Kris Read Online Free Page A

once again, Markus grabbed two chairs from among several in the wagon and placed them on the ground. Jumping down from the wagon, Markus stacked the two chairs in the snow. As he turned to lift out another chair, a snowball exploded against the side of his face. Markus looked about in newly fueled anger.
    For a moment, Noel stood champion atop the wagon, sneering; then his smile froze. Markus vaulted onto the sleigh. Desperately, Noel staggered through the wagon and tumbled over the side, running. Markuschased him relentlessly, a predator on the tail of his prey, and when Noel finally stumbled, Markus leapt upon him. They tumbled end over end, head over foot, to the ground fighting.
    Jonas crawled out to watch Markus pummeling Noel and rubbing his face in the snow. I followed, initially caught up in the fiasco. Beside me in the back of their wagon sat a chunk of salt-cured meat. I devoured it before I even remember picking it up.
    Josef’s voice boomed through the open door of the cottage, “Markus! Noel! If you are playing the fools, you will feel the lash! Hear?”
    I turned to dash back to the trees in the hope I would not be discovered and ran directly into Markus. I spun and tried to move in another direction, but Noel blocked my escape and pushed me back toward Markus once again. As I struggled to get my balance and escape in yet another direction, Markus grabbed me and tossed me into the chairs that were sitting in the snow. They snapped and splintered as I hit them, sending pieces of wood in all directions.
    Josef yelled again, “If we’re caught by the storm, I’ll be looking for new apprentices, and your parents will have to find something else to do with you.”
    As I lay on the ground, Noel grabbed one of the satchels from the wagon and threw it at me. I caught it as it hit me on the chest. “Thief! We captured a thief!” Noel began to scream loudly in an effort to muster Josef’s attention.
    I tried to stand.
    Markus ruthlessly pushed me to the ground and yelled, “Josef!”
    â€œYou’ve got it coming now,” Noel taunted.
    This was what I wanted. I wanted this more than anything in the world. A reason to injure. A justification to hurt. A deserving enemy to destroy. A fight.
    I lurched up at Markus, who was looking toward the cottage. He never had a chance. My body, launched from the earth, drove my momentum. My arm swung back for maximum damage. And I screamed at him from the depths of my pain as I swung my fist forward.
    A powerfully strong hand grabbed me by the back of the collar and spun me around, suddenly ending my attack.
    Josef looked down on me with drilling, intense eyes.
    â€œHe broke the chairs,” Markus yelled angrily in accusation.
    â€œHe was pinching our food,” Noel added in an echoing chorus.
    Josef looked at each of the boys, as if to warn them not to lie.
    â€œJonas?” Josef asked after a moment in his deep, commanding voice. “What have you to say? Is this what happened?”
    Jonas stood nearly frozen with worry and did not dare to speak.
    Josef closely scrutinized him, waiting for an answer, and Jonas nodded his head timidly.
    Josef then grabbed the satchel, which was resting in the snow, and pointed to the broken chairs. “Your people will pay for those,” he said to me gruffly.
    I wiped my dripping nose with the sleeve of my threadbare coat and looked away from Josef in embarrassment. “I have no people,” was all that I could say.
    â€œThen you’ll work it off,” Josef barked at me. “All of you! There will be no more fighting. Now, get these chairs up to the house. Grab the tarp and tie everything down. Quickly now.”
    I moved to help the others with the chairs.
    â€œNot you!” Josef said to me forcefully.
    The apprentices went about their duties unloading the wagon and carrying the chairs up the slope.
    Josef approached me and set his hand roughly upon my cheek,