Marysvale Read Online Free PDF Page B

wanted you to. Besides,” I added,
“they would have found me anyway.”
    “ I wasn’t going to tell. I
didn’t want to, just to spite him. But then…” his voiced cracked
and his eyes watered, “he started on Mother.”
    Through clenched teeth, he continued,
“He was making me watch. I couldn’t stand it,”
    “ You don’t have to say
anymore.” I gently placed my arm around his shoulder.
    The tears came more freely.
    After a moment, he gained some control
and said, “I secretly followed him. He went into the town hall.
There were others there, too. I didn’t want to get caught, so I hid
outside under the window and listened…. John, they’re going to try
you for witchcraft. They say you’re unnaturally quick and stronger
than normal, and…they think you can read minds.”
    “ And what do you think?” I
asked.
    “ There is something
different about you; but it’s not bad. You’re good. Besides, I
tried testing you, just to see if you really could read minds…”
Then, with a slight grin, he declared, “You failed.”
    I laughed. “Maybe I wasn’t
trying.”
    He pondered that for a moment and then
said, “It doesn’t matter.”
    His sense of urgency returning, he
pled, “Hurry, they won’t be long.”
    I crammed into my riding boots, flung
on my cloak, and grabbed my packs. We made our way out back to the
stable where I readied Smoke for our flight into the
darkness.
    Finally, I understood the deceit in
Potts’ eyes when he had first asked me to look at his cow. It was
to keep me from joining the hunting party. With most of my support
gone, they could take me, have a quick trial, and execute me, all
with a stacked court and little outcry. Once I was dead, they
probably wouldn’t stop. I’m sure Mr. Shepherd would be next....I
froze.
What if they had tricked him into staying too, and had
already had his trial?
    “ Thomas, did you hear
anything about Mr. Shepherd?” I asked urgently.
    “ No, I only heard your name;
but I left before they were finished. I needed to warn
you.”
    It didn’t sound like they had taken
him; but I had no way of knowing for sure. I made a plan to find
the hunting party first thing and warn them.
    “ John,” said Thomas
sadly.
    “ Yes?”
    “ I will miss
you.”
    “ I’ll miss you, too! Don’t
worry, I won’t be gone long.”
    “ Sure,” he said. But I could
tell he didn’t believe me, and I wasn’t sure I really did
either.
    I leapt up onto Smoke’s
back.
    “ Hurry back to the house,
Thomas! They mustn’t know you’ve warned me.”
    “ Be careful, John! I know
you don’t believe it, but these are dark times and the forests are
unsafe, especially in the north.” His voice trailed off as he slid
through the shadows back to his house.
    I kicked Smoke into action. However,
instead of heading south toward the hunting party, we turned north
and headed into town. Men wielding torches streamed out of the town
hall. A few were on horses, already streaking down the main street
in the direction of my now vacant cottage. I darted out of sight
and down a side street before they noticed.
    The occasional smell of smoke rising
from the chimneys made me realize how much I’d miss Syre. I planned
on coming back, but, like Thomas, something inside me knew this
would be the last time I roamed these streets. It made me
sad.
    When the riders had passed, I cut back
to the main road and began my search for the man who was behind
this and so many others’ misery. I just hoped he wasn’t one of the
riders.
    He wasn’t. There, outside the town
hall, stood that foul being who called himself husband and father,
joking and laughing with a few others—the esteemed governor at his
side. The thudding of Smoke’s hooves caught their ears, and they
turned. They looked as if they were trying to figure out why a
rider was coming back without his quarry—not suspecting anything
could be wrong with their carefully thought-out plan. Finally,
recognition dawned and pandemonium