Tahn (31 page)

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do better for them,” he told her sadly. “Forgive me.”

She looked up at him and burst into tears again. “You did what you could, Mr. Dorn! It’s not your fault.”

Benn hugged her, his own eyes brimming with tears. “We shall see them again. We take peace in that.” He kissed Netta’s hair and then looked up at Tahn. “Our friends have brought us news, sir. I should not wait to tell you that Baron Trent is dead. They say he took his own life. Apparently, he did not know how to save face for his deeds, God rest him.”

Netta’s father had bowed his head, and Tahn was stunned more by him than the baron. “How can you speak so kindly of him? God rest him?”

“He was not my friend. I have not always felt so kindly. But we do better not to speak our feelings sometimes.”

“It was him that died? There’s no mistake?”

“No mistake, Mr. Dorn. I know he doesn’t seem the sort. I wondered myself, but it is true. His son found the body yesterday.”

“Lionell.”

“Yes. Do you know them?”

“The deeds of the father. Not the son.”

“He is baron now. And perhaps it is a mercy. He cannot share his father’s war on us without it costing him dearly among the other nobles. He is intelligent enough to know that. It will not be easy for him to restore the Trent honor after what has been done. I don’t think he will be willing to risk confrontation.”

“Then are they safe, Tahn?” Vari asked.

“The baron may be gone. But there is still Samis.”

“You said the baron financed him. Perhaps with his source of income gone, he will leave us all alone,” Benn suggested.

“He may leave
you
alone,” Tahn told him. “But his quarrel with me is not for money. It would be better for all of you if I were not with you.”

Netta shook her head. “You can’t go anywhere. Not while you’re weak. Especially not alone.”

“She’s right,” Benn said. “And we want to help you. From what I understand, it is time you had the support of friends.”

The words scared him, but he wasn’t sure why. Friends? It didn’t seem wise. The more people really know you, the more chance some of them could get hurt. “Please, sir—”

Father Anolle and Jarel returned at that moment, arms laden with dishes. Tahn was glad for the interruption.

“Is anyone hungry?” Jarel asked. “We have a feast here.”

It did seem a generous supply. Bread and honey, roast beef, plums, and pie.

Doogan couldn’t keep his fingers away from the honey. “This is a lot of food.”

The priest smiled. “There’s more we couldn’t carry.”

“Gifts,” Benn explained. “From our friends today.”

“You have kind friends.” Tahn saw that Netta was still looking at him, and he lowered his eyes.

“They wish to be
your
friends,” her father told him. “Many of these gifts are for you.”

“For me?” He looked up at him in shock, and his stomach knotted. “Why?”

“An effort to make amends, I think, toward the man they wronged.”

Tahn was speechless for a moment. Amends? A strange tension filled him. Despite the pain he was in, he almost wanted to run. He shook his head. “No. They thought I killed you! They didn’t wrong me to be grieving you so.” He could only think of the sea of faces and their angry shouts.

His hands started shaking. He couldn’t blame the crowd, but he wanted no part of them seeking him out, no matter what their reason.

Benn leaned forward and took his arm. “We all wronged you, including myself, to judge you without pure evidence.”

Tahn was still shaking his head. He tried to get up, but the movement hurt so badly. Somehow he had to get out, away from all of this.

But suddenly Vari was at his side. “Tahn! How long since you had good beef? We might as well eat it, don’t you think?” He put his arm around him, and Tahn breathed a sigh.

Vari, you always know how to cut through whatever possesses me. God bless you!
He looked down at the food. “They just didn’t know. It isn’t right—”

“They are basically good people, sir,” Benn said. “It would be a blessing to them if you would accept their gifts and their apology.”

Tahn lowered his head. “Maybe we should eat, then.”

“There’s always a first in your life, friend,” Vari told him. “Even for apologies. Feels good, doesn’t it? Knowing they’re not waiting with rocks outside?”

“May it bring healing to you,” Netta said softly.

Tahn looked at her and knew she wasn’t speaking only of Onath and the physical pain. Somehow she understood Alastair and his fear of crowds, good or bad.

Father Anolle was watching him. “You will permit me to bless the food?”

Tahn could only nod.

When the prayer was finished, the little boys ate hungrily. But Benn first prepared a plate for Tahn. “With an enemy gone and friends around us alert and asking to help, we are far safer. I am hoping with God’s help to make a home for us again soon. We own other property. The springhouse might be suitable, when the time is right.”

Doogan looked at him in surprise. “You have a house just for spring?”

“No, child,” Netta explained. “It’s built next to a spring. It was my grandmother’s once. Her place to get away, she called it. But it stands empty now.”

“I hope your friends will keep their watch for you there,” Tahn told them. “Though I pray it is a new day and you will prosper again.”

“They will help us when we are ready,” Benn said. “There’s no question of that. But I want you to consider coming with us. And I mean all the children.”

All four boys looked at him in amazement, but Tahn shook his head. “I won’t consider it. Not if we’re still hunted.”

Benn’s face seemed to tense, and his eyes were sad and stormy. “Netta told me about the cave and your efforts. Forgive me for saying this, but you’re scarcely more than a youth yourself. You’ve done the best you could, but you can’t continue like that.”

Tahn steeled himself against persuasion. “Better than death for any of us, or any of you.”

Father Anolle gave a deep sigh. “It is one man—the root of the threat that remains?”

Vari nodded. “Samis, sir.”

“God answers prayer, children. We have already prayed for your safety.”

