The Executioner's Cane Read Online Free PDF Page B

the mountains were destroyed, lost
forever in the war. They would never return. Annyeke swallowed and
felt the darkness of loss spike through her mind. She shook it
away, refusing to allow the memory to spoil this moment, here and
now. Because all she could sense around her, apart from her own
doubts, was peace. The peace of her simple wooden ceiling, the
peace of the blankets wrapped around their bodies, keeping the
winter chill from their skin. Even the peace the two of them had
created in this room – she could sense its soft golden colours
drifting through her thoughts. She treasured each sensation, trying
to hold on to it, make it part of herself, for as long as she
could. But, no matter how much she tried, she could not gainsay the
sense of something about to happen, something just out of reach
which might take all this happiness away. Or, at the very least,
leave it as something to be put aside in the light of her Eldership
duties and then picked up once more when she was able. And, more
than anything, she wanted her husband to be the major part of her
life. She hated the thought that being First Elder might make
things difficult. Still, Johan had his own role in the Sub-Council
of Meditation, which would become increasingly vital as the
Gathandrians began to rebuild their world. Both of them would be
busy.
    So many fields to seed and so many paths to
walk on ahead. She should stop worrying, and trust to her own
skills to cope with whatever lay in the future.
    With that comforting thought filling her
mind, Annyeke closed her eyes and slept again, the warmth of
Johan’s body wrapping itself around hers as she slept.
    Her rest that morning was dreamless and held
no terrors for her. She had planned to wake long before Talus, her
young charge, returned from his makeshift school for the midday
meal, but in the event it was the tendrils of his enquiring mind
which disturbed her and brought her gasping awake and blinking
almost unseeingly at her ceiling again.
    The light swish of the curtain hanging across
her front door brought Talus’ thoughts into sharper focus as he
came inside, and Annyeke slipped out of the bed and grabbed her
clothes. Johan stirred and mumbled something, but she paid him no
attention. As she struggled into her tunic, Annyeke spun a quick
mind-net round her bedroom so Talus wouldn’t dart in to try to find
her. Not that he would do such a thing – at only seven summers, he
found any notion of romance between adults utterly horrifying – but
in her experience you could never be too careful. She made the
net’s colours yellow and lilac – the colours that seemed most
suited to them both.
    As she swung back her rich red hair and
reached for the clip, she realised something she hadn’t had the
sense to pick up on first. Talus was worried. Something had
happened. Without a second thought, she dropped the clip and ran
for the front room.
    She entered in a cloud of concern and
brushing back her hair with one sweep of her hand in order to be
able to see properly. Talus blinked at her, eyes wide.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked him, her words
falling over themselves in the attempt to be heard. “What’s
happened?”
    It might have been easier to probe his mind,
but Annyeke had never been a supporter of using that technique when
dealing with a child. In any case, her words tended to spill out
when they were needed and she’d never been able to stop them, not
fully.
    Talus blinked at her again and she glanced
down. Seeing the top of her tunic was open to the elements, Annyeke
felt her skin redden and she hurried to close the buttons.
    Sorry, little one, I was sleeping.
    At least that wasn’t a complete lie, she
thought. She needn’t have worried however. Talus just shrugged. But
she could still sense the lines of concern in his mind. They didn’t
diminish even as she heard footsteps behind her and felt the warm
aura of Johan at her side.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked quietly, repeating
the