The Seer Rowan McAllister (top inspirational books .TXT) 📖

blew out an irritated breath. He pushed himself off the tree and turned back toward the trail to the cabin. “I need to check on the horses, and then I’m going to sit and rest while I still can. I suggest you do the same. It’s been a stressful couple of days for all of us.”

“And whose fault is that?” Ravi yelled at his retreating back.

Daks’s shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t slow his pace. “Stay out of the water,” he growled.

Ravi continued to glare after him for several long moments before he gave the opposite bank of the river one last longing look, huffed out a tired breath, and trudged back up the trail to the cabin. Daks was brushing down the white stallion he’d oh-so-cleverly named Horse, apparently, cooing praise at the animal, who seemed to be soaking it up and preening. For some reason this irritated Ravi even more, and he flopped onto the ground as far away from the two of them as he dared.

They occupied opposite sides of the clearing in uncomfortable silence for the next couple of hours, until Ravi felt as if he might crawl out of his skin with anxiety. He needed sleep, but he didn’t dare until they were on their way across the river. The air was damp and cool, but he found himself sweating as each hour the ladies were gone ticked past, and Daks’s own usually calm veneer sloughed away, bit by bit.

What’s taking them so long? Has something happened?

He didn’t bother voicing the questions aloud. Daks was probably thinking the same thing, given the way he was acting. Besides, Daks didn’t have any more information than he did.

The woods around him didn’t become any more comforting as the sun dropped lower and lower. The shadows grew, and his surroundings took on an even creepier, more ominous feel. The quiet noises of the forest were all wrong, softer than the bustle of the city, but that much more noticeable for the lack of anything beyond the soft susurration of the Matna.

By the time the sun actually sank below the horizon, casting the sky in eerie indigo light, he found himself jumping at every crack of a dead branch falling to the ground, chitter of a squirrel, or hoot of an owl. His hopes of getting across the river that night had sunk with the sun, until Daks finally crushed them altogether.

“We should start collecting firewood,” he said, making Ravi jump. “We’ll need to wait to cross until morning at this rate, and we might as well have a hot meal tonight.”

“Are you sure?” Ravi asked. “I mean, they could come any second, and we could be on our way.”

“Even if they show up before full dark, we still need to get to whatever boat they’ve found. The moon might still be nearly full, but I don’t relish a night crossing, and I’d imagine whoever they enlisted to help us won’t either. It will be simple enough to douse the fire should we get luc—uh, should they get here in the next hour, but we might as well be warm while we wait. I wouldn’t mind something hot to eat or drink either.”

He stepped up to the door to the cabin and tried the lock. It held against his first couple of shoves, and Ravi was about to offer to pick it if he could find a bit of wire or something similar in one of the packs when Daks threw his shoulder against it and the door gave way.

Ravi rolled his eyes.

That’s right. Why use thought and precision when you have brute force?

“It’s a bit dusty, and the mice seem to have had a grand time inside, but at least we’ll be under a roof if it decides to rain.” He went to retrieve the packs, and Ravi’s shoulders slumped in growing disappointment and defeat as he moved to help.

He only took two steps before the world spun and all the hairs on his body stood on end.

No!

He fought the Vision, imagining himself pushing at it, like Daks had said, but he failed miserably. It swept over him like a tide, and all he could do was go under.

Shura and Mistress Sabin hurried down a shadowed alley, away from raucous laughter and a borderline blasphemous tavern song Ravi had heard many times in Rassat. The women weren’t running, but they moved quickly, and their expressions were worried. Shadows followed them, calling after them, but Ravi couldn’t understand the words. The women stepped around a corner and ran straight into a crowd of men in King’s Guard colors. They turned, but more men stood behind them, drunkenly hanging on one another. These men also had splashes of guard blue mixed among their clothing.

“What’s your hurry? We just want to talk,” one of the men called, and several of the others laughed.

“Let us pass,” Mistress Sabin said firmly, lifting her dainty chin and glaring at them.

Shura seemed to be fingering something inside her sleeve, but Mistress Sabin laid a hand on her arm.

“Awww, don’t be like that,” another guard said. “Here we are, risking our lives every day protecting the kingdom. The least you can do is share a few kind words with us while we’re trapped here with nothing to do.”

“If you want to talk to someone, I suggest going to the town temple. I’m sure the brothers there will have plenty to entertain you with. Shall we call them?” Mistress Sabin shot back, but her eyes darted nervously around.

As if by some unspoken accord, she and Shura took a cautious step back, toward the smaller crowd of men behind them.

“Damn brothers are why we’re stuck here in the first place,” another of the men slurred out, and the crowd suddenly stilled and cast nervous glances around them.

“Careful, Roald, don’t let the red robes hear ya talkin’ like that,” someone cautioned, and the men sniggered.

“We have business elsewhere. Let us pass,” Mistress Sabin called, her voice turning a bit shrill