Surviving The Evacuation (Book 7): Home by Frank Tayell Read Free Book Online

he?” she asked, back in their newly christened infirmary.
    “About the same as an hour before,” the old warder replied.
    “I’d like you to organise a guard.”
    “At night? To watch out for Graham?” he asked.
    “For Tuck and Eamonn, too. But yes, for Graham.”
    “I can’t see why he’d come back.”
    “I can’t see why he’d want to kill Hana,” Nilda replied.
    “Fair point,” Fogerty said. “And what’s the mood like, otherwise?”
    “I don’t know. Scared. Tense. Expectant. Anything but hopeful. I told everyone we needed different ideas. I don’t think anyone has any.”
    “Different ideas? Well, you could bring the livestock inside and have everyone sleep in one room. That’ll reduce the amount of wood we need to burn for heating and the calories expended in hauling it in and breaking it up. It’s what they would have done six hundred years ago.”
    “Have we gone back that far?”
    “It’s just temporary, isn’t it? Until help comes from Anglesey.”
    “If it comes. I didn’t want to tell anyone.” And she wasn’t sure why she was telling the old soldier except that she had to tell someone. “I went to the kitchens. Aisha’s already got it more organised than Stewart had. But I went there to see whether Eamonn had taken any food with him.”
    “And did he?”
    “I don’t think so. I mean, he might have done and just not written it in the ledger, but after what happened, I can’t believe that.”
    “The scuttlebutt is that he took some maps with him, ones your man here marked down as having the safe houses on them. That’s right, isn’t it?”
    “I think so.”
    “And those safe houses, didn’t Chester say they had food and water in them?”
    “He did, but they set those up months ago. What if there’s no food left?”
    “Now you’re looking for things to worry about. It’s not that far to Wales, and it’s not that late in the year. There’s still fruit on the trees and enough brambles by the roadside. It’s out of your hands.” He stood stiffly and rubbed at his knees. “We’ve got to find some more comfortable chairs. Right, I’ll go and sort out this guard rota.”
    When the old soldier left, Nilda took his seat by Chester’s bedside.
    “What do I do now?” she asked. “What if Eamonn doesn’t make it? What if two weeks go by and no boat arrives? Should more people attempt the journey now?”
    But there was no answer from the unconscious man, not even a reassuring groan. She closed her eyes and finally let the stress of the day overtake her.
     
     
    27 th September
     
    “Mum?”
    Nilda opened her eyes. “Hey, Jay,” she murmured. “Is it morning?”
    He nodded. “Were you here all night?”
    “Not all night,” she lied. One of Chester’s arms was hanging over the side of the bed. She lifted it and felt the pulse. It seemed stronger than before; she was certain of it. “What time is it?”
    “About six,” Jay said. “I’ll take over for a bit. Go and get some breakfast.
    “Thank you.” She laid a hand on her son’s shoulder. As she looked at the boy, nearly grown into a man, she found herself smiling.
    “What?” Jay asked.
    “Amidst the dark, there is always some light,” she said. “That was from a poem. Sebastian used to quote it to me when times were at their hardest.”
    Jay shifted uncomfortably. Nilda smiled again and went out into the new day.
     
    She felt… not good, but confident. Perhaps it was just that she’d slept, but there had been something about how people had acted without instruction the previous day that hadn’t registered with her at the time. And she wasn’t the only one traipsing through the castle’s grounds on the wrong side of dawn. There were more children than adults, and most, like her, were heading to the latrines, but it was more people awake than she would have seen at this time a week before.
    “It’s a good sign,” she murmured. It made her think she’d misread the group. Or perhaps it was