Encounters (The Elder Origins #3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

that may be recovering from it,” she said.
    Lyndon stopped for a moment. She thought he might be lis tening for anyone who might over hear their conversation. But he appeared more nervous or guilt stricken than anything else.
    “You did all that you could,” she continued, trying to be understanding of his resolve. “Let me handle what little remains.”
    “Perhaps you can find Caspar as well.”
    “I will leave that business to Jayden,” she said. “He can enjoy taking revenge upon him for causing him the inconvenience of this plague.”
    A silence fell between them. Lyndon seemed to be deciding whether or not to tell her something.
    “There is a man that you should find,” he said suddenly.
    “Who is that?” Madison asked.
    An elderly woman came out from her small and frail house. With a bucket of waste from the day’s household, she drenched the street below. She peered at Lyndon and Madison, then wandered back inside and shut her doors with a loud crash.
    Lyndon pulled Madison aside and down a side street. She followed him determined to hear what he had to say.
    “For a brief time, I lodged with a man and his family. I told him of the cure I had found in the rayen, but never revealed its source. I cured his daughter of the sickness. He then wanted the rayen for himself. He claimed he would spread it to the regions I had not crossed.”
    “Why did you not tell me? Then there is no reason for me to go if he has already reached them,” she said.
    “I would want you to go for the mere satisfaction of knowing that he reached the city he was headed for safely. You would be doing me a great service. And who is to say that he was successful. If anything, that would be a verification that we do not need to spread the rayen further than I already have in the Germanic lands.”
    Madison nodded in understanding.
    “His name was Ascot. I want you to find him. And if you can, find his family. I only wish to know if they are well and if he succeeded in spreading the rayen,” he said. “I will draw you a map as best as I can so that you may find their lodging.”
    Lyndon smiled and took Madison by the shoulder. He looked at her with a slight hint of contentment. But Madison sensed something else when he touched her. His emotions were as clear to her as Jayden’s could be when he willed it. There was fulfillment. He was relieved.
    I f she had bothered to delve deeper into the essence radiating from him, she would have quickly realized that this was a reason to be nervous.

Chapter 4
     
    Outside Strasbourg
    April 1348
    A Few Days later
     
    Madison rode horseback for three days straight. She wanted badly to leave her horse or give it to a local villager, but she knew she was better with it. A woman travelling alone was suspicious enough. A woman wandering without a horse would lead people to other notions. Jayden was only a day in front of her headed for the east.
    The woods were darker than she anticipated. The trees towered above her taller than she knew they could grow. The steep hills were beginning to bear down heavily on the horse. She imagined she would come near a mountain range within a day or two. Staying near the large river flowing through the land, she came across several small villages and hamlets, leaving small bits of the rayen wherever possible as people slept. The more she saw, the more she came to see why Lyndon didn’t choose to follow her. The sight of all the dead was enough to make a normal man’s will break. For Lyndon’s blood thirst, it would only be a temptation.
    The hills became rockier as she climbed towards the town she hoped was coming near. She dismounted her horse along the side of the woods so he could graze for food. She could locate him again easily when she needed him. She found herself growing affection for horses. Their strength and speed mirrored her own. But she desperately wanted to feel the ground beneath her again as she ran through the heavy woods. A mist drifted over