The Rose and The Warrior Read Online Free PDF

lad,” sputtered Magnus, slapping his knee with amusement, “if we wanted ye dead, we’d not waste perfectly good oatcakes on ye to see the job done!”
    Finlay raised his blade so that its wickedly sharp edge glinted in the sun. “I’d just cleave you wide with my sword and let that be the end of it.”
    â€œThere, you see, Eric?” said Roarke, his tone placating, “if your guts are going to come out, it will be through your belly, not your mouth.”
    Eric stubbornly shook his head. “They lie.”
    â€œThen don’t eat it,” snapped Colin. “Our food is too precious to be wasted on you. Lewis, finish giving out those damn things and let’s be on our way.”
    Lewis hesitated, then broke off a piece of the oatcake he was holding out to Eric and ate it himself.
    Eric’s expression twisted into a hideous mask of fury.
“Do you dare to taunt me, you skinny, spineless pup?”
    The blood drained so completely from Lewis’s face Roarke was certain the lad would faint. Nevertheless, he did not retreat—perhaps because his fear had paralyzed him.
    â€œ ’Tis…’tis safe to eat,” he stammered, meekly offering Eric the remainder of the biscuit.
    Eric’s enraged expression froze.
    â€œTake it,” Lewis urged. “You’ll be hungry later.”
    The enormous warrior stared in complete bemusement at the thin, outstretched hand trembling before him.
    Finally, acutely aware that everyone was now staring at him, he grudgingly accepted the oatcake.
    â€œIs he always this hard to feed?” asked Magnus curiously.
    Having taken care of Eric, Lewis tentatively approached Melantha and held a biscuit out to her.
    â€œYou have it, Lewis,” Melantha said. “I’m not hungry.”
    â€œEat it,” ordered Magnus sternly. “Ye’ve put nothin’ in yer stomach since yesterday morn’.”
    â€œI’m not hungry.”
    He snorted in disbelief. “No, of course not—ye’re never hungry when ye think there might be someone else needin’ it more than you. But if ye starve yerself to death, what good will ye be to us then?”
    â€œThe day is nearly half gone,” she said, abruptly changing the subject. “Get them on their horses and let’s go.”
    â€œThat’s it, try to turn my attention to something else,” muttered Magnus, shaking his head. “But when ye’re too weak to climb up on Morvyn and lead us, don’t be bellyachin’ to me about how unfair it all is.”
    â€œCome on then,” said Finlay, bending to untie the rope binding Roarke’s ankles. “Up with ye and onto yer mount.”
    â€œIt’s generous of you to allow us to keep our horses,” observed Roarke, suppressing his grimace as he slowly rose to his feet.
    â€œI would have taken great pleasure in making you walk barefoot.” Melantha swung herself lightly up onto her horse. “Unfortunately, I cannot permit you to slow us down.”
    Roarke frowned. “Slow you down?”
    â€œWe can hardly have ye trailin’ after us on foot, now, can we?” said Magnus, leading Eric’s and Myles’s horses to them. “Especially with that backside of yours laced full of stitches. It would take us over a week to get home.”
    â€œHome?” Myles looked uncertainly at Roarke.
    â€œ ’Tis not that far,” Lewis assured him as he freed the warrior’s ankles. “Two days’ journey at most.”
    â€œWhy in the name of St. Columba do you want to take us there?” asked Donald. “You’ve taken our weapons and our valuables. What more do you want?”
    â€œThey intend to slaughter us like helpless animals before their people,” Eric surmised direly. “Then they will spear our heads on pikes to rot as a warning to others!”
    â€œGood Lord, lad, wherever do ye get such foul notions?”