Jerusalem Man 01 - Wolf in Shadow Read Online Free PDF

Mother.'
    'You know that I won't. Sleep now. Rest.'
    Leaning forward, she kissed his cheeks, then lifted the coal oil-lamp and left the room. He was asleep before the latch dropped home.
    Shannow sat in the comfort chair staring at the ceiling. Donna placed the brass lamp on the table and moved to the stove, adding fresh wood to the blaze. As his head tipped forward and he caught her gaze, his eyes seemed unnaturally bright.
    'Are you all right, Mr Shannow?'
    'Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labours which he taketh under the sun?' Shannow blinked and leaned back.
    'I am sorry,' she said, placing her hand over his, 'but I do not understand you.' He blinked once more, and smiled wearily, but his eyes lost their glitter and he seemed mortally tired.
    'No, it is I who am sorry, Donna Taybard. I have brought death to your house.'
    'You gave me back my son.'
    'But for how long, Donna? All my life I have been the rock in the pool. I make a splash and the ripples rush out, but after that? The pool settles and is as it was. I cannot protect you from the Committee, nor Eric. I can make no difference to the evil of the world - indeed, sometimes I think I add to it.'
    She held his hand tightly, forcing him to look at her.
    There is no evil in you, Mr Shannow. Believe me, I know these things. When you first came I was frightened, but I have come to know you. You are kind and you are considerate, and you have taken no advantage of my situation. In fact the reverse is true; you have risked your life for Eric and me.'
    There is nothing to that,' he said. 'My life is no great treasure; I do not value it. I have seen things in my life that would have cindered another man's soul – cannibals, savages, slavery and wanton murders. I have travelled far, Donna. And I am tired.
    'Last summer I killed three men, and I vowed never to kill again. I have been hired to rid settlements of Brigands and war-makers - and I have succeeded. But then the eyes of those who sought me turn on me, and I see the fear in their eyes, and they are glad to see me ride on. They do not say, "Thank you Mr Shannow, stay among us and farm.” They do not say, "We are your friends, Mr Shannow, and we will never forget you." Instead they hand me the Barta coins and ask when I will be leaving.’
    'And when I go, Donna, the Brigands return and all is as it was. The pool settles, the ripples die.'
    Donna stood and pulled him to his feet. 'My poor Jon,’ she whispered. 'Come with me.' She led him to a room at the back of the house and in the darkness she undressed him, removed her own clothes and pulled back the blankets on a wide bed. He came to her hesitantly and where she expected him to cover her with fierce passion, instead he stroked her skin with surprising gentleness. Her arm moved around his neck, pulling his face down until their lips touched. He groaned then, and the fierceness followed.
    He was an inexpert and almost clumsy lover, not at all as skilled as Tomas the Carpenter, yet Donna Taybard found a fulfillment with Shannow that transcended expertise, for he was giving everything of himself, holding nothing back - and at the end he wept, and his tears flowed on to Donna's face.
    And she stroked his brow and whispered soothing, loving words - and realized these were the same words she had used to Eric an hour before. And Shannow slept, just as Eric slept.
    Donna moved to the porch and washed the sweat from her body with a bucket of cool fresh water, then she dressed and wandered to the pen, enjoying the freshness of the night.
    People would think her a slut for taking a man so soon after her husband's disappearance, but she had never felt less like a slut. Instead she felt as if she had just come home from a long journey to find all her friends and family waiting with open arms. The Committee could offer no terror tonight. Everything was in harmony.
    Shannow's gelding wandered to her,