Scarlet From Gold (Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

grew awkward.  They parted ways, as Marco went to join the other young men on one side of the fire, while the girls gathered on the other, except for those who were already moving to the dance floor in anticipation of the next tune.
    “So, are you going to have a good time tonight?” a boy standing next to Marco asked.  “Is that what pilgrims do?” he sneered.  “You better watch out; her ex-boyfriend is standing over there drinking ale and looking at you in a way that isn’t friendly.”
    The boy moved away, and Marco stood alone, watching the fire and wondering why a simple dance at a festival could potentially grow into a complicated mess.  He tried to keep an eye on the unfriendly boyfriend without appearing obvious, but his attention was diverted when Reva suddenly broke away from her cluster of friends and approached him at a steady pace.
    “Well, pilgrim friend, aren’t you going to ask me to dance?” she said as she came to a stop in front of him.  “I asked you the first time; aren’t you going to return the favor?”
    Marco felt flustered.  “If that’s the way it’s supposed to work, I’m sorry – I didn’t realize.  Would you like to dance?” he asked.
    And at that moment Reva’s ex-boyfriend came storming over.
    “You get away from him!” the man shouted loudly as he approached the pair.  He grabbed Reba’s arm and pulled her away.
    “Eric, you let go of me and leave me alone!” Reva shouted back.  “You said you wanted to go out with other girls, so go ahead.”
    “I don’t want you going around dancing with trash like this!” Eric turned and shoved his hand into Marco’s chest, making the visitor stagger backwards.
    “You leave her alone, and leave me alone!” Marco said angrily as he bumped his own chest against the chest of his larger antagonist.
    Eric staggered back a half step, looked at Marco, then shoved Reva aside and pulled a large knife off his hip.  “Maybe you shouldn’t have such a pretty face,” he snarled at Marco, as he waved the knife menacingly.
    “Eric, no!” Reva shouted as she threw herself back towards the burgeoning battle.
    Eric turned towards her, his knife extended.  “Stay out of this until I’m ready for you!” he shouted at her.
    Marco saw the position of  the knife and he saw Reva’s plunge back towards Eric, and he realized that her momentum was going to cause her to impale herself upon the blade of Eric’s knife.  He felt fear rise up in his throat, and he wanted to shout a warning, but there wasn’t time to get the words out of his mouth, let alone to knock either participant away from the disastrous collision that was about to occur.
    Before Marco could shut his eyes in horror, he felt his arm fly into action, as his hand grabbed at the hilt of his own sword.  His limb and the weapon acted with a speed that was beyond comprehension as they anticipated the dangerous wound that was about to occur; his sword flickered out and pinked Eric on his wrist, forcing the hand to jerk upward as the man’s fingers released his grip on his knife.
    Marco’s sword hand retracted his own weapon back from between the other two bodies as Reva crashed into Eric, and the knife flew upwards in a spinning arc, then fell back towards the ground.  Marco slammed his incredible sword back into his scabbard, then reached out and caught the knife in the air, as Reva and Eric toppled to the ground, both stunned by the blurry movement that they knew had prevented a worse collision.
    “Did you see that?” a voice asked loudly in the silence that had descended over the village square, as the band had stopped playing and the other dancers and celebrants had stopped to witness the unfolding conflict.
    “How did he do that?” someone asked as Marco stood alone, holding the captured knife, while Reva lay atop Eric looking up at Marco, as Eric held his injured wrist in his other hand.
    “How did you do that?” Reva repeated the question in a