The Outworlder Read Online Free Page B

with
tears and sand. “I can’t,” she said, her chest heaving. “I can’t
walk.”
    Jared crouched and took her ankle gently in
his hands. It was badly swollen and the outer tendons were black
and blue.
    “You did this yesterday?” he asked.
    She nodded.
    Jared took her arm gently and tore the sleeve
from her shirt, using the strip of cloth to bind her ankle. “It’s
all right, you know,” he said, with a gentle smile. “You can’t help
it that you’re hurt.”
    She scowled at him. “Is it done?” she asked,
jerking her head toward her bandaged foot.
    “It’s done. Let’s go.” He helped her up and
they set off again.
    He had to imagine that it was a torturous
journey for Sahara. He knew the herbs he’d given her to reduce her
fever would soon wear off, and that field dressing wouldn’t do much
to ease the pain in her ankle. As the heat of the desert sand began
to shimmer with heat, he was sure that the flimsy sandals he’d
given her wouldn’t do much to protect her feet.
    And yet, she never said a word.
    He glanced back at her once or twice, but
every time, her frown only deepened, and he figured that she’d tell
him if things got bad enough. He hoped she’d tell him.
    The sun was well overhead when he caught
sight of the high towers and walls of the city of Albadir
glimmering in the distance.
    “What are those green things?” Sahara croaked
from behind him.
    “Trees,” Jared answered.
    He smiled back at her, but her face hardened
and she wrapped her arms around her waist.
    “Oh,” she mumbled.
    “Are you cold?” he asked.
    “No.”
    Jared measured her for a moment but didn’t
press her. As he turned back toward the city, the smile returned to
his face.
    Just a couple of hours more , he
thought. Then she’ll have all the help she needs. I don’t know
what happened to her, but whatever it was… He shut off his
thoughts. Going down that road wouldn’t help her right now, and
there would be time enough for answers.
    He kept the pace as swift as he thought she
could bear, and he had to keep checking himself to be sure he
wasn’t moving too quickly. After an hour’s march, he turned to
check on her.
    She was lying in the sand about a hundred
paces away.
    Jared sprinted back to her side, heart
hammering in the sudden rush of fear that he’d misjudged her
condition. He crouched down in the sand beside her and laid a hand
on her back. Sweat soaked her shirt and matted her hair against her
face.
    She was alive.
    Relief shuddered through him, and he patted
her back gently. She stiffened under his hand.
    “Not far now,” he coaxed, as if talking to a
frightened child. “It’s not far. We’ll be there within the
hour.”
    “Why don’t you just leave me here to
die?”
    The question cut through Jared like a
knife-stroke. It was the first genuine thing she had said to him
since he’d found her. For that single moment, the veil of her
defensive, aggressive attitude fluttered aside, like a sheer silken
curtain stirred by a gentle breeze. In that one instant, he felt
that he saw her—really saw her—for the first time.
    “I can’t do that.”
    A tear rolled down her cheek. “Why?”
    “Because I can’t. I won’t.” He glanced over
his shoulder at the city walls. “Sahara, please. You have to
try.”
    Another tear. “Why?”
    He stared down into her eyes. “Don’t you want
to live?”
    She made no answer, but two more tears
coursed down her dirty face.
    “Well, I want you to live,” he insisted.
    “Why?” she whispered, but the raw need in her
eyes spoke to him louder than her faint voice.
    He hesitated for just the barest fraction of
a second. “Because you mean something, Sahara.”
    “I mean nothing.” She spat the words at him
as if they burned her mouth. “I’m an escaped convict. A criminal.
My life was over before you ever even met me. I should have died
out there yesterday. I’m done.”
    “You’re wrong,” he insisted. “Where there is
breath and pulse,