The Southern Trail (Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

flame.
    She was as lovely as ever, and Marco searched her face intently, remembering the long trip they had spent together, the hardships they had shared, and the manner in which she had changed and grown, while he had grown in his appreciation of her.
    “How do you feel?  Can you stand and walk?” she asked after several seconds of mutual examination.
    He swung his legs around, over the side of the table he sat on, then slid off the table, and gasped as his right ankle painfully buckled, unable to readily carry his weight.
    “Here, let me help you,” Pesino told him, as she shifted her position.  She draped his arm over her shoulders, then raised up.  “We need to get upstairs; everyone else is waiting up there.”
    “Who is ‘everyone’?” Marco asked, as they awkwardly moved forward.
    “Kate and Cassius and Asterion,” she answered, as they reached the foot of a stairwell.  “Gawail was with us for several weeks after,” she paused, “after we were separated from you, but he set off to go home when the weather turned warmer.”
    They started climbing the steps, one tread at a time, each of them silent, simply soaking in the pleasure of the other’s companionship once again.
    When they reached the top, Pesino pushed the door open, and they hobbled up into a dimly-lit unfurnished room.  “This is the back of the house,” Pesino explained.  “The kitchen is right in through there,” she pressed on a door handle to open it, and Marco caught a glimpse of Kate and Cassius looking anxiously at the doorway.  And then, within seconds, he was engulfed in the warmth of his friends, as Asterion and Cassius lifted him off Pesino’s shoulder and carried him into the home, where they set him down on a chair by a fireplace.
    Marco felt tears forming in his eyes, and he saw the same in Kate and Cassius’s faces as well.
    “I didn’t expect to see you here!  This is so wonderful!” Marco told the pair.
    There was a rustling sound behind him, and he turned to see Pesino enter the room, carrying a large wad of cloth.
    “Here, get him out of those clothes and put this dress on him,” she said as she tossed the clothing at Kate.  “Asterion, go keep a watch out back.  I’ll look out the front,” she smoothly gave orders, then disappeared from the room, as Asterion did likewise.
    “Take your clothes off Marco.  Can you get that boot off you injured foot?” Kate asked, as she stood and held up a woman’s dress in front of her, then shook the cloth vigorously.  “We’re going to disguise you.”
    “What’s going on?” Marco asked, astonished.
    “The Docleatean soldiers are searching for you,” Cassius answered.  “Pesino and I recovered your body as soon as you fell to the ground fighting the leader of their forces, while there was chaos all around.
    “Now, there’s even more chaos in the city.  Those soldiers you sent up to the Acropolis are playing havoc with the Docleatean occupiers, and the invaders from the harbor are making progress,”
Kate added, as Cassius suddenly tugged at Marco’s shirt and began to remove it.
    “Some parts of the city are controlled by Docleatae, some are controlled by the invaders, and it appears most of the city is under no one’s control at the moment,” Cassius spoke again.
    Marco gasped as Kate pulled on his boot.
    “Sorry,” she said.  “Maybe you better do it yourself.”
    Marco bent and gingerly wiggled the boot up and down, trying to minimize the pain in his ankle.  The boot came suddenly free in an unexpected rush, making Marco cry out, then look down at the dark, swollen joint.
    He immediately placed his left hand finger in his mouth and started to suck on it, withdrawing the water of Diotima’s spring.  He bent low over his lap and dribbled the water onto the ankle to treat it.
    “What are you doing?” Cassius asked.
    “This water – it will help my ankle heal,” Marco explained.
    “Where did you get it?  How does it work?” the