The Baron's Quest Read Online Free Page B

The Baron's Quest
Book: The Baron's Quest Read Online Free
Author: Elizabeth Rose
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road. Your father admitted to them right before he died that what he’d done was immoral and illegal.”
    She’d never really gotten the details from anyone about her father’s death. And she’d been so upset to see his bloodied, bruised and dead body, that she hadn’t yet had the opportunity to find out more of what happened, even tho the man who’d brought him in was the stepfather of her best friend, Cecily.
    “What did my father say?” she asked in challenge.
    “He said he did it for his family,” said Samuel, stepping forward. He approached her with an apologetic look on his face.
    “All right, let’s go,” announced Oliver, turning toward the door. “Brother Germain, gentlemen, - the horse and cart are out back so let’s go get them.”
    As the people filed out of her home, Samuel stayed there, looking at the ground. Then he slowly dug into his pocket and pulled out something and held his hand forward. “Your father managed to keep this hidden from the bandits, and wanted me to give it to you.” He dropped a gold ring with a small ruby embedded, into her outstretched palm.
    Muriel took the ring in her shaking hand, holding it up to realize it was her mother’s wedding ring. Her father had bought it for her once he’d been titled a Master Weaver, using many months of his pay to do so. She was surprised to see it, as she had thought it had been buried along with her mother.
    “What is it?” asked Isaac, coming closer.
    “It’s . . . Mother’s ring,” she told him in a soft voice, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes. “Samuel, why didn’t you tell me this a sennight ago?” she asked the man.
    He looked down to the ground again, and bit his lip. Then he looked back up in remorse before he answered. “Muriel, your father gave it to me, and told me with his dying breath not to let the guild know about it, or they’d take it. I’m sorry, I should have given it to you right away . . . but I was frightened.”
    “You were frightened for yourself, and I can’t blame you,” she said, laying a hand on his arm. “I understand. And Isaac and I will never say anything about this to them. They don’t have to know you kept the information from them in order to help us. Thank you, Samuel. You are a good friend.”
    The man seemed too choked up to answer, and just turned and walked out the door, leaving her standing there alone with Isaac.
    “Muriel, what will we do?” asked Isaac, putting his arm around her shoulder. “We can’t survive without our loom.”
    Muriel slipped the ring onto her finger, feeling the presence of her mother as well as her father in its essence. She knew she could sell the ring and have enough money to pay the two months worth of rent on the baron’s land, but it was the last remembrance of her parents, and her heart told her not to do it.
    “We haven’t lost the marshlands yet,” she told him. “If we can make it through the month, we’ll have money as well as wool from the shepherds who use the land. We can give up the shop if we have to, since there is no need for it anymore. I will talk to Cecily and see if she can convince her family to help us. Their place is small and crowded with her younger siblings and mother there as well, but perhaps they can fit one more. You have spent almost seven years in your apprenticeship, and are very skilled at your craft, Isaac. Perhaps Samuel will take you on as a journeyman since he doesn’t have one. Then you will start earning pay for your work as well as have a place to live and food to eat.”
    “And you, Muriel? What will you do? Will you work for Samuel as well?”
    “Nay,” she said with a shake of her head. “Samuel already has a spinster – Cecily. I won’t take pay away from her nor you. I’ll find another way to earn money, and stay here at the shop until they take that away too.”
    “Nay, I won’t leave you,” he said, shaking his head.
    “You have to, brother.” She pulled herself together and
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