Jalia in the North (Jalia - World of Jalon) by John Booth Read Free Book Online

trees.   It must have been a popular place to stop as the ground was rutted with cart tracks. A campfire burned between their covered wagon and the brook.
    However, the clash of metal on metal was a sign something untoward was going on. The shrieking of a woman was another, not insignificant, clue.
     
    The camp was about a third of a mile away. Jalia pulled Swift off the road onto softer ground before she galloped towards it. She whooped and shrieked to let the raiders know she was coming. With luck they would run away.
    Daniel dropped the rope to his donkeys and told Ferd to stay where he was before guiding Jet off the road and chased after Jalia. Ferd snorted in disgust and led his train towards a particularly succulent patch of glass.
    As Jalia got closer to the camp she saw a man and a woman defending the wagon against three attackers. As she watched the man was struck and fell to the ground. Her continuing yells had some effect, as the three attackers looked and saw her approaching. Jalia wasn’t aware of it, but they could see Daniel catching up behind her.
    That made the odds far too close to even and the men backed away. The woman saw her man lying on the ground and ran at the three men screaming defiance. One of the men cut her down. The attackers ran into the trees, disappearing from sight almost immediately in the gathering gloom.
    Jalia dismounted and ran to the woman. She was still alive, but only just. As Jalia lifted her, the woman gasped out her final words.
    “Promise me, Protect my babies,” Her hand gripped Jalia’s arm with grim determination.
    “Yes, of course. I promise,” Jalia said, and the woman’s face relaxed as she died.
    Jalia turned around to see Daniel examining the man. He shook his head as she looked at him.
    A baby started to cry in the wagon. Its cries got louder and louder as Jalia and Daniel stood looking at each other.
    “I said I’d look after it,” Jalia said, looking strangely lost. Daniel was no help at all and shrugged.
    They clambered onto the wagon and Jalia lifted a large sheet covering the rear. A baby stared back at her, wrapped in swaddling and obviously needing some kind of attention.
    “Well do something…” Jalia prompted as Daniel made no move to help.
    “I think this requires a woman’s touch,” Daniel said, staying well clear of the screaming infant. As they stood looking, another part of the sheet moved. Jalia drew her sword and struck. Her blow was intercepted by the flat of Daniel’s blade.
    “Perhaps you should look to see what it is before you kill it,” Daniel suggested, lifting the sheet to reveal two small girls. They looked terrified. The elder of the two decided to risk speaking.
    “Serin needs changing. Don’t you know how to do it?”
    “I’ll leave you girls to get on with it,” Daniel said, leaving a speechless Jalia to her own devices. Daniel mounted his horse and went to retrieve his donkeys. He would need the spade he kept in Ferd’s pack, as he had some burying to do.

Coyote
     
    Jalia and Daniel decided to make camp at the brook. Daniel found a sheltered spot about a quarter of a mile from the camp where he dug a hole big enough to hold the bodies of the dead couple and deep enough so that scavenging animals would not be able to dig them up and feast on their flesh. Jalia, with the help of the two little girls whose names turned out to be Yeta and Maya, changed and fed their baby sister.
    It was late by the time Daniel finished the hole. He used Ferd to carry the bodies to the grave. Jalia brought the children along behind him and the two children kissed their parents goodbye before Daniel tumbled them into the hole.
    Yeta was five summers old and Maya was six. They cried as Daniel covered their parents with dark red earth, but their tears dried to be replaced by furtive looks as Daniel and Jalia led them back to the camp.
    “Aren’t you scared the men will come back and attack us,” Maya asked as Daniel collected wood from