Son of Soron by Robyn Wideman Read Free Book Online

Nathan that his mom had made soup so it would be easier for him to eat.  He made a mental note to thank her later. He appreciated not being coddled. Perhaps his mother realized he was not her little boy anymore. She had made more than one joke about how fast he had been outgrowing his britches. Now to meet the second most important female in his life and hope it went as well as it had with his mother.
 

 
    Chapter seven
     
    AVA WAS NOT THERE when Nathan got to the pond, so he laid down on one of the big flat rocks that surrounded the pool and basked in the sun. Between his face being sore from fighting Tomas and his body hurting from training with his dad, Nathan felt happy to take a short nap and relax his aching body. He yawned. He reminded himself to chew some henta leaf to relieve the pain before going to sleep in the evening.
    When Nathan awoke from his nap he was no longer getting the full light of the sun, something blocked the rays of warming heat and light. Opening his eyes, he found Ava standing above him studying his face. “That looks like it hurt,” she said matter of factly.
    “You think my face looks bad? You should see his hand. Now that fist took a beating, let me tell you,” Nathan quipped. “Now do you want to get out of my sun please? I was enjoying my nap.”
    Despite Nathan’s attempts at humor, Ava did not smile or laugh. She sat down. She lay down beside Nathan so they both got the pleasure of the warm afternoon sun touching them.
    “So are you going to tell me what happened?” asked Ava. “Sharon told me she found Tomas on top of you punching you, and then you disappeared." She did not look at Nathan. She just closed her eyes and waited. The sun warmed the dusting of freckles across her cheeks.
    Nathan gave Ava the full story from getting knocked to the ground to being pinned and then Tomas’s threat about Ava.
    “Fie! Tomas is disgusting,” said Ava when Nathan finished his account of what had happened.  She continued, “He is a pig. He was with Sharon before and she liked him but he kept trying to touch her and kiss her. Finally, she told him to get gone. Now he is trying to get all friendly with me. The fact he thinks beating up you will help his cause is so stupid. I am going to kick his creepy arse for this." Ava’s anger was apparent from the way her volume rose with each statement.
     
    Nathan didn’t need Ava getting involved in this. “Please don’t attack Tomas. Let me deal with him," Nathan begged her. It was bad enough he had lost the fight, having Ava try to make it right by attacking Tomas would be humiliating.
    Ava turned so she faced Nathan as they sat on the warm rock. “Well, I don’t want this happening again,” she said, reaching out and gently touched his face. She grimaced as she turned his face to inspect it further, tisking then adding, “You are ugly enough without getting your face smashed up.”
    Nathan produced a small grin. Her gentle caress felt nice. “What are you talking about? I was already too beautiful; these war wounds make me look more manly and rugged. All the ladies are going to love me now. I should be thanking Tomas.”
    Ava’s gentle caress of his bruised face was quickly replaced with a swift punch to the arm. ”Watch it, mister, or Tomas won’t be the only one making your face manly and rugged.”
    Nathan felt relief. This had gone better than he had envisioned it, and having Ava caress his face felt good. Maybe things weren’t so bad, he mused to himself. For the rest of the afternoon, they just sat there enjoying the sun. Occasionally the silence would be broken by a short argument about what each unique cloud looked like, but by their standards, this wasn’t an argument. It was merely an ongoing dialog to interrupt the comfortable silence.

 
    Chapter eight
     
    RAUL VENTEGO’S FEET hurt! His high quality Morthon leather boots were excellent for riding but left a lot to be desired when it came to walking. From now on, he