Remembrance Read online

  Talis didn’t even look to see if Callie had caught up with him; he knew she was there. “Tildy,” he said, and immediately, Callie knew what he had in mind.

  At first no one noticed the tall young man with the pale girl peering around him. But Talis’s quick movements drew their attention.

  Before anyone could recover from shock, Talis lifted Callie by the waist, her legs extended straight out, picked her up over his head, then dropped her—straight onto the stomach of the dead man.

  Shouts erupted in anger over this hideous disrespect of the dead man. But even as the men started to shout at Talis and tried to grab the girl the boy was protecting with his body, others saw that the mouth of the “dead” man opened and out flew a huge, unchewed piece of apple.

  “Quiet!” bellowed a man who obviously had some authority and they all turned to look down at the man on the ground.

  Talis had more of an idea of what was going to happen than the others did, so he shoved his way through the hovering men, Callie in front of him, and looked down to see the eyelashes of the man flutter.

  Seconds later, with the help of his men, the man was coughing and sitting upright.

  Quietly, Talis ushered Callie away from the crowd that was now reviving the almost-dead man.

  “How?” was all that Nigel could say, and in his eyes was his renewed suspicion that Talis and Callie were strange people.

  “Magic,” Talis said, as always, enjoying Nigel’s skeptical looks.

  “Magic, ha!” Callie said. “Once he fell out of a tree right onto Tildy,” she said, referring to one of the milk cows. “He hit her so hard, her cud went flying across the field. We just did the same thing to that man.”

  Nigel was impressed that Talis had been able to apply such knowledge to the present emergency, but he did not say so. In his opinion, Talis was already too proud of himself and didn’t need more praise.

  It was Callie who noticed that Meg and Will were still standing to one side, their arms wrapped about each other, their faces pale. Callie could understand why they had been so frightened. She had heard of the anger of some lords of the manor being used against poor farmers. What would have happened if this rich man had died on their land? Would his relatives have blamed them for his death?

  But why were Meg and Will still upset now that they knew the man was not going to die? Talis had saved the man’s life. Perhaps now there would be a reward.

  As she was looking at Meg and Will, Talis was asking questions of Nigel about the men who were overrunning the small yard.

  “They stopped here to buy cider,” Nigel was saying. “This year’s apple crop failed for the man and he was told that Will had good cider, so he thought to buy some. He wanted to taste an apple. It was all so simple. Will handed him an apple, he took a bite, then Meg came out of the house and the man looked as though he had seen a ghost.”

  Nigel frowned. “The man was still on his horse and when he saw Meg, he seemed to suck in air, the horse reared and the next moment he was choking to death. There were many attempts to save him but the apple piece was lodged deep in his throat. By the time the men could get him off his horse he was already…dead.” As he said this he looked askance at Talis, as though he were a witch who had brought a dead man back to life.

  “He was not dead, as you can hear,” Talis said, unconcerned with Nigel’s suspicious looks. To their left, they could hear the coughing and hacking of the man. Since he was surrounded by guarding knights, they could not see him, but they could hear him well enough.

  “Who is he?” Callie asked, still watching Meg and Will. There were silent tears running down Meg’s cheeks and Will was doing his best to comfort her, but he too looked shaken. Callie wanted to go to them, but she had an idea that they would tell her nothing. She had long been aware that Meg and Will had secrets that they told no one. One of the requirements of being a storyteller was watching people and looking for answers to questions. Callie had already found out that all people have secrets.

  “I have not heard of him,” Nigel said. “His name is Lord John Hadley, the third son of an earl. I believe his title is one of courtesy. He married well,” Nigel informed them, letting them know that Lord John was not of the highest rank in the aristocracy. “The men say he has never traveled this way before.” He gave an odd look at Callie. “They say he had a dream that told him to travel this way.”

  Before Callie could say a word, the men near them parted, making an opening to Lord John, who was now standing with the support of two men.

  “His lordship wants to see you,” said a handsome man dressed in a long velvet robe, his hair hanging to his shoulders. Part of his manner said he wanted nothing to do with these peasant brats, but a part of him seemed to say that he was grateful. Still lingering behind his eyes was grief at what he’d almost lost, for Hugh Kellon genuinely loved his master.

  John Hadley had no such ambiguity. There was no doubt in his mind that he had been dead. He had been able to look down on his own dead body, see the bloody marks on his neck where he had clawed his own throat. He had seen his men bent over him. And as he was floating away, John had felt only relief to at last leave a world that had given him no happiness. He had never been given what he most wanted in life and his many days on earth had been full of a sense of loss.

  Seeing that woman today is what had made him so acutely aware of his loss. It was as though he had been transported back into time to the day that had been the happiest of his life. That night he had at last obtained the healthy son he so much wanted.

  But it had all been taken away from him within the blink of an eye. He had received and lost all within the space of hours. Over the ensuing years he had been able to block out the pain of the loss of those days. He had concentrated on building and on trying to make something of the two worthless sons he did have. Although nothing had been able to give him life again, he had managed to survive.

  Then today he had seen that woman and she had reminded him of that night. She had been there. He knew that. She had been there.

  The pain had been too much for him. At that moment, he’d wanted to stop living. Better death than the pain of remembering that night.

  And so he had chosen to die. He did not fight the lack of air that was causing him to die. He gave up.

  But as he was hovering over his own body, two angels came to him. One was a tall boy, as handsome as an angel, with black hair and eyes, lightly tanned skin, as straight and strong as a knight from a fairy tale. The girl was as white and pale as something from the netherworld. All the features of her face were without color, her brows, her lashes, her lips even, were the same pale ivory. Only her eyes, which were an extraordinary blue-violet, added color to her face. Around this ivory face tumbled a great mass of golden hair, falling to her waist, wrapping about her arms, looking nearly as heavy as all of her body combined.

  Looking down at them, John hesitated before leaving the earth altogether. There was something about these young people that drew his attention.

  He knew now that that moment’s hesitation was the reason he was still alive. The boy dropped the girl on his bloated belly, the apple piece went flying from where it was lodged in his throat, and the next moment, John was back in his body and breathing again.

  Now, weakly standing, supported on both sides by his men, something was haunting him. There was a name that had rung in his head as the boy was dropping the girl onto his lifeless body. It had taken him a while to remember the name, but when he did, his coughing increased.

  Gilbert, he thought. Gilbert Rasher.

  The men around John parted and allowed their master to see the boy who had saved his life.

  Talis stood straight and strong, staring levelly into this man’s eyes. Even though he had been raised on a farm, there was no subservience in his manner. Talis had the unshakable self-confidence that only youth and intelligence could give. He believed he belonged, therefore he did.

  Slowly, John looked the boy up and down. But