In All Places (Stripling Warrior) Read Online Free Page A

know it too.”
    “Zach. It will be okay. God knows our hearts. We might get hurt, but in the end we will find that He has prepared the perfect way for us.”
    “Say that again when you watch Gid walk away,” he said with pain in his eyes. But then he gave his head a shake. “Sorry.”
    He missed Beth. The ache and confusion were clear on his face, and I had never noticed them. Having to leave Beth had hurt him deeply, but I knew why he had joined Helaman’s army. The same reason we all had.
    “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go back. We have enough plants.”
    Many days passed with small rations and little to do. Some of the troops were deployed to other cities to hold them from the Lamanites, but we stayed in Cumeni waiting on provisions from Zarahemla.
    Finally one morning Micah showed up in my camp. He had all his gear strapped to his back, and when I glanced behind him, I saw eight or nine other men prepared the same way.
    “Where are you going?” I asked before he could tell me, which was obviously why he was there.
    “We’re taking a communication to the governor, a petition for more supplies.”
    I nodded even as I felt my stomach rumble.
    At my worried look, my oldest brother put a hand on my shoulder and said, “There’s food out there, Ket. It’s not a famine or anything. We just need to get it here.”
    I nodded, melancholy seeping into my smile. “Be safe. ”
    He kissed me on the top of my head and led his men away. It was a comfort, at least, to know the leaders were trying to do something about the problem we faced.
    I thought of the way the Lamanite women had looked when we had let them leave Cumeni after the siege, and I hoped things would not get so bad as that for us.
    I was tired of this war, and I was hungry. How I wished for the corn in my satchel each morning, but it never came. Why, I wondered, did God withhold it? We hadn’t needed it on the march to Judea, not nearly so much as we needed it then.
    But I had learned to trust in God, for He knew all things, and I most assuredly did not. I resolved to leave it up to Him when to distribute His food to the hungry and when to try their faith.

Chapter 3
     
    I was pondering on my hunger one afternoon when Zeke walked slowly into camp.
    Delighted to see him up and walking, I went to him, meeting him halfway. But I had hesitated for just a moment, thinking his pride might demand that he walk the full way to me on his own power. His eyes were fixed on me, so of course he noticed the falter in my step, and disappointment showed in his face.
    I thought I might in sult him by not allowing him to walk to me, by diminishing his achievement, but I had managed to insult him anyway.
    Still I knew my delight shone in my eyes. If he couldn’t read it there, then he was blind.
    “Come for a walk with me?” His voice was deep and familiar. His dark hair was tied back, and he looked so good—clean, strong, flushed with life—that I felt butterflies in my stomach where moments ago I had been wishing there was food.
    “ I would like that,” I said firmly. I thought to suggest we could sit and give his leg a rest, but I had no sooner thought it than discarded the idea. I would let Zeke do and say what he thought was best without second guessing him. He was capable of making his own decisions. He led fifty men! And I led none.
    Our wounds were similar, and I had been traipsing all over the wilderness to hunt game and gather herbs and roots. Zeke was strong and resilient. He would recover. I was feeling overprotective of a man who had proved he could protect both himself and me. But was it so wrong to want him to be safe? I needed him to be safe.
    Was th is the way he worried about me? Tainted with dilemma and selfishness? Constant wavering between caring too much and feeling unable to care at all? I swallowed hard and tried to think of something else, something that wouldn’t cause my heart to race or helplessness to rise in my chest.
    It was a perfect,