Tahn bowed his head. “May the Lord grant me your faith.”

“It will come in time,” the priest told him. “As you decide for it, again and again.”

Tahn understood that. And he remembered the confidence he’d had in the face of Samis’s ranting, that no harm would come to the lady or the children. It was true. He could decide to believe it. The God who’d spared him from hanging and from a pot of boiling water could continue to perform such miracles. For the little ones, surely he would.

“Son,” Anolle continued, “you will need the help of your new friends to care for the children, at least until you are strong. I am confident it is God’s way and that he will protect you.”

Stuva gazed at Netta in wonderment. “Does that mean after we go get the others we’ll be coming back to stay with you?”

She looked at Tahn. “Will you let us bring them to you and care for them?”

“I can manage the trip.”

“Not yet, son,” said Anolle. “Not if you would heed what the healer had to say.”

“Would you rather wait and bring them later?” Benn asked.

“No. I don’t like not knowing about them.”

“Then let
us
go and get them,” Netta said. “Vari and I can do it.”

Benn looked at her with some concern, and Tahn shook his head. “There is no way I would have you do this. Nothing should take you from your father’s side again.”

Vari crossed his arms impatiently. “Tahn, it’s no big job. I can handle it without either of you.”

Tahn pulled himself forward to sit straight. “Not alone. We don’t know where the warriors might be. I’ll come and—”

“No.” Jarel finally spoke. “I’ll go with him. I can take Tobas and the Clareys. It shouldn’t take long.”

Benn nodded. “He speaks of capable friends, Mr. Dorn. I think it is a good plan.”

But it was not an easy thing for Tahn to consider. Should he trust men he barely knew? Could he actually allow the Triletts to do as they proposed? He felt that it had all gotten out of his hands, and he didn’t like it. But something the priest had said stuck with him. God’s way. Trust. “As you say,” he finally answered. “You’ll lead them, Vari.”

“Can I go?” Stuva asked.

Tahn considered how Duncan might feel if he didn’t. “Yes. But Doogan, Tam, you stay with me.”

Father Anolle smiled. “Your lives have forever changed. It is time for the blessings of God to be upon you.”

The next morning was sunny and warmer than it had been in days. Netta stepped outside, looking for Jarel. He, Vari, and Stuva were ready with the Wittley’s wagon and three strong men. Netta gave her cousin a hug. “Why are you going with them?” she asked him. “Such a venture seems unlike you.”

He smiled. “They touched you so much. Maybe I’ll learn why.”

“You will, Jarel. They’ll have your heart.”

“There’s a Scripture verse about that you would do well to remember.” He looked past her to where Father Anolle and Amos Lowe stood in the church door supporting Tahn between them.

Netta turned to see them and beamed. “It’s the first he’s been up.”

“Keep your heart with all diligence,” Jarel said with a frown. “That’s the Scripture. Meditate on it for a while.”

Netta stared at him in surprise and pulled him away from the others. “What is wrong with you?”

“I think of your future, cousin. You can be grateful, yes. And help the children. But don’t think too much of him. He’s like a caged animal. You should have seen the way he jumped when Amos returned this morning. He could still hurt someone.”

Netta shook her head. “No. Amos must have touched him without warning. Was he asleep?”

“It seemed so, yes, but—”

“Jarel, he can’t help it! He’s been hunted all his life by threats of some kind. But he’s so much better now. I would trust him with our lives. He needs our prayers, and time. Weren’t you jumpy in hiding? Can you imagine living with that danger every day?”

Jarel turned toward the wagon. “I’d best be going.”

“Blessed are the merciful, Jarel.”

He sighed. “I love you as a sister, Netta. I thank God for using this man to keep you alive. But his method was not exactly kind, and I don’t want to see you hurt now.”

“Let Father and our Lord take care of me, will you?”

He started to walk away and then turned back to her. “I’m sorry I caused you so much grief when we were little.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “You were a child. They do childish things. Keep that in mind as you travel with these.”

Vari jumped to the wagon. “We’ll be back tomorrow if we can, Tahn,” he was saying. “They’ll be glad to see you.”

“Don’t push them too fast. Give the Wittleys my thanks.”

Vari nodded. “Don’t worry about us. God’s hands are big enough.”

With the healer’s help, Tahn lowered himself to sit on the church steps. How life had changed, just as the priest said.

Stuva put his arm around him. “I’m going to tell them the good part of what happened to you. I’m going to tell them the Dorn loves us with Jesus now!”

Tahn tousled Stuva’s hair. “You do that. I would not have them fear me anymore.”

As he said it, Jarel was walking past to his horse and looked up at him soberly.
He’s the only one,
Tahn thought.
The only one that doesn’t have more confidence in me than I deserve.

22

L
ucas rode northward at his master’s side. Samis held himself in the saddle stiffly. He seemed a little better but was seething angry that the other men had left.

As they traveled, Lucas was seeing signs that at least some of the men had gone ahead of them to Valhal. What the men would do when they reached the stronghold he didn’t know, or how they’d react to Samis’s arrival. But still, he pushed on. Samis had taken him from a life of hunger. The master hadn’t been kind, not by a stretch of the word, but something constrained him to stay anyhow.

No one met them at the gate. No one was in the front courtyard. Lucas left Samis sitting in his chamber and went to look around. The reserve horses were gone, and virtually everything of value. The three men that had been left to keep watch had disappeared too. Probably they were afraid to face Samis after the other men came to rob the place. And it was probably Burle and his friends. It would be like him to take what he could.