Gifted Stone (Souls Of The Stones) Read Online Free PDF

honorable to keep your promises. I think that if keeping the secret won’t cause harm to come to another, the best thing to do is to keep the secret. You also have to consider your reasons for wanting to share the secret. If revealing it will serve no good other than easing your own conscience, it would be selfish to burden another with it.”
    “Well, that’s clear as mud.” Rink frowned.
    “Sorry, it’s the best I can offer you. I’m afraid that whatever is weighing on your mind is something that you’ll have to sort out in your own time. Perhaps you should have considered the consequences before agreeing to keep someone else’s secret.”
    “I think it would have done good if I’d told it earlier, but now I’m not so sure that it would help anything.” A soft rustling drifted to Rink’s ears and he clutched at Jessa’s arm, stopping her. “Did you hear that?” He kept his voice low.
    Jessa rolled her eyes. “It was probably the horses—we’re almost to them.”
    Rink shook his head. “I know horses, and whatever that was, it wasn’t a horse.”
    Jessa flinched back, cowering behind Rink. “Do you think it’s the boar?” Her voice wavered and her fingers bit into his arm.
    Heavy footfalls came from the nearby brush and armor clinked. He shook his head as he angled himself in front of Jessa. His shoulder throbbed in protest. “It’s not an animal. Someone’s coming.”
    Ignoring the pain, Rink held his branch out in front of him, ready, although not at all steady.
    “Rink, put that down. They might be friendly,” Jessa hissed from behind him.
    “And when I decide they are, I’ll put it down.” He wasn’t going to let someone carry Jessa off, as well.
    Two armored guards clad in black and silver stepped through the brush, their eyes narrowing as they glanced at the wood in Rink’s hand.
    The one in the back relaxed his face and pointed. “I think that’s them!”
    Great, so they’d come for them specifically. Rink’s suspicions that they weren't friendly were confirmed. “We don’t want no trouble. Go on and leave us be so I don’t have to hurt you.” Rink gritted his teeth.
    “Are you the handmaiden and the lad from Eltar who were traveling with Lady Warren?”
    “Maybe,” Rink answered, and behind him, Jessa said, “Yes, do you know where she is?”
    The guard in front laughed. “So which is it—yes or no?”
    “I’m betting on yes,” said the guard in back.
    “I’m betting that you should tell us who you are right now.” Rink could see the situation quickly slipping out of his control. For all he knew, these men were the ones who'd taken Lady Warren.
    “You look injured, son. Put that down and come with us. I’ll not be threatened by a stable rat.”
    Anger burned in Rink’s ears. “I am not a stable rat!” He darted forward without thinking, his makeshift club raised above his head with his good arm.
    Rink swung at the guard in front, blinded by his anger. The front guard ducked and the branch made a thump against the armor of the guard in back, accomplishing nothing but making him angry.
    “Why, you little heathen! Give me that.”
    Armor-clad hands tried to snatch him up, but Rink dropped to the ground and whacked the first pair of knees he found.
    With a yelp, the guard dropped to the ground beside him amid clattering armor, clutching at his knee. “That hurt!”
    Scrambling to his feet, Rink was just about to charge the second guard when someone clobbered him over the head.
    Borrowing the words of the guard before him, Rink cried, “That hurt!” Dizziness rushed up through his head, and his shoulder begged him to halt the scuffle.
    Turning on unsteady feet, Rink expected to find the other guard. Instead, Jessa stood grinning, holding out her branch. “I guess I could have gotten the boar after all.” She grinned and raised the branch higher.
    Rink dropped his own branch and held up his hand, while the other hung painfully at his side. “All right, all