Treva's Children Read Online Free PDF Page A

check the height of the wall.  The water caught behind the dam she was building was only a little more than ankle deep.  The water trickled through the gaps between the rocks and did not rise any higher.
    The wall reached barely to her knees.  She looked up at where the sun shown through the foliage.  Too low, both sun and wall.  She was not going to succeed.
    She wondered what Mistress would do when Talisa failed to complete the wall.
    She trudged up the ravine, looking for another rock.  She had already collected all the rocks small enough for her to lift that lay close to the wall.  Each trip for another took longer than the one before.
    Talisa found a rock, roughly the size of her head, and stooped to pick it up.  As her fingers touched the rock a rustling at the top of the ravine interrupted her.  She stood and turned to face the source.  A human figure stood at the lip of the ravine looking down.
    “Milady!” Embron called to her. He wore his pack, empty save for the bow stave tucked in its sheath at its side.  He half-ran, half-leapt down the slope of the ravine to her side.
    “Embron, what are you doing?” Talisa asked. “The Mistress of this place has not given permission to hunt.” She pointed at Embron’s bow. “Do not risk her.  I do not know what she would do if we disobey her word but she has magic to come and go in the blink of an eye.  I fear her anger would be terrible.”
    Embron raised his hands. “I do not hunt.  We take only fish and fruit, as she commanded.  I merely sense out the land.” He crouched and laid a hand on the rock Talisa had been about to lift. “May I ask...”
    “Mistress has set a task for me.” She stooped and wrapped her hands around the sides of the rock.  With a grunt, she stood.  Embron stood with her, then reached out to grasp the rock.  Talisa stepped back, pulling the rock away before he could take it from her.  She turned and began to trudge back toward the wall.
    “What are you doing, Milady?”
    She did not answer.  She merely continued her way back to the wall.  She dropped the rock on it then turned to head back up the ravine once more.
    “Milady, please.”
    Talisa stopped.  Her back hurt.  Her arms hurt.  Her legs hurt.  She rubbed at her arms, trying to will some strength back into him. “This wall must be waist high by sundown.”
    Embron looked at the wall, then up at the sun. “You’ll never do it.”
    Talisa sighed. “I must try.”
    Embron shook his head. “You’ll never do it.” He set down his pack. “But we might.”
    “Embron, no.” Talisa shook her head. “She set this task for me.”
    “Your task is my task,” Embron said.
    “You forget.” Talisa put a hand on Embron’s shoulder. “I am not your Baroness any longer.  I am merely Mistress’s servant.”
    “As I am ever yours.” Embron dropped to his knees and bowed his head. “Please, Milady.  Let me help.”
    Despite herself, Talisa smiled.  She reached down and touched his cheek.  He tilted his face up to her.
    “Please, Milady.”
    “Ever my loyal huntsman.  I cannot compel you.”
    A slight smile played at Embron's lips. “Nor can you compel me to leave.”
    Talisa nodded. “So it would seem.”

    Shadow hung across the ravine as Talisa placed the last rock on her low wall.  Waist high.  She leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.  She felt Embron's hand on her arm, supporting her, as she stood.
    “We have done it, Milady,” Embron said.
    Talisa nodded. “You had better return to the others before...”
    “Before what?” The voice came from the top of the ravine.
    Talisa looked up.  Mistress stood on the lip of the ravine, leaning on her staff and looking down at them.  Talisa could not see Mistress’s expression in the shadows but she knew it was hard.  Mistress’s expression was always hard.
    “The wall is completed, Mistress,” Talisa said. “Waist high, as you commanded.”
    “I gave this task to you,” Mistress