A Man Betrayed by J. V. Jones Read Free Book Online Page B

her
strength of will was breathtaking. She refused the help of the physicians and
would not take anything to dull the pain that might dull her wits as well.
    Only in her case
it seemed as if she didn't want to survive.
    Jack's fingers
were frozen to the dead man's collar, but it was not the cold that chilled to
the bone. A fragment of memory, more tenuous than a wisp of snow, filtered down
through the accumulated recollections of eight years past. A snatch of
conversation, not meant for his ears:
    "She's a
tough one, that's for sure. "
    "Aye, but
if she won't let them slice her she'll be a gonna just the same. "
    "Not a
chance of that, friend. She won't even take a poultice to stay the growth, let
alone take a knife to cut it out. "
    He hadn't even
understood it at the time, and the years had conspired to make him forget, but
today, dragging a body to a place fit for the dead, he realized what it meant:
his mother had wanted to die. Her will, so much more than a match for
his own, had been directed toward death not survival.
    The wind keened
sharp and relentless. The dead man pulled at his back. He was so weary; there
was too much he didn't understand. If he looked for answers, he found heartache
instead. Why had she wanted to die? Was her life in the castle so bad? Or was
he just a worthless son? He missed her so much. She was the only person who was
truly his, only now it seemed she'd forsaken him. Just as his father had done.
    It would be so
easy to give everything up, to lie down in the snow beside the dead man and
keep him company in the world beyond. Jack stopped for a moment, watching the
cool cheek of the horizon, as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. There
was no question, really; he had to continue. Fate was at his heels and it
guided his feet forward to the dance.
    On Jack walked,
the dead man in his wake, back doubled up with the burden.
    The wind was with
him, bearing him along from the coop. It blustered and howled, hamming up its
part in the drama, and the snow formed a backdrop with its silent display. Jack
looked back. He was now a fair distance from the little wooden shack. It wasn't
far enough. He couldn't leave the body within sight of the coop. He owed it to
the dead man.
    Finally he came
upon a copse of trees that were camouflaging a slight depression in the land.
He drew close, breath short and ragged from the strain of dragging the body,
and saw that a frozen pond formed the center of the dip. This was where he
would leave his burden.
    He slid down the
slope and the dead man followed. The ice was as hard as stone. Jack pushed the
body toward the middle of the surface and folded the dead man's arms across his
chest. He stood above him and watched as snow gathered once more upon the cold
flesh. The body began to take on the look of a stone carving. The snow shone
upon the flesh like silver filings: adorning, ennobling. Satisfied that he had
managed to give the man at least a semblance of dignity, Jack turned and scaled
the slope.
    Only when he
reached the top did he allow his hands the shelter of his cloak. As he emerged
from the tangle of bush and tree, he spied the coop in the distance. Something
dark moving from the west caught his eye. He couldn't gain perspective for a
moment and thought it was a flock of birds, or even a herd of cattle. His
vision crystallized, and in that instant his heart missed a beat. The sensation
was nothing like the dreamy descriptions given by love poets. It was hard,
jolting, throwing his whole body out of kilter, unsettling his very core.
    The dark mass was
mounted men, the Halcus, and they were heading toward the chicken coop. Toward
Melli.
    One step forward
and then Jack felt the sliver of a blade upon his throat.
    "Take another
step and you're dead."
    Melli was
beginning to feel worried. Jack had been gone too long. There had been
something odd about him when he left, and for one horrible moment she'd had the
feeling that she wouldn't be seeing him again. Such