Warrior's Last Gift Read Online Free PDF

were half starved.
    “What are you doing out here traveling all by yerself?” Eric sat apart from them, a frown fixed between his brows. “With no pack and no provisions of yer own?”
    “I’m on my way to Skye,” the boy answered around a mouthful of bread. “To my mam’s folk, the MacCabes. With both my mam and da gone, it seemed the best thing to do. I had food in the beginning, but no enough to last the whole of my trip.”
    Jeanne’s heart went out to the boy. “Then it’s good fortune indeed that our paths crossed.”
    “Aye.” Dobbie nodded his head vigorously up and down, his eyes wide. “And thankful I am, too. I’ve heard tell of thieves who travel these trails. Men who will take yer animals and yer provisions.”
    “And yer life, if yer no so careful,” Eric added.
    “Aye.” Dobbie nodded in agreement. “A man must be careful about who he chooses to trust when he’s out on the road.”
    To Jeanne’s way of thinking, a boy needed to be even more careful. “Yer welcome to accompany us for as long as our paths are the same,” Jeanne offered.
    “And how would you envision that will work?” Eric’s glare turned in her direction again. “We’re mounted and he’s afoot. He canna run the whole day and we canna afford to slow down to his pace.”
    She hadn’t really thought about it before offering; she only knew that Dobbie needed their help. “The lad can ride upon my horse with me. The extra weight canna make that much of a difference in our progress.”
    Eric shook his head in clear disgust as he downed the last of his drink. “Best we get some rest then. We’ll need an early start if we’re to be moving slower on the morrow.”
    He spread his bedroll and lay down, pulling his woolen up over his head, clearly done with them.
    Obstinate, heartless man!
    Dobbie finished his food and then assisted Jeanne in packing their belongings in preparation to turn in for the night. He was so eager to be helpful, she hadn’t the heart to correct the way he’d stuffed things into their bags. She could easily sort it all out in the morning when she fixed their next meal.
    When they were done, Dobbie lay down next to the embers of their fire with nothing for bedding but the plaid he wore.
    “Here,” she said, spreading her fur over him. “I’ve more woolens than I need to keep me warm. You take this.”
    The boy’s grateful smile as he drew the fur tightly around him was all the thanks Jeanne needed to keep her warm. If her son had ended up on his own in the world, she could only pray someone would have shown similar mercies to him.
    A familiar pain tightened around her heart as she pulled her covers up to her chin. Her son, born months too early, would never suffer as this boy did. Her son lay in the arms of the angels and, with the path she’d chosen in life, she wasn’t likely to ever have another.
    She stared up at the twinkling lights in the dark sky and knew sleep wouldn’t come any easier this night than it had on the last.
    •   •   •
    Jeanne awoke with a start, a sense of dread weighing her down. Likely it was no more than the sorrow on her mind when she’d finally drifted off to sleep or perhaps a bad dream. She pushed up to one elbow and looked across the embers of the fire to see the spot where the boy had slept was empty.
    “Dobbie?”
    She kept her voice low to avoid waking Eric. Tossing off her covers, she stood and looked around in time to see Dobbie mounted on her horse, the reins to Eric’s mount clutched in his free hand.
    “It’s sorry I am, my lady,” he called as he turned the horse around. “Yer a kind soul, but I did warn you to be careful of the company you choose to keep upon the road. Hyah!”
    He kicked the horse and bolted forward at a run.
    “By the saints!” Eric was on his feet, sword drawn, running across the clearing.
    He stopped, pursed his lips, and let out a shrill whistle. His horse reared to its hind legs, jerking the reins from Dobbie’s