Free The Burning Sword by Emily Williams Page B

army.”
     
    Faith had never heard Eli ever praise anything before, and so she was shocked to hear him praising her army. She looked at him in surprise, and he actually smiled, in a genuine way.
     
    “Well,” Margaret butted in, “this is all simply fascinating, but I doubt you have the skill you believe, my dears. Just look at Isabel- injured! We don’t want our husbands and sons to come back to feral daughters and future wives- we want them to come back and see us as having worked hard to keep the village alive.”
     
    “Look, if we don’t do something, there won’t be any husbands or sons coming back,” Faith argued, angry at Margaret’s condescending tone.
     
    “That is just scare mongering!” Margaret shouted, her cheeks reddening with anger. “I won’t have you scaring people!”
     
    “It’s true!” Faith replied. Her army nodded their heads vigorously. “We’ve got to help.”
     
    “Maybe they’re right, Margaret,” murmured a steady voice. Faith looked over in amazement at her mother, who had stepped forward.
     
    “Yes,” said Martha’s mother. “Our sons are fighting, our husbands are facing the enemy, and all we are doing is sitting here at home.”
     
    “No!” Margaret shouted. “We’re not ‘sitting at home’! We’re knitting socks for them, we’re…”
     
    “Knitting socks?!” cried Marian’s mother. “What good is that?!”
     
    “Our girls have got the right idea,” said Faith ’s mother. “We should be readying ourselves to help them, to protect the village.” Faith stared at her mother, who was looking back at her and suddenly realized that there was a great deal of love and pride in her mother’s gaze. She suddenly felt a great deal braver, a great deal more confident.
     
    “Anyone is welcome to join our army,” Faith said firmly, and was surprised to hear everyone stop muttering, and look directly at her, as if she drew attention; as if she knew what she was talking about. “If any of you want to join, you will be greatly appreciated.” The words seemed to flow out of her before she thought about them, and for the first time, her commanding tone didn’t feel out of place, as it had when instructing her army. For the first time, she felt like a captain.
     
    Faith ’s words seemed to have answered everyone’s queries and comments. The silence hung around the group, who were now lit by the soft flush of dawn. Faith saw the faces of her army, their expressions hopeful yet mixed with an anxious desire to know the verdict.
     
    Faith ’s mother stepped closer to her daughter, and put her arm around her shoulders. “I will join,” she said gently. Encouraged by her bravery, others moved towards Faith ’s army, their silent support making her heart squeeze with an emotion she couldn’t quite name.
     
    Eventually, the only woman left was Margaret. Faith didn’t feel even a slight sense of disappointment: she had always known that Margaret was unlikely to agree with anything Faith supported; it was clear that the older woman deeply resented Faith ’s success with her hunting, and was not planning on giving her another chance to prove herself.
     
    Then- to Faith ’s great surprise- Margaret gave a huff of a sigh and strode over to the group to take her place with the rest of the army. Something in Faith ’s expression must have betrayed her surprise, for Margaret shrugged, and said, “If you can make an army to the same degree of success that you made a band of hunters, then I have no doubt you will be successful.”
     
    Faith was glad that Marian was there to grab her arm, or she was sure she would have crumpled to the floor, her knees caving in with the shock. Still, as they all made their way back to their huts to grab a few precious hours of seriously delayed sleep, her heart was still pounding fast. After all, if Margaret could praise her and her efforts, surely anything was possible. Suddenly, fighting off the squatters didn’t seem such