The Seer by Rowan McAllister (reading comprehension books .TXT) 📕

them swung angry looks at the newcomer. But though the young dark-haired man with startling blue eyes barely came up to their chins, he didn’t flinch or back down under their glares.

“Forgive me,” he continued in oddly accented trade speak. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but we would all really like to speak to you about what happened earlier, now that you’re awake… particularly Lyuc. We’ve prepared a fresh meal for you in our home, since your last was interrupted… if you’d like to follow me.”

He lifted an arm in invitation, but when neither of them moved, his pretty face hardened. “We really must insist on speaking with you, if you intend to stay in our town. I’m sorry, but you made quite an entrance, and people are understandably uneasy.”

Ravi swallowed. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to a bunch of strangers, particularly when at least one of them had triggered that massive Vision he couldn’t even remember. He wasn’t sure he could handle another Vision so soon after that one. He still felt shaky all over, and Daks’s confession hadn’t helped.

He opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when Daks sighed and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Why don’t you lay down for a little while, and I’ll go see what they have to say?”

“I’m sorry,” the stranger cut in again. “But we really need to talk to both of you. Fara has vouched for you, but we still need to ask you a few questions… please.”

The “please” came out sounding more like a command than a request, and Ravi could see Daks getting his back up, so he stepped forward before Daks could do anything they’d regret. The stranger might be small, but he was dressed all in leathers with both a dagger and a short sword at his belt. Ravi had seen Mistress Sabin in action. He knew not to underestimate someone based solely on how they looked.

“Come on. The sooner we get it over with, the sooner we can get back to our conversation.”

He held Daks’s gaze until Daks grunted and nodded. When the stranger headed off toward the woods, away from town, Daks shrugged and followed, and Ravi took up the rear.

“I’m Yan, by the way,” the man said over his shoulder with a small smile. “I should have introduced myself.”

He didn’t give a family name, and the spiral of stars family mark on his arm looked new for someone who had to be at least in his twenties.

Bet there’s a story there.

“I’m Ravi,” he replied to be polite, but didn’t offer his family name either.

Yan threw another smile over his shoulder, this one warmer and filled with a hint of humor. “Fara told us. I’d say that the circumstances of your arrival were unusual, but things are always strange wherever Lyuc goes, to the point where I’ve begun to wonder if ‘usual’ or ‘normal’ actually exists at all, or if the words are just something people use to comfort each other.”

Ravi was trying to come up with something to say to that when they stepped into a small clearing and he got his first look at the gaudiest, most brightly-colored cabin he’d ever seen in his life. Its shape was fairly ordinary, a simple rectangle made from scraped logs with a peaked wood-shingled roof, but the logs and shingles were painted in a dizzying array of colors and patterns. Odd crystals and strands of colorful glass beads numerous enough to make a kind of fringe hung from the eaves around the entire cabin and curtained the interiors of all the windows. The only thing that made it bearable to look at was that he was seeing it by torch and lantern light. At midday, he’d probably go blind, especially when coupled with what looked like an equally garish covered wagon tucked around the side.

“We’re going in there?” Ravi asked before he could stop himself.

When he winced and cast a guilty glance at their host, Yan grinned back at him. “If I hadn’t guessed from your accent, I’d have figured it out by your reaction alone. You’re definitely Rassan.”

Daks snorted, but Ravi couldn’t decide if the joke was on him or Yan. The raised eyebrow Daks was giving the cabin made Ravi feel a little better, though. He wasn’t the only one.

“You should have seen the look on Fara’s face the first time she came. I thought she might faint,” Yan said with a laugh.

Ravi hesitated to cross the last few yards, despite the warmth in Yan’s demeanor.

“Who all will be at this meal?” Daks asked, pressing close to his back.

“Like I said, Lyuc is very keen to meet you, and Tas and Girik would like to know more, particularly after what happened when Lyuc arrived,” Yan replied.

“And the Spawn?” Ravi asked nervously. He wasn’t sure he could take such close quarters with a wizard, a former pain priest, and a Spawn all at the same time.

“No. Bryn tends to avoid anything boring, and a group of humans sitting around talking definitely fits that definition.”

Something in their expressions must have told him just how crazy all of this sounded, because his smile turned sympathetic. “It’s a lot to get used to. Believe me, I know. But I promise you, no one here means you harm, including Bryn. Bryn is unique among his/her kind and a bit of a cranky princess sometimes, but not an unreasoning monster. You don’t have to worry.”

Yan started walking again, and Ravi reluctantly followed. When they reached the cabin and he held the door open for them, they stepped inside.

Despite the assault on his eyes, warmth spilled from the interior, and Ravi moved toward it like a moth to a flame. He hated the cold, and yet he seemed to keep moving farther and farther north. What did that say about him?

If anything, the interior décor was even worse than he’d imagined. Multiple patterned rugs had been piled on top of one another over the floor, with piles of