Willow looked at the cross again. “That is your god?”
“Yes. He was crucified and died, and then He rose again on the third day.”
She looked confused so he offered her a seat on one of the empty benches and told her all about his savior and how he died for the sins of the world so that everyone who believed on him would be forgiven and be raised from their graves to live forever with him.
Willow had heard stories of people’s gods but none of them were like this Jesus Christ. None of them gave up their crowns and scepters to come here and die for others. How amazing was this lord?
“You said he is the one true god. What of all the others?” She wanted to know more of him and Caleb told her.
After some time, he reached into his back pocket and gave her is little book again. He called it, The Bible.
“It’s His story and His plan of salvation for us.”
“Are you certain you can part with it?” she asked, running her fingers over the curling pages.
He nodded and offered her a smile that made her want to pray to his god for strength to resist the enemy of her father.
They talked a little more about prayer and the power of it, and then Willow brought up her father.
“Isn’t there any way you could forget my father and the things he’s done? I know you say he destroyed Predaria but…” oh, she didn’t know what else to say to him. If her father truly did destroy Predaria then he deserved to be punished.
“He took too much, Willow,” Caleb told her in a gentle, understanding tone. “I wish he wasn’t your father.”
She nodded but said nothing more.
They ate cooked rice with beans with the rest of Caleb’s men and shared some fresh delicious strawberries that cost Jonas two gold coins.
After they ate, it took Caleb an hour to find a small band of men and women traveling together toward Beldar who could accompany Willow there. They were leaving shortly.
Did he want her gone so badly then? Would she ever see him again?
Caleb introduced the leader of the company to her and advised the man, with a glimmer of gold coins stashed in his palm that she was to be kept safe at any cost.
The stranger smiled at her, but Willow’s eyes were fastened on Caleb. She was happy to be going, grateful that Caleb wasn’t such a savage and was letting her go.
Maybe going to Beldar wasn’t such a good plan. But she couldn’t stay with Caleb. She couldn’t.
She said goodbye to Jonas and to the rest of the men. Would she miss the mustached brute’s smiles? Or the way Caleb boldly touched her, smiled at her…
“Thank you,” she told him, offering him a genuine smile. “You and your men have been kind to me. I will be sure to tell my father.”
She turned away to leave before she begged him to let her stay. She’d gone mad. Someday, Caleb would kill her father.
He grasped her hand, shocking her and stopping her departure for one more moment. “Please allow me,” he whispered and brought her knuckles to his lips. He kissed her hand so tenderly her knees almost gave way and her head felt light beneath the hot sun. He didn’t bid her farewell, or even lift his eyes to her again. He simply kissed her hand and walked away from her.
“Milady?” Her escort tugged on her sleeve and Willow tore her eyes away from the beautiful savage who she was sure would haunt her dreams for many years.
“We may not have the chance to get Baltrasard for a long time to come,” Jonas told Caleb a few moments later while they watched Willow and the people she would be traveling with saddle up their mounts.
“I don’t care so much anymore,” Caleb mumbled. “Let’s get ready to leave. I’ve been away from home too long.”
He didn’t want to think of her but a few minutes later he found himself watching her through the crowd while she bent to help lift a large sack to another woman’s saddle. When she smiled at her new companion, Caleb drew in a tight breath remembering the glorious spark in her eyes when she had smiled at him for the first time.
“She was naught but trouble anyway,” Jonas offered, hoping it would make his dear friend feel better.