Ravenwood Read Online Free PDF Page B

thereabouts.”
    Amber added. “The new moon was just the other night so he’s not too late. He’ll be back.”
    William didn’t look convinced to Tanyth, but she held her tongue. She sipped her cooling tea and thought about what they’d said. “You all came from town? None of you are farm folk? Nobody used to livin’ on the land?”
    William nodded. “Mother Alderton called us her poor little rich kids. My father owns a shipping line, but there’s no room for me in it.” His voice dripped bitterness onto the table.
    Amber grimaced. “Daughters of goldsmiths don’t get to play with gold. They’re supposed to be pretty and snare good husbands.”
    “All of you are what? Runaways?”
    “Not runaways, exactly. Just misfits, I guess you’d say. Most of us have families that we could go back to. Thomas doesn’t. The knowing grins would be difficult to deal with, but it could be done.”
    “Your father would never accept me as his daughter, Will.” Amber said this quietly without looking at him.
    “Probably fair, because yours wouldn’t accept me as a son, either.” He gave her a grin that carried real humor and warmth. He turned to Tanyth. “Neither of our families thinks our choice of partner is suitable.”
    She smiled back. “I gathered.” She looked back and forth between them. “So you all packed up and came out here to quarry clay?”
    William snickered. “We thought of it as ’setting out to make our fortunes.’” He gave a sideways shrug. “Might work yet, if we don’t all die or get disgusted and pack it in.”
    Amber sat up straighter on her stool. “Well, those that have packed it in are the singles and the impatient, for the most part. I know you and I aren’t ready to give up yet, and neither are Sadie and Thomas or Megan and David.”
    “Clay’s hard work and shipping it so far as a raw material is harder still, I wager.” Tanyth offered the suggestion.
    “We’ve got a factor in Kleesport who buys it. We give it to him wholesale and he brokers it out to those who need it for brickwork and whatnot.” William shrugged. “We didn’t run away, ya see? We still have connections there. Just scratchin’ in the dirt like this is disheartenin’ for some.”
    It was Tanyth’s turn for a half shrug. “Anything worth havin’ is worth workin’ for.” She paused. “Where’s Mother Alderton’s hut? Maybe there’s stuff there I can show you how to use before I get on the road again.”
    Amber sighed. “Well, we were hoping you’d be able to spend a bit of time with us.”
    William looked at her with a hopeful gleam in his eye. “You’d be able to help us a lot, mum, if you could see your way to spend even a few days. We’d be able to send you on in the clay wagon when Frank takes it to Kleesport again. He’ll be going back out again almost as soon as he gets back. A couple days rest for the horses and we’ll load the barrels of clay for the ride into town. Save you walkin’.”
    “Walkin’s no mind to me, William, and I’d be a day closer by now if I hadn’t come back.” She felt a little mean to be reminding them. “I need to be in Lammas Wood before the Axe Moon.”
    William’s eyes widened. “That’s a long way to go. How were you planning to get there by then?”
    “Passage from Kleesport to Northport on a ship. Should only take a couple of weeks by sea, but I need to be there before the days get too short.”
    Tanyth could see William running the numbers in his head. “Yes, but that’s still not goin’ to make it. It’ll take longer than that to make it to Kleesport, mum.”
    “Well, not if I walked today, lad. It’s just gone to the Harvest Moon and I can be in Kleesport in ten days. I’ll be a few days late by taking the ship, assuming I can get passage, but the weather shouldn’t be too bad and I’ll be in Northport before the season gets too far advanced.”
    He nodded his agreement. “I can see that, mum. And every day you stay here is a day