The Outcasts Read Online Free PDF

And life is hard on people who are different. He needs someone to show him how to stand up for himself. I can’t do that.” She paused. “You could.”
    “Maybe … ,” Thorn began. She could see he was thinking about it, starting to accept the idea that he might have something useful to do with his life, instead of drinking it away.
    “Or you could just continue to feel sorry for yourself and waste your life,” she said.
    He didn’t respond to that immediately. But after several seconds, he asked, “How did you know about the promise?”
    “You told me,” she said. “One night when you were drunk.”
    He frowned, thinking. “When was that? I don’t remember it.”
    She smiled sadly and shook her head. “I can’t remember which one. There were so many, Thorn.”
    He nodded. “That’s true.”
    Karina could see he was wavering. “Look, I need help around the place here. The eating house is a good business and it’s growing. It’s getting to be more than I can handle on my own. I could use help with things like firewood and the heavy work around the place—cleaning and repairs and painting. They’re all things you can do with one hand. And you can keep an eye on Hal. Teach him the skills he’s going to need as he grows older. You can move in with us. You’d have a warm place to sleep.”
    Thorn was shaking his head. “No. I couldn’t live in the house with you. That wouldn’t be proper. People would talk. It’d be bad for your reputation.”
    She smiled. “I think I could bear it,” she said. “But if it bothers you, you could fix up the lean-to at the back of the house. That’d stop people gossiping.”
    He thought about it and nodded several times to himself.
    “Yes. That’d be all right.”
    “I’ll pay you, of course,” Karina added. Once again his gaze shot up to meet hers. She could see a sense of pride in his eyes—something that had been missing for years now.
    “I don’t want charity,” he said.
    She laughed at him. “And you won’t get it! I’ll make sure you earn every kroner I pay you.”
    “Well then … maybe this would work out.” Thorn pursed his lips. The idea of working for Karina was an attractive one. And the notion that he might be able to help the boy and guide his steps through early manhood was one that fascinated him. It was not the path he might have chosen for himself, but definitely something that could be worth doing. If he couldn’t use the skills he’d learned anymore, at least he could teach them to someone else, he thought. That would be a useful thing to do. And above all, Thorn wanted to be useful. He’d spent long enough feeling useless.
    “One thing,” Karina added. “You’ll have to stop drinking.”
    There was no compromise in her voice. Thorn hesitated.
    “Sometimes my arm hurts,” he said.
    But Karina was firm. “I’m sorry to hear that. But I’m sure there were times when you felt lots of pain before you lost the arm. And you dealt with it.”
    “That’s true,” he admitted.
    “Then you’ll just have to deal with the pain when it happens—without trying to drink it away.”
    He took a deep breath. “I think I can handle that,” he said, committing himself.
    She smiled at him. “I’m sure you can.”
    “So I might get busy looking at that lean-to today. Might as well get it shipshape and then move in. Then you can give me a list of things you need me to do.”
    “There is one thing that’s top priority,” Karina said, and when he looked at her with a question in his eyes, she continued, in a voice that brooked no argument.
    “Have a bath. A long one.”
     
    That had been six years ago—it was now twelve years since the raid that had cost Hal’s father his life, and Hal was almost sixteen. In that time, Thorn had become a familiar sight around Karina’s inn. He had moved into the lean-to at the back of the main building, although his idea of “making it shipshape” left much to be desired, in Karina’s eyes.