Diamonds Fall Read Online Free PDF

an introduction. "Quick."
    "They're watching me," Annabel whispered in a tiny voice. "I can't leave."
    "They won't tell on you if you're with me. Trust me."
    Annabel simply stayed put. She had seen too much in the past few days to begin trusting someone that easily. The young girl rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips in a gesture far too old for her meagre years.
    "I'm not trickin' you. Do I look like I'd do tha'? Come on." She sounded impatient, as if she had already seen far too much resistance in her short life. "I lived `ere me whole life. I know wha' I'm doing."
    The temptation to go outside, to shake free of the oppressive stable, of the constant stench of urine and animals, was too much to resist, no matter how frightened she was. Very slowly, like a horse at risk of bolting, Annabel rose to her feet.
    Her head spun as she staggered over the uneven floor. Pieces of straw stuck to the exposed soles of her feet, they crackled with every step she took. She felt weak and swollen, her limbs aching. Annabel hesitated for a long time in the open doorway. Her feet lingered on the threshold as her eyes ran the length of the gloomy ally. The young girl didn't even notice her absence until she was almost out in the open, at which point she spun sharply around.
    "Come on," the girl seemed to be finding Annabel's behaviour almost humorous.
    Tentatively Annabel placed one foot in front of the other, making her way as slowly as possible across the ground she had walked again and again in her nightmares. She glanced over her shoulder so often it appeared as if she had a twitch.
    Upon exiting the street Annabel raised her hands over her face, the bright sunlight sending a sudden shock through her as it hit her eyes. Her heart rate increased once again as she imagined hands on her. Feeling these ghostly touches she shivered, running her own fingers over herself in the attempt to shake them off. She stumbled in her panic and nearly screamed. The small, warm hand of the girl wrapped itself around Annabel's shoulders just before her lungs could let out the sound of her fear. There was a look of the deepest concern in her dark eyes as the girl steered her forward.
    Annabel could only assume it was this young girl's turn to watch her now.
    Despite this knowledge, despite the fact she was still just a prisoner and the girl her new guard, the pleasure of being outside was incredible. She sucked greedily at the fresh air, absorbing the different smells and sounds of the nearby forest as eagerly as she had devoured the bread but ten minutes earlier.
    After a few feet, her eyes became accustomed to the light. Glancing around her with higher awareness she saw that she was being led out of a small medieval looking village. There were about ten houses built in a large, dusty clearing made entirely from earth and wood, the centre piece of which was an unlit fire pit built in the middle.
    A flash of remembrance - herself lying exposed on that very ground - came into her head and she shut her eyes against the humiliation. The memory burnt even hotter behind her closed lids, forcing her to reopen them.
    There were cages dotted around the clearing, made in a similar manner to the stable ladder. They housed various small animals. The larger of the animals were tied to trees and posts. A few people were outside, mainly women on their daily chores, plucking chickens or sweeping dirt out of their rickety front doors. All of them wore clothes in shades of brown or grey, in the same coarse fabric as her own. Only some wore knitted shawls or coats of animal skin. It looked as if they used every part of the animals they killed, much unlike the manor where it was custom to leave much more than they ate.
    Many of the villagers glanced towards her but they all looked away again. Some of them Annabel now recognised as having walked past the stable to ogle at her shamed form. She made sure to linger on their faces a little longer, fixing them with a look of