something to the other two.
The two men paled.
“The lad is yours,” one said, a tremor in his voice.
“We want no trouble,” the other said, backing away.
“Release the other lads you took or each one of you will be dead by tonight,” Quint threatened.
“Aye. Aye.” The three echoed and turned and ran.
Walter stared at Quint.
Quint approached the lad, and he shrunk back away from him, unsure. “You will hold your tongue about what happened here, lad. Do you understand?”
Walter nodded.
“Return home and remind the healer to wait for me. I won’t be long. Now begone.”
Walter nodded again and rushed off.
He didn’t have much time now. News would spread. He needed to be done here and move on and finish what someone else had started.
The sky continued to darken as Shade kept a quick pace with Quint. Would they outrun the approaching storm or get caught in it? And why did Quint seem troubled? She felt the difference in the weather and in Quint as soon as she had finished with Hollin and stepped out of the cottage. The air held a chill. More dark clouds had gathered overhead, and as for Quint? He seemed a different man. His features even seemed different, the lines on his face more pronounced. Though that could have been from the intense scowl he wore. She had no time to ask what troubled him. He had insisted they take their leave so they could reach home before the storm hit.
A powerful crack of thunder that felt as if it rattled the ground had her cringing and was followed by a fat raindrop that splattered on her head and was followed by one after the other. They would be soaked by the time they got home.
They emerged from the woods as lightning struck like a sword swinging down from the sky to pierce the earth, striking and illuminating Coggshall Abbey. Shade shivered at the eerie picture it painted. The empty edifice once offered shelter to those in need, but not so Shade. She had never been welcomed there and after the horrific incident, people avoided going near it. She did not care how soaked she got; she would never seek shelter in the abbey.
It was a thought she never should have given credence to, for in the next moment she felt a blow to her shoulder and went down hard to the ground. Quint quickly followed her, covering her with his body, though only briefly. He jumped to his feet, his arm snagging her around the waist as he did, bringing her to her feet as well.
They were nearly on top of the abbey and Quint rushed her toward it so fast that she barely felt her feet touch the ground. He braced her against the stone wall once they reached the side of the abbey and shielded her body with his.
He lowered his head, his mouth near her ear. “An arrow grazed the top of your shoulder. It was meant for me.”
Shade didn’t know if it was the cold rain that continued to fall on them, the fear of what he had just told her, or the tickle of his lips against her ear that made her shiver.
“We are too much in the open, too much of a target for him. We need to seek the safety of the abbey,” he said and giving her no chance to object, he kept her shielded and pressed against the stone wall as he walked them around to the front door of the abbey.
He planted her against the door, his body looming over her as he reached behind her and opened it. To Shade’s surprise it opened without difficulty. She didn’t want to enter but the strength of his body stepping forward propelled her inside. Once there, he stepped away from her and retrieved a plank and locked it in place on the door so no one could enter.
“Quint,” she said anxiously, stretching her arm out in search of him, the area turning dark as soon as he closed the door.