Tahn by L. A. Kelly Read Free Book Online

he did manage to get to Vari, the boy would be in no shape to travel.
    Strangely, he wondered what Lady Netta would do when he failed to return. As if she would still be there. That was as unlikely as the idea that his rescue attempt could be successful. But wherever the lady was, surely she would be praying.
    “God,” he whispered as he ran over the rocks. “I know your hate for me, and I’ll not argue. But have a mercy for Vari.”

3
    N etta was sitting in the cave, feeling frustrated and impatient. Still it rained. The downpour was such that she couldn’t see the trees beyond the cave’s mouth. The entry was flooded. She had retreated because of it and was feeling terribly helpless, not wanting to be in this place. She might have left hours ago, despite the rain, but feelings she could not understand had made her hesitate.
    So she had prayed for the Lord to stop the rain if he would have her go. Rain never lasts more than a few hours anyway, she’d thought. But this rain had lasted all day and now into the night without so much as a letup. She felt like crying. She should not have prayed that way. She could not leave in the storm now without feeling guilty. And what would it avail her anyhow, when she wouldn’t be able to see a path in front of her?
    At least there was time, she comforted herself. Three days, he’d said. If he wasn’t lying. She agonized at that thought. What if he was lying about everything? Perhaps no harm had come to her family at all, or the rectory. Perhaps no one hunted her but those two beastly men who had fought over her with a bloody result. She stood up, feeling restless and agitated. She had no obligation here. She must find out the truth. She should just go and take her chances.
    But the way he looked, just before he left. The memory of it stopped her in her tracks. “Say a prayer for the children,” he’d said. “They surely need it.”
    He’d looked so worried. So … hurt. But how could it be? He was a murderer, and she should be glad to see him hanged. But he was telling the truth about the children, somehow she knew that. Whoever they were, they were young and precious and in grave danger. Odd as it seemed, there was one obligation she did have. She could not deny that request for prayer, no matter who it came from. She sunk to her knees and bowed her head. Perhaps now she’d be able to move on.

    Tahn didn’t take long to find the two riders who’d followed them. He sprang from a tree at the first one and knocked him easily from his horse. One thrust of his sword and the downed soldier was dead. Tahn hardly had time to think on it, except that these men would have no hesitation killing him or the children if they were caught in their deceit. Perhaps one day all of the bloodshed would end. For now it was survival. He turned to face the second rider.
    But that soldier had no desire to face the Dorn in a deadly fight. He turned his mount quickly back toward Valhal, determined to tell of this treachery.
    Tahn pulled his last knife from its place and threw it hard at the fleeing man’s back. The soldier groaned with the sudden pain, slumped forward, and fell from his saddle.
    Tahn killed him as quickly as the first man and was careful to retrieve his knife. He might need it. The jittery horse responded to his whistle, and he tethered it in the trees.
    Now he could concentrate on getting into Valhal. There was always a sentryman on the wall and another at the gate. Both had a good view of the only path, and a signal horn ever ready. But would he have to go that way? Horsemen were so restricted, but he could hazard the rocks in any direction.
    His feet moved fast as he thought it through. Vari was on the wheel, which was at the millhouse, where monks had ground their own flour back in the days when this forsaken place really was a monastery. The biggest of the waterwheels Samis had reconfigured. Vari would be there, still breathing, Tahn hoped. One revolution of the thing