WORRLGENHALL Read Free Page A

herself.
    “ Dress him!” he ordered.
    “ But, my lord,” she instinctively knew to call him. The same earring as that of the one she took from the man in his ear, “He is badly wounded.”
    “ We are surrounded by men who want to kill him and us, “Bayl said tersely, “I would rather carry him away wounded than dead.”
    “ Someone took his underclothes and clothing,” she said. Fearful he would suspect her the thief.
    Bayl ’s brows furrowed. Her words angered him, yet he contained his anger. “His crest?”
    “ Still around his neck,” she blurted, hoping to lessen his anger.
    “ Belon,” Bayl quietly ordered, “Clothing.”
    Quickly , Belon got Baric a tunic and wool pants; then tossed them into the hut.
    “ Dress him,” Bayl ordered; then tossed the clothes to Ecia.
    Forced to move him to dress him, Baric groaned yet did not wake; then as Belon lifted him onto his shoulders to carry him out, Ecia moved forward.
    “ Wait,” she said; then approached when he turned to face her. A heavy fur in her hand, she draped it around his body, “It is to warm him in this night air.”
    Carefully, Belon laid Lord Baric sideways onto Lord Bayl ’s horse.
    “ Will he make the journey?” Belon asked concerned.
    “ He must,” Bayl answered, then grabbed his horse’s reins and mounted it.
    “ Hold,” Belon said, as he turned Baric’s head to one side now noticing his braided lock completely gone, “The woman?”
    “ For her kindness,” Bayl said, spurring his horse, “Let her keep it.”
     
     
    **
     
    Back at WorrlgenHall, King Rone woke suddenly . His dream still vivid in his mind, he gasped as he forced his lungs to take in air. The chill of his bedchamber, as well as believed age, causing him to shiver, unable to get warm he called for his chamber servant who came quickly.
    “ My king,” he said, as he hurried to him, “Shall I call for Orhan the healer?”
    “ No,” King Rone said quickly, “Stoke the fire and bring someone to warm me.”
    Not long afterwards, meekly a young woman quietly entered his bedchamber; then made her way to his bed .
    A lthough, her expression showed her fear, she knew what he often expected of bellers, so she obediently got under the furs and pressed her body to his.
    “ I am old and broken from past battles,” King Rone said, as she lay close to him to ease her mind, but her youthful beauty did cause him to consider it, “And to worn for frolic. I seek warmth and an ear.”
    Long since he placed his thoughts in the ears of a woman, the passing years had softened him and he longed to speak his mind, yet he was still king and cautioned the young woman of repeating anything he said.
    “ What is your name?” he asked, as his body slowly warmed.
    “ Seda,” she meekly answered.
    The king sighed, as he stared at the timbers and stone above his head. His spacious once vibrantly furnished bedchamber, now a place covered in drab and colorless wood and f aded cloth, other than the hearths fire bringing the only light to the place even during the day was a chamber of gloom to him.
    No longer joy or passionate nights within it, when his queen died he sought no one to replace her, and as the seasons passed, he did nothing to improve it.
    “ Though I am king, I have not made use of many bellers.”
    Seda remained q uiet. But, if her heartbeat could have been heard pounding by others, its fast rhythmic thud could be dance to.
    “ Where are you from?”
    “ The dry lands of Kem.”
    “ And your family?”
    “ My mother died when I came out of her womb and my father from sickness when forced to this land.”
    Her words bringing to mind his younger son; then of his dream, again he sighed.
    “Bayl is a child of sorrow,” King Rone revealed, “Queen Nohla died not long after she bore him.”
    Before he summoned her to him, the king’s presence as he sat in his large wooden chair in the gathering hall an intimating sight, now laying so close to him, she perceived him as