Free The Awakening (The Stones of Revenge) by Justin Sargeant

continued on their way home in silence. By the time they reached the edge of the farm, the sun had begun its descent. In the fading light, Landon stabled the horses while Mordecai entered the hut for the night unwilling to see to the fieldwork that needed to be done. Exhausted from his day’s excitement, Landon could not blame him. He felt the same. He turned to watch the sun dip behind the tall mountains to the west. Aquila nuzzled him as he stood by her stable.
    “I know, girl. Everything has chang ed.”
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Six
    Letters
     
     
    The next day came sooner than Landon expected. He opened his eyes to the new day only to be greeted by pain in his left arm. Reaching for it, Landon remembered the heavy price the bandit had paid giving it to him. The thought gnawed at him, but he forced it out of his mind as he sat up. The rain would be coming in two days, and it would take that long to finish the fields. Hopefully Uncle is in a better mood today than the night before, he mused . Mordecai had gone to bed without a word. Landon had eaten dinner and changed his bandage alone before falling asleep himself.
    He stood up next to the bed still wearing his clothes. He trudged sleepily through the hut attempting to shake the fog from his mind. As he passed by Mordecai’s room, he noticed a silence from within. Uncle must have woken early . He stopped short when he spotted a dagger stuck above the door pinching a piece of paper against the wall. Landon felt fear grip him. He had not seen the dagger before and wondered suddenly if a stranger had followed them yesterday. He feared Mordecai had been attacked during the night and dragged off by the culprits leaving a ransom note behind. Something was amiss. He strode towards the door and without removing the dagger and read these words:
     
    “I have been pressed upon with a matter of due importance. The need of my presence was greatly requested. I shall return shortly.
    Mord.”
     
    Of course he wasn’t here , he thought. Of course he would leave at such a crucial time and make me carry on without him! This note stirred familiar feelings in him . No one ever really cared about me. Not my parents, not my uncle. Neither wanted the burden of parenthood. This world didn’t even want me. Why did I think things would change? He felt completely alone. Upset. Scared. He paused to regained more control of his emotions.
    “What kind of a goodbye is this?” Landon fumed. “To leave, without any further notice, and what ‘matter of due importance’ could possibly have called him away without my knowing?”
    Frustrated, Landon removed the note and jammed the dagger through it stabbing the table. He then grabbed an apple and decided that since there would be no immediate answers, he should simply carry on with the work to be done. So, leaving the strange note where it lay, he proceeded out to the field to prepare Octavius and Sertorius with the new harness acquired from Archer’s.
    He bit into the apple tearing a huge chunk out of it as he strode across the road towards the oxen pen. Its sweetness awakened him. He had left the harness on the fence yesterday where it would be easily accessible for him. He continued to eat his breakfast as he opened the gate to the pen. The two oxen were resting in the shade on the far side of the penned area. He took one last bite then tossed the apple aside onto the road where the scavengers could have what they wanted. He grabbed the plow and loosened the broken harness from the metal. The metal had buried itself deep into the leather, so it took him a good while to fully loosen and remove the unnecessary straps. When he finally finished, he wrapped the new harness around the plow locking it into place. It took Landon nearly an hour to complete the process of replacing the harness.
    Wrapping the straps around his shoulders, Landon bent down to pick up the entire plow. He pushed hard with his legs but dropped it back to the ground with a