Lady Carliss and the Waters of Moorue Read Online Free PDF Page B

and was amazed to see that the animal they had been poking was actually a full-grown man hunkered down into a protective ball. The children just laughed and began striking the man with their sticks.
    “Oafy, Oafy, Oafy,” the children called.
    Carliss hated to leave Dalton even for a moment, but malice toward the lowly was something she could not stand by and watch. She stood and began walking toward the scene. She saw the man cover his head with his hands, trying to keep the sticks from hitting him. The children renewed their torment and taunting.
    “Stop it!” Carliss quickened her pace.
    The children stopped and gazed at her, seemingly perplexed. The oldest imp, a lad of about eleven, lifted his stick to strike once again. Carliss glared hard at the boy.
    “Do it again,” she said sternly, “and I’ll use that stick to paddle you!”
    The tormented man looked up just as the imp smacked him hard in the head with his stick. Carliss sprinted toward them, and the four children threw down their sticks and ran, laughing all the way, shouting, “Oafy, Oafy, Oafy.”
    The man covered his head again as Carliss reached him. His brown rags barely covered his body, and his hair was a wild mess. A worn-out broom lay beside him.
    “Are you all right?” Carliss asked gently, kneeling beside him.
    The man slowly opened his eyes. He lifted his hand from the place where the last stick had hit him, and blood dripped down his forehead.
    “Please stop,” the man pleaded.
    Carliss leaned closer. “They are gone. They won’t hurt you anymore.”
    The man carefully looked up. His face was filthy, and his eyes seemed to tilt low to the outside, giving him the appearance of a beaten puppy. He looked about for the children. Carliss smiled and touched his arm. The man was large, and she had a hard time imagining him being frightened by the meanspirited children.
    The man looked into Carliss’s eyes. He smiled, but she could tell his mind was not fully there. He didn’t even seem to notice the blood trickling down his forehead.
    “Oafy sweeps,” he said, then looked about for his broom.
    Carliss reached for it and handed it to him. He smiled and nodded. When he stood up, Carliss rose up with him. His back did not seem to straighten fully, but even so he towered over Carliss. He began to sweep the walkway where he had been crouching as if he had just returned from a break.
    “Will you be all right now?” Carliss asked.
    The man smiled and nodded while making a goofy, gleeful sound with his throat.
    Carliss returned the smile, then turned to go back to Dalton. She could see that he had fallen over and was now lying along the wall of the tavern. A man and a woman walked by, shaking their heads in disgust. Carliss hurried over to them.
    “Excuse me,” she said, interrupting their walk, “this man is injured and—”
    The man and woman snorted and then hurried on their way. Carliss was becoming agitated by this town and by their lack of success in finding help. Salina returned and shook her head.
    “We’re going to Salisburg,” Carliss said. “At least there are people there who will help us.”
    Salina agreed, and they lifted Dalton to his feet once again. He was worse off now and seemed much heavier than before. As they struggled to lift him to his horse, the man called Oafy appeared at Carliss’s side. He tilted his head from one side to the other as they tried fruitlessly to get Dalton mounted.
    Finally Carliss turned to the man. “Please help,” she said with a gentle smile.
    Oafy dropped his broom and lifted Dalton as if he were lifting a child. Once Dalton was placed in the saddle, he slumped forward onto the neck of his horse. His head was turned toward Carliss and the large fellow.
    “Thank you,” Carliss said to Oafy, but he didn’t respond. He was studying Dalton’s face.
    He leaned in close to Dalton and squinted. He slowly brought a finger up to Dalton’s face and looked as if he was going to poke his eye.