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sharply with the paleness of his skin.
He stopped when he reached the brush where she d hidden, crouching down and
peering at her through the limbs. Why are you hiding?
Lilith stared back at the man with a mixture of fear and embarrassment. She
licked her lips, wondering if it would be safe to tell the truth. Someone chased me, she
said, finally settling on a partial truth.
He frowned, searching the forest around them with his keen eyes, which Lilith
noticed were a strange golden color. She found it difficult to calculate his age. He was
certainly a mature man for he had none of the look of growing into his body that very
young men often had, but his face was not lined with age either.
It was a pleasant face, she decided, a very interesting face, handsome even, she
thought, though that wasn t easy to tell either because of the beard and moustache. The
long hair that flowed around his shoulders was as black as midnight, catching a bluish
sheen like a crow s wing as he moved his head and the sunlight filtering through the trees
struck it.
What sort of labor did the man do to make his living, she wondered, to be so pale?
She could see his body was not fat, but taut and muscular as the body of one who labored
long and hard.
A miner, perhaps?
He is gone now.
Feeling awkward and silly, for she knew she could not have been hidden all that
well when he had walked directly up to her, she struggled out of the brush and looked
him over uneasily.
He was bigger even than she had thought, she realized, disconcerted by the fact
that when he rose to his full height he dwarfed her and wondering if it would have been
better to have run after all when he had crouched down and peered at her.
He frowned. I do not mean you any harm. I came because I saw you running
LABYRINTH OF THE BEAST Desiree Acuna 66
and I thought that you might need help.
Oh, Lilith responded, feeling more embarrassed, but very little more at ease
than before. He seemed unthreatening, but she was almost certain that he was a stranger
to these parts and it was never wise to trust strangers. That is so kind of you! I think,
though, that I shall be just fine, now.
He grunted, glanced in the direction of her cottage and finally turned to look at
her again. I will walk with you to your cottage and make certain you are safe.
She didn t want him to, but she could think of no way to dissuade him if he was
so inclined. His legs were long. She was swift when she needed to be, but she doubted
that she could run fast enough to outrun him. It seemed better not to take the chance of
arousing any hunting instincts he might have by trying to flee, especially when he was so
close.
Mayhap, once he had walked her back to her cottage and was satisfied, he would
go away again?
She would have preferred not to take him near her cottage, but then he had spoken
as if he had already seen it and it seemed indisputable that he must know the villagers had
been there since he had spoken of making certain she was safe.
Nodding, taking care to keep her distance from him, she struck off toward the
cottage. She was in no particular hurry to return, not when there was a chance that some
of the villagers might still be there.
She didn t know whether to be more relieved or more unnerved when she realized
there were no sounds of activity near her cottage as they approached. She knew the
villagers were a threat. She didn t know about the stranger, but she didn t feel
particularly comforted by the idea that she would be completely alone with him so far
from anyone.
They are gone! she said, allowing the relief she felt into her voice.
They?
Lilith glanced at him sharply. He. I meant he--the one who chased me.
She saw the stranger s eyes were gleaming with amusement. You do not lie
well.
She reddened. I don t know what you mean.
It was not a man who sent you scurrying into the forest to hide. It was the
villagers.
Lilith felt her color fluctuate several times while she tried to think up an
explanation that didn t involve telling the man the villagers treated her with fear and
distrust. Even though many of them had come to her over the years begging potions from
her to cure their ills, the way they stared at her whenever she went into the village for
needed supplies gave her the uneasy feeling that they believed that she was a witch.
She discovered as she looked around, though, searching her mind for something
to say, that there was a large pile of debris near the front of her cottage that had not been
there before.
LABYRINTH OF THE BEAST Desiree Acuna 67
Chapter Eight
Curious, Lilith forgot the uncomfortable question and crossed the yard to look at
the pile, wondering if the villagers had been in the process of trying to set fire to the
cottage and been frightened off, perhaps by one of the beasts from the forest?
She saw as she studied the debris, though, that it was not kindling piled at the
door of her cottage. Gasping as she spied something familiar, she crouched down and
pulled it from beneath a broken pot.
This was my mother s, she murmured, pulling the faded blue gown from the
pile and holding it up to study it. Feeling a surge of hopefulness, she folded the gown
hurriedly and knelt down again, pulling out crockery, much of which was broken, and
plates, linens, embroidered pillows that she had made, or her mother.
She was so busy searching the pile that she completely forgot about the stranger
until he crouched down on the opposite side from her and lifted something up to study it
curiously. That was a pot I made when I was a little girl, she said, embarrassed by the
poor craftsmanship that was obvious even though the vessel was broken now.
His face grew taut with anger. You are crying because it is broken?
She hadn t realized there were tears streaming down her cheeks. Wiping at them
self-consciously, she shook her head. Yes. No. I am just so very glad to have them
back!
He looked taken aback. You are weeping because you are happy? he asked
doubtfully.
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