The Barbed Coil
Chapter One
The Bridge
Tessa's feet ached as she stepped onto the wooden camber of the bridge.
She was so tired she couldn't think. It took all her strength to put one
foot in front of the other and stop her chin from falling on her chest.
Operating purely on instinct now, she knew it was time to sleep.
She and Ravis had just come from stabling the horses. Before that they had
seen Emith to his mother's house - a small black-timbered building,
filling a cleft between a bathhouse and a stable - and although Emith
wanted them to stop, rest and meet his mother, both Tessa and Ravis
declined. All Tessa wanted to do was get back to Widow Furbish's stock
room, roll herself and all the accompanying bugs up in a blanket, and fall
asleep. They hadn't even stayed to meet Mother Emith, though Ravis was
very careful and precise about passing along his respects. That sort of
thing seemed to matter here, and Tessa found herself glad it ... read full excerpt from The Barbed Coil ebook
