This Other Eden by Marilyn Harris Read Free Book Online Page B

in one sharp blow against his groin and had left him howling. Then she had
raced up the steps and into a semicircle of guards who had been alerted by
their master s cry.
     
    Still
remembering, she managed a smile, seeing him grasping his now bent horn as
though mortally wounded. She sighed heavily and lay on her back. The sound of
the rain was faint through the thick walls. It was impossible to chart the hour
of the morning by the dim gray light slipping in through the high slit window.
     
    No
need for impatience. They would come for her soon enough and lead her forward.
Firmly she gripped the folds of her dress and closed her eyes and for the first
time during the night of her imprisonment she slipped into an easeful sleep,
dreaming of her garden, of her father's kind face, and of her small
calico-stuffed elephant.
     
    No
need for impatience. With furious breath they would come for her. They would
put out their hands, as Thomas Eden had done and make everything dirty and
tired and old.
     
    In
sleep she turned her face back toward the slit beneath the door. In her dream
she saw a girl child pick up a doll and hurl it to the floor, put her foot on
it, crush her heel into it and, crying, she kicked its china head all in dust.
     
    No
need for haste. Soon they would come. . . .
     
    And
they did.
     
    Shortly
after ten o'clock the rains stopped, the skies cleared, and the inner courtyard
was a steamy, blazing, water-soaked amphitheater already filled with over a
hundred citizens. They stood in clustered knots, eyeing the whipping oak, then
the heavens, then the locked door which led from the Keep.
     
    Ragland
awakened shortly after eight. His nose took note of his urine-soaked garments,
the same ones he'd slept in. Then remembering all, he raced up to Lord Eden's
chambers, hoping for a last-minute reprieve. For one cruel moment he thought he
had it.
     
    Upon
the instant of awakening and upon being reminded what day it was and what was
scheduled to take place, Lord Eden, obviously suffering a painful head, raised
up from his pillow and hoarsely whispered, "Cancel it."
     
    Ragland,
in a burst of repressed joy, turned back to the door, only to be stopped by a
sharp "No!"
     
    Again
he looked over his shoulder at Thomas Eden, now sitting upright in bed, naked,
only a light coverlet over his legs. Then he heard a strangely soft, almost
regrettable counter-command. "See it finished," was what he heard.
When Ragland waited a moment longer to see if there would be yet another command,
Lord Eden, still suffering from some unknown cause, raged at him, "I said
see it finished!"
     
    Disheartened,
Ragland turned back to the door. But there was yet another command, a faint,
almost plaintive order coming from the grand bed, "No knots, no spikes,
Ragland. Tell Jack Spade to be easy."
     
    Ragland
nodded and for the third time started out of the door. For the third time Eden
stopped him. "Any further news?" he asked, looking expectant now,
though slightly ridiculous, his long dark hair about his face in a state of
disarray, his fleshy, naked torso matted with black hair and glistening •with
perspiration. The rains had done nothing to ease the heat. The bedchamber was
like an inverted stone bowl.
     
    "News?"
Ragland parroted, still struggling with the previous commands, dreading what
was yet ahead of him.
     
    Thomas
Eden sat up straighter, his sleep-creased face darkening with impatience.
"The ship, man," he scolded. "My God, have you forgotten? The
ship!"
     
    Sweet
Jesus, he had forgotten. The ship was to have been unloaded last evening
in Mortemouth Gove. He had intended to check on the progress after he had left
Hartlow's cottage. But what he had seen there had caused him such distress that
the activity at the cove had completely slipped his mind.
     
    But
he covered his omission with a finesse and artistry based on years of
experience. " 'Tis done," he said, with a confident bob of his head,
knowing that it probably was done, that