Pursued - Entire book

Chapter 8

I'm glad Scov brought us here before taking us home, Klair thought as the wagon carrying Scov, Klair and Norah stopped at the base of a small mountain.

He hadn't been here since his trip down the Tonosh. The community fields were beautiful in their orderly lines circling down the incline. A series of terraces were cut out of the ground of the small mountain. They looked like huge curved steps leading down the mountain side. Klair rubbed his back in sympathy. He remembered taking turns with other teens and adults in grading the ground and they also dug trenches and hollowed out tree trunks for the canals to carry water. Many of the trunks were suspended off the earth on stilts while other canals remained ground level.

The piping resembled a long wooden rope coiled around the mountain. Townspeople gathered to see the finished project. Several were threading themselves through the maze, working on canals or firming up supports.

Klair watched as his mother rested a hand around Scov's muscled arm and affection­ately rubbed at the strands of blond hair growing there.

Klair stood up in the wagon's rear. Coal dust from the wagon bed, frosted his boots. He casually rearranged the drop cloth his mother gave him to protect their laden baskets from the fine dust. The fact she brought the cloth—

Mom knew Scov would volunteer to give them a ride.

"Now that this is finished, it'll be good to have full manpower back in the mines," Scov said.

"Everyone will be glad it's done," Klair said.

His mother looked between them and smiled. Last six-day, his mother admitted she wished to marry. She might have been waiting until he was apprenticed. He noticed how, as Scov and Norah sat next to each other, their shoulders touched. It looked like Mom has found the right man. Her marrying Scov would also discourage the attentions of Trenny.

I'll have a real dad, which is better than a pretend Thorn.

"Norah Lee."

The three looked up to see Constable Trenny, his was horse lathered and wheezing. "We need to talk," he commanded.

"Now may not be the time, Constable," she said, as she looked back at the miner.

Scov looked at Trenny, "Constable," his voice bearing a slight edge.

Trenny prodded his horse forward. The Constable was usually known to be a fair man, but occasionally.... recent rumors whispered he sometimes he wouldn't pay for something at market or he'd demand a second serving and not pay extra.

Scov stood up in his wagon. Klair automatically moved forward.

There was something else about Trenny no one else might know. The Constable recently bore bruised flesh beneath the skin of his hands that wasn't from hard labor. Who has he hit? Through magic, Klair had a close affinity with nature sometimes and observed things that others didn't. After his and Tarrant's recent experiences with the Constable, perhaps he didn't just use his riding crop to deliver a private punishment.

His mother pulled at the miner's arm. "Maybe it would be better to talk—" she began.

Scov looked at her. "No one should be intimidated into doing what they don't want to do." He lowered his voice to a near whisper, his gaze intense. "Including me."

Klair watched them, his heart pounding for what he saw there. Her eyes glistened. She loves him, he realized.

Norah's voice gentled as she held the miner's arm. "I'm not intimidated by you.