Read First Light for Free Online Page B

Anne replied. “We’ve nothing of value for you— unless you’ve a need for a sweater.” She held up the completed garment.
    To my great surprise, the thief’s eyes lit up. “That’s exactly what I’m needing.” He leaned forward, grabbing Merry Anne’s arm. I could tell she had not expected this, but she held the sweater out to him.
    “Take it then, and be on your way. A child will go cold tonight, and it be upon your head.”
    “Not the sweater, daft woman.” He slapped it away. “ This be what I’m after.” His grimy fingers closed around a thin ribbon on Merry Anne’s wrist. I’d not noticed it before, hidden as it was by her sleeve. But I took notice now, as did the thief, of the three luminescent pearls threaded there. I’d never seen such fine jewels in all my life; nor, I imagined, had our smelly robber.
    For a second— so swift I almost missed it— panic swept across Merry Anne’s face. But then she complied, holding her hand so he might slip the ribbon and pearls from her arm. He did, lifting them up in the light from the still-open door, a look of glee on his unshaven face.
    “Fare thee well, ladies.” He backed out of the coach. Merry Anne retrieved her knitting from the floor and held a needle in her hand, pointed at the bandit as if it was the sharpest sword— or something even more deadly. She murmured a few unintelligible words, raised her hand, then froze, looking at me, then up at the coach ceiling. Pressing her lips together, she lowered the needle, but not before I’d seen something to make me question my own sanity. In that moment I would have sworn on my parents’ graves that a spark emerged from the tip of her needle. I closed my eyes, sighing as I leaned against the seat. The past weeks, this journey— it was all starting to get to me.
    “If only we hadn’t left Zipporah at the inn last night. But no, Kindra had to see you and have her turn.” Merry Anne muttered loudly enough that I could hear her, though none of what she said made sense. “Adrielle, you’re our only hope. You’ll have to retrieve the pearls for me.”
    “What? ” I opened my eyes to find Merry Anne pointing to the open door of the carriage. I leaned forward and saw the outlaws retreating into the woods.
    “Go,” she said, shooing me toward the door. “Hurry! One of them has a horse, and even you’re not that fast.”
    “You expect me to— go after them?” I wondered if I looked as flabbergasted as I felt.
    “Well, yes. You’re the only one who can,” she said. “You’re a good runner. And it’s imperative we get those pearls back. In the wrong hands— well, never mind. Just go.” She nudged me from my seat.
    Stiff with shock, I climbed from the carriage.
    “You can do it,” Merry Anne called to me in a sing-song voice. Our eyes met, hers twinkling, mine confused, scared.
    But absurd as her request seemed, I suddenly knew she was right. My body felt light as air, my feet tingled, and a vision of the wooded path I would take flashed before my eyes.
    I turned and ran into the forest with no thought in mind except gaining the thieves and clasping my hand around the glowing pearls.

Merry Anne and I had both overestimated my abilities. That became clear as dark descended and I still hadn’t discovered the thieves. At first, I’d heard them ahead of me— their horse neighing, the thieves’ crude laughter, their boasting. Apparently ours wasn’t the only carriage they’d robbed today.
    But those sounds had grown fainter until they were no more, and still I ran. I felt incapable of stopping, though my lungs burned, and I’d have given almost anything— perhaps even the pearls— for a drink of cold water.
    The first stars flickered their meager lights overhead, and I plunged on, instinct guiding my feet away from felled trees and other snares on a forest floor. The original path from the main road had long-since disappeared. Some part of my mind knew I should have felt panicked to