Zac’s Destiny, Lynne North [summer books txt] 📗

of terrible foreboding. Light was beginning to filter through the cracks in the wooden walls of the stable when he opened his eyes. He rolled to his back, troubled but unsure why. When he did remember, a terrible fear began to churn his stomach.
“What’s wrong with me?” he asked, directing the question to the roof of the stable. He had been thinking of Aldric when he went to sleep. “A stupid dream isn’t even worth mentioning.”
“Talking to yourself now, lad?” asked Wilf, entering the stall where Zac had slept.
“Uhm, oh, morning, Wilf. I just had a dream,” Feeling foolish, he stretched, feigning the heaviness of sleep.
“Come on then. Up. There’s work to be done.”
So the day began, as had every day before it. But something inside Zac, something too deep to recognise or realise, told him the days to follow would be very, very different.
Over breakfast Zac was preoccupied. Even when Beth came to join him he barely acknowledged her. This was the only meal of the day they got to eat together, since Beth usually had to eat with the other serving girls. Both of them looked forward to the time to chat and share their thoughts.
“You’re very quiet,” she began tentatively.
“Um?” Zac asked, not even completely sure what she had said.
“Why Zac, I’d almost think you were in love. Where were you then?”
Zac could tell she was trying to make light of the moment. “Oh, it’s nothing,” he replied, avoiding her eyes and tucking into his breakfast.
Beth was silent, and seemed lost in her own thoughts. Zac was too distracted to pay much attention to the tension between them.
“What have I done?” she finally asked, hurt evident in her voice.
Zac’s head shot around, really looking at her for the first time today. He could see the trouble and pain in her eyes. Distress he had caused her.
“Oh by the Fates, Beth, never think you have done anything wrong! You’re all that keeps me sane most of the time.” He had no choice but to tell his friend what had happened. Zac took a deep breath and recalled his dream from the night before as accurately as possible. He found it strange that, unlike his earlier hazy memory, for some reason he was able to recall it now in great detail. This troubled him even more. It made it seem too real.
Beth listened attentively. She never uttered a single word through the long telling. The only sign she gave Zac of taking it in was the shock he saw in her brown eyes. When he finally finished, he watched her carefully, to try to judge what she thought. “I know, I’m just a big baby troubled by a silly dream.”
“You can’t mean that!” Beth exclaimed. “You must go to the Baron and tell him what you saw.”
“About a dream?” Zac asked. He knew she was right, but needed someone else to tell him so.
“It’s more than just a dream, Zac, I feel it. You can’t ignore this. You must tell the Baron.”
“But what if…?”
“Listen to me, Zac. If it was only a dream, then there will be no casket and you will feel foolish. We both know it was more though, don’t we? It does no good to pretend” She paused, allowing her words to sink in. “If there is a casket, then we know what that means, too. Go to the Baron.”
Zac knew she was right, but he was afraid. He wasn’t afraid of feeling foolish, but more of the implications of finding out the truth. What if there was a casket? No matter how long Zac argued with his own mind, he knew Beth was right. He had to see Baron Albemerle to find out.


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Publication Date: 01-04-2010

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