Free The Red And Savage Tongue (Historical Fiction Action Adventure Book, set in Dark Age post Roman Britain) by F J Atkinson Page A

him live for now—I can always kill him later if he proves to be no better than Hubert at cooking. As for the woman, she’ll make up for losing the boy. Let us hope Eadmund holds him as I speak.’
         The men looked back up the track towards the leafy hollow where they had left Eadmund to search for Tomas. Egbert shouted at them. ‘Well! Why do you stare? Go now and help in the search! Don’t forget we also seek the other Briton who killed two of our companions!’

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    Tomas lay still as Edmund’s probing feet finally kicked softly into his body. The barbarian’s arms followed as he grabbed the boy and pulled him triumphantly out of the leaves, his face contorted with happiness. He beamed as he thought of how his prestige would recover now that he had recaptured the defeated slave-boy. Maybe Egbert would stop pushing him around now.
         Tomas’ eyes opened wide with surprise as he noticed the arrowhead sprout from Eadmund’s sternum. A bloody, frothy spluttering was the best that Eadmund could muster as he fell to the ground.
        He saw the group of three standing fifty paces away. Quickly, he waved his arms and shouted, ‘Don’t loose an arrow at me sir! I’m not one of them. I run from them like you. I was their slave and now I have escaped. I speak British. I am British.’
         Dominic shouted back, ‘Come show yourself lad, I’ll let you live if you satisfy me that you are a friend.’
         Tomas walked towards them with his palms outstretched. ‘See, I’m unarmed,’ he stuttered. ‘My name is Tomas and I’m too small to fight anyone.’
         Murdoc could not help but feel sympathy for the boy who stumbled towards them. His smock hung loose and beltless over his bony frame; his hose holed and muddy, and his brown hair ruffled and festooned with dead leaves. Murdoc turned to Dominic who nodded in affirmation. ‘It seems that we now number four. What now?’
         Tomas smiled with delight at his imminent acceptance, as Dominic looked in a westerly direction and quickly outlined his intention. ‘We need to get to country that I’m more familiar with, and where we can vanish into the woods.’ There was a grim cast to his eyes as he turned his piercing gaze upon Tomas. ‘You seem harmless enough … so yes … you can run with us, but you had better keep up because once lost, you stay lost!’ 
         Tomas didn’t intend to fall behind or get lost even if it meant running until his lungs burst and his heart leapt out of his chest. Dominic continued his assessment of Tomas a while longer, causing the boy to shuffle uncomfortably.
         ‘No time to dawdle here,’ said Dominic, relenting. ‘Every minute is now precious. It’s lucky for the lad that we heard them diverted elsewhere and I took a look around. Now we need to move because they will be back.’ Turning on his heel, he ran towards an area of the forest where the vegetation grew thicker. He turned to the others. ‘Follow me now and keep up!’ he shouted.
     
    They travelled at a steady pace for the rest of the day without hindrance or pursuit, and finally came to rest by a bank of bracken. Dominic carefully led them through a subtle break in the outcrop into a cleared area that was unseen from the faint trail they had left. It was one of many of his hidden stores, which he had scattered throughout his hunting grounds. He brushed aside leaf litter from the floor of the clearing and removed a rough, wooden cover set into the ground. From beneath the cover, he removed a wooden box containing dried, salted meat, edible plant tubers, and a cooking pot. With the use of his flint and iron, he soon had a fire going, and after filling the pot with water from a nearby spring, he prepared a stew from the ingredients before him.
         It was the first cooked meal any of them had had for days and for all of them the finest feast they could remember. After the meal, Dominic again