Read Blaze (The High-Born Epic) for Free Online Page B

her long, black hair.  Harold couldn’t help but noticing how alluring her hazel eyes and dark hair were as she fiddled with her ponytail.  She moved in closer until she touched him.  Harold could almost sense it.  He put his arms around her waist, and she quickly hugged his neck and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
                  Just as quickly as she had done it, she pushed away.
                  Harold didn’t know what to think.  For a moment, he didn’t know if it had really happened.  Then, he saw Ollie. 
                  Her giggling little face told him that it had happened.
                  “I’ll never hear the end of this,” he whispered to himself.
                  Sarah looked at him, puzzled, and then she looked at Ollie.  She smiled and nodded her head.  Then, she walked toward Cooper and Scott, and found a stick.
                  “Surrender, Wolf-Man and Tiger-Man,” she playfully shouted.
                  Cooper and Scott looked at each other.
                  “She’s a girl,” Cooper said.
                  “She’s a High-Born,” Scott said.  “Get her!”
                  The two boys then attacked her with their sticks.  They sparred for a few moments, then Sarah moved quickly and had Scott’s neck in the crook of her elbow and her stick was pointed at Cooper. 
                  Cooper looked at Scott, “What do I do?”
                  “Take her out!”  Scott replied as he pulled on Sarah’s arm.
                  Cooper then attacked, and for a few moments Sarah held him off, parrying his stick with hers.  Then, Harold was there and Cooper’s neck was in his elbow.
                  “Surrender now, Wolf-Man!”
                  “We give,” Scott said.  “We give.”
                  Harold and Sarah let go of the boys.
                  “Now’s our chance, Wolf-Man,” Scott said to Cooper.  “We can still get away if we hurry.”
                  The boys took off swimming downstream like a real Wolf-Man was chasing them.  Sarah and Harold started walking back upstream to where Ollie was playing in the mud.  A sudden movement caught his eye and he could see a dirty, half-naked little girl running down the bank.  The pair of oversized underwear she was wearing were nearly ready to fall.  She was running as fast as her little legs could carry her and she jumped with both feet to land right beside Ollie.
                  “Hey,” the little girl had a big smile and bright blue eyes.  Then she said with a lisp, “I’m Maddie. What urr name?”
                  “Ollie,”she replied.  “Wanna’ help me make mud pies?”
                  “Uhh, humm,” Maggie’s face lit up as she nodded her head.  “I ‘ike mud ties.”
                  Ollie, Harold, and Sarah all grinned.
                  “‘Fraid that we ain’t got time,” Phil replied as he came around a tree.  He had a fishing pole in his hand, and a sloshing tin pail.  “We’ve got to get home and clean these things.  Then put ‘em in some grease.”
                  “How many did you catch?” Harold asked.
                  “I’ve got four bream and two bass,” he said.  “So, fish for breakfast too.”
                  “Aunt Nean will be finished patching Ollie’s old dress this afternoon,” Harold said.  “I’ll bring it by when we leave the river today.”
                  “That’ll be fine,” Phil said as he waved bye.  “See you then, Harold.  Come on, Maggie.”
                  “See you then,” Harold waved to Phil.
                  “We gots to go,” Maggie said to Ollie and ran off down the