The Bloody Quarrel (The Complete Edition) Read Online Free PDF Page B

are not eating right and with everything else that is happening—” Nola said instantly.
    “I know this is not Baltimore!” Bridgit snapped. “But I think I know my own body after all these summers!”
    “Well, that might be it as well. You’re not as young as you were,” Riona said gently. “Maybe it is your change in life happening.”
    Bridgit shook her head. “Why are you working so hard to persuade me that I am mad and imagining things?” she demanded.
    Riona and Nola looked at each other and then Nola reached out to take Bridgit’s hand. “Because we know what you’ve been through before and what this could mean.”
    Riona took her other hand. “And because were relying on you to get us out of here and get us home.”
    Bridgit could feel the tears threatening to burst through the barriers she had put up after that fateful night back at Baltimore. Once she would have let them through. But she forced them back with an effort of will. “I know,” she said. “I know what it all means and that is why I have been struggling to sleep these last few nights. They have churches here and they are always praying, but will a Kottermani priest want to save the baby of a slave like me?”
    “You don’t know you are going to lose this one,” Nola said firmly.
    Bridgit had to clench her teeth to stop herself from howling. “I have lost all the others. What makes you think I can keep this one?”
    “Because you are not the same Bridgit,” Riona said.
    “What are you talking about?” Bridgit snorted. “Look at me, it is the same person.”
    “Not inside,” Nola said. “We’ve all seen it. It’s as if they left your fears or something behind when they took you.”
    Now it was Bridgit’s turn to reach out and hold her friend’s hand. “But I am afraid,” she whispered. “Afraid I shall let you all down.”
    They embraced her then and again she had to work at keeping her tears in check.
    Her friends drew back and she could see they were examining her closely. But it was as usual easy enough to keep her thoughts from her face. “Come now. Let’s talk of something else. Like what are we going to do about Ely?”
    “I wonder what her story is,” Nola said. “How did she come to speak Gaelish? Does that mean there are more of our people here?”
    “Who knows? But I can’t trust her yet. The question is, did Gokmen put her in with us so we could talk to the guards or did Prince Kemal order her put in with us, to act as a spy and report back if we plan to do anything. I want to think they look down on us and see us as broken but I worry they are too clever for that. But you are right, we should at least pretend to be her friend: she might let something slip. And make sure the children try to play with her. Most people cannot resist children and that will tell us if she is a friend or not. If she ignores the kids or sends them away then we know she is not with us.”
    “And our plan to escape?”
    “I need some more time to think about it,” Bridgit lied easily. “Come on now. We need to get some sleep. Who knows when the crying will start?”
    They lay back on the thin mattresses, which were stuffed with something strange and lumpy, and wrapped thin sheets around their shoulders. That was just one of the many strange things about this land. The idea of going to sleep without a fire or a blanket was strange, and yet neither of those things was needed there.
    Bridgit made sure her breathing was slow and even, knowing her friends were listening for that. But her mind bounced from fear to fear.
    Things had seemed so simple just a few days ago. She’d had terrible things to worry about, but they were all new worries and they could all be faced and fought. Now an old enemy had come from her past to terrorize her again.
    This was a different battle from the ones she had lost against it, however. She could feel the old Bridgit trying to take charge, wanting to fall to pieces and knowing that she was going to