Turning Point by Lisanne Norman Read Free Book Online

Carrie yelped in pain at the shock of the violent movement.
    Both soldiers backed out, trying not to appear to hurry, their usually pallid complexions a shade or two paler.
    â€œNext room,” she heard the officer snap.
    Kusac’s snarl reduced to a low-pitched rumble as he continued to stare at the door. He kept it up until they heard the Inn door bang shut as the Valtegans departed.
    â€œSo they’re afraid of you, are they?” she said slowly, reaching out to pat him. “Good boy. You keep it up.”
    Footsteps sounded in the passageway and Meg entered, carrying a tray.
    â€œI thought it was time you both ate,” she said, putting the tray down on Carrie’s bedside table.
    She helped Carrie sit up, plumping up her pillows behind her, then setting the tray on her lap. Bending down, she reached under the bed and drew a second tray out from under it. This she cautiously put in front of Kusac’s bed and shifted the second bowl of broth from Carrie’s tray to his.
    â€œThere you are, my boy,” she said. “Anything that can frighten those bastards is a friend of mine.”
    â€œWhy, Meg,” said Carrie, as the housekeeper sat down beside her, “you surprise me. I’ve never heard you talk about the Valtegans like that before.”
    â€œYou should have seen the mess they made of the house after they left your room,” she said heatedly. “It’ll take me hours to put it to rights. Still, it was worth it. I’ve never seen them back off so fast in my life before!” She smiled at the memory. “Maybe your furry friend does have his uses after all.”
    â€œMeg,” Carrie hesitated, spoon held in midair, “I’m sorry about ...”
    Meg smiled and patted Carrie’s other hand where it lay on the coverlet. “Don’t you worry, love, I understand. If your friend can behave like that when he thinks you’re threatened, I reckon we’ve nothing to fear from him. If he’d meant us any harm, we’d have known it by now.
    â€œNow come on, eat up your broth. There’s plenty more in the pot where that came from.”

Chapter 3
    Valleytown Inn served a variety of functions. It was first and foremost the place where the adult members of the town—population some 300 souls plus assorted livestock and one forest cat—could relax. It was also where the Ladies’ Sewing Circle met on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and the center for the informal exchange of information. The less charitable called it the Gossip Shop.
    Its second most important function was as the central clearing house for information gleaned by the Passive Resistance movement run by Carrie’s father, Peter Hamilton.
    Unlike the guerrillas led by the Captain and what remained of the starship crew, the Passive Resistance did not use violence. They claimed that it only brought retaliatory action, resulting in more deaths of the already depleted colonists.
    Though Carrie’s talent lay in working with children, she was often called upon by her father to help out in the taproom during the evenings. She enjoyed the break from her routine and found it refreshing now and then to be able to talk to people who were over a meter tall. So for her first sortie back into the community life, the taproom was a natural place to start.
    She had taken longer than she had expected to heal. It had been six weeks since ... that night ... and occasionally she still felt weak and drained from her ordeal. At least all the broken bones had mended and she could use her hands again. Even the faint scars from the lacerations on her arms were beginning to fade.
    She looked round to where Kusac lay on the floor by her feet, nose on his front paws, tail curled round him. An ear cocked in her direction and his eyes opened slowly.
    His recuperative powers had been something else. Of the terrible wound in his flank all that now remained was a slight limp and a long