Read A Thread of Time: Firesetter, Book 1 for Free Online Page B

sighed, “what will I
do with you?”
    “You will kill me,” he joked as I shut the
door.
     
    Now, weeks later, I found myself again
outside their door with the little street urchin, Dov, who had nowhere to go.
    “That soup was really delicious.  Do you
think they might give me some more?”
    I shook my head.  Both Mother and Auntie
would blame me for encouraging him.
    “I'm sorry.” 
    He shrugged again.  “That’s okay.  Thanks
for sharing it with me.”
    “Thank my cousin if you ever get to meet
him.  You should hide beneath our porch, or behind that large shrub next to the
house.  If the Korelesk army comes, they probably won't look over there.”
    Dov shook his head and jumped off the
porch, landing on both feet.  He smiled as if that was great fun.
    “Goodbye Jan.”  He skipped to the street,
and were it not for the wind, I would have heard him singing a silly, childish
song, his torn, sleeveless shirt bouncing up and down, dancing in the rain.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
    Pellen
     
    “They say there is fighting in the
streets, Papa.  Did you see it?” Amyr called to me as soon as I opened the
door. 
    I was tired and my back aching from far
too many hours of standing on the cement floor.  My heart, too, was aching from
far too many hours of standing with only a few coins to show for my efforts. 
Three coins were not enough to feed my wife and myself, let alone the boy whose
medicine cost twice as much each week.
    “No.”  I spoke truthfully for my journey
home had been uneventful. 
    However, there had been whispers on the
street, although I tried not to listen.  Purposefully, I had walked with my
head down and my eyes unfocused, so as not to call attention to myself.  Yet, I
heard wisps of strangers' conversations unmistakable in their meaning.  Everyone
was speaking the same.  The same words were repeated from corner to corner,
doorstep to doorstep.  Evil had come to us and no longer were we safe.
    “Are you certain?” my son asked.  “I
thought I heard the sounds of guns.”
    “Hush,” Ailana snapped, putting her hand
on the boy.  “It was only your imagination, or the thunder in the hills.  I
heard nothing.  There is no reason to worry.  Don't overly excite yourself,
child.  Sit back down and calm your heart.”
    “Are you sure you didn’t see anything,
Papa?” the child persisted as I lay down upon the floor. 
    I was too worn even to remove my boots, as
my heart was now beating double time worrying after his.  Would that I could
give my son my own strong organ in exchange for the one that beat so weak.  If
not, would that I could take this child away from this poor, sad village where
he could not be cured.
    “I saw nothing.”  I forced a smile into my
voice, while keeping it calm and low, lest the child or my wife hear my fear. 
“I saw only the jagged cracks in the pavement.  If I did not watch for them, I
might have fallen through, and ended up in the motherland on the other side of
the planet.”
    Amyr laughed, but Ailana only rolled her
eyes.
    “Take off your coat, Pellen.  You are
dripping water on the floor.”
    “Jan saw something,” Amyr reported as I
hung my coat upon its peg.  “She said they made a tremendous noise.”  This
filled my son with excitement, for he began to bounce as he lay upon the worn
couch.
    “Hush Amyr,” my wife said again, for the
boy's exertion might lead to a fit.  Sometimes, the medicines helped to control
the spasms, while other times, we could do nothing but stand helplessly and
watch.
    “Your niece has a tendency to exaggerate,”
I reminded Ailana.  “The trucks might have merely been provisions from the
government.”
    “No.”  Amyr held himself upright to look
at me. 
    I turned to face my boy, never failing to
appreciate the beauty of his appearance.  Where and from whom his unique looks
descended, I could only guess.  Certainly, it wasn't me, for my hair was a
plain, ordinary brown, my nose