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

One of the guards took a step forward. His uniform looked finer than the others. “And what business is that?”

“We’re visiting family.”

The man eyed them suspiciously. “She’s not visiting any family here,” he said, nodding toward Shura.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we do trade with her family,” Mistress Sabin said, lifting her chin. “It was my understanding the King’s Guard is supposed to protect Rassans. Is this how you go about your work? Should I ask your superiors?”

The crowd around them grumbled, and the man who’d stepped forward shifted uncomfortably. “Very well, Mistress. You may go… but the Cigani can’t. We need to know what she’s doing in our land.”

The man’s words were almost as slurred as the others’, and Ravi’s stomach dropped.

“Ravi! Push it back! It doesn’t have to control you,” Daks’s urgent voice finally cut through the others filling his mind, and Ravi shook his head, trying to dislodge the magic somehow. He struggled out of Daks’s grip and nearly fell over when he actually succeeded. At least he hadn’t passed out this time.

“It’s Shura and Mistress Sabin,” he panted, fighting to stay upright as the clearing came into focus around him. “They’re in trouble, or… they will be. I… think.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know. A tavern with music playing. An alley nearby.”

“What trouble?” Daks was already moving toward the horses.

“King’s Guard, a lot of them.”

Daks swore under his breath as he mounted Horse bareback. “Stay here.”

“Wait!” Ravi ran after him. “You don’t know where you’re going. There were over a dozen of them. What are you going to do?”

“Bash some heads!” Daks shouted over his shoulder, and Ravi would have called his tone almost gleeful if not for the worry tightening the man’s face.

Left with the packs, the mares, a churning mass of anxiety and fear gnawing at his stomach, and the beginnings of a Vision headache, Ravi let out a frustrated growl.

What the hells was he supposed to do now? Damn the man!

Daks galloping into town on a white stallion was sure to raise some eyebrows and call way more attention than anyone wanted, the idiot. Luckily, full dark had almost fallen, so maybe the entire company of soldiers wouldn’t be out looking for them before dawn. Ravi hugged himself and eyed the creepy forest surrounding him. When one of the two mares snorted, he nearly jumped out of his skin and clutched a hand to his breast.

He could hide out in the cabin and maybe try to start that fire Daks had talked about. The mares should be fine outside by themselves, right?

He worried his lower lip and glanced back and forth between the path Daks had taken and the cabin as another thought occurred to him. He didn’t really need them anymore. In the chaos Daks’s “heroic ride” was sure to create, he could sneak into town along the riverbank and find a small boat for himself and paddle his way across. Mistress Sabin might be too noble to steal, but Ravi hadn’t had that luxury in a long time. Surely one little boat wouldn’t mean the difference between life and death for a family. He could pick one of the nicer ones, a boat that looked like the owner had coin to spare. He’d leave it tied to the opposite bank, clearly visible from the other side so it could be retrieved in the morning. No harm. No foul.

His stomach clenched as he continued to stare in the direction Daks had gone. His chest tightened with a foreboding he didn’t understand, and shivers danced along his skin.

“Shit.”

He groaned, took two determined steps toward the cabin, and stopped. He spun on his heel and took two steps toward the path to the river. He stopped again and scowled over his shoulder. The feeling nagging him got worse whenever he turned away from town.

Was it his conscience or magic?

With a pained sigh, he closed his eyes and hung his head in defeat. Daks had said to listen to his feelings. And why was he following the word of that big idiot?

Because he was an even bigger one.

Or because Daks was the only person ever, including himself, to actually see something of value in the curse he’d been saddled with. For once in his life, his curse had actually been of some use, so how could he ignore it now?

Daks had saved him from the Brotherhood, no matter the circumstances. Ravi owed him, even if he’d never admit it to the man for fear of losing what little desperate leverage he had.

Even as he led the placid mare he’d ridden earlier to a rock to help him climb into the saddle, his hands shook and he continually questioned his sanity.

I’m not a fighter. What possible help could I be? And why should I try to help these lunatics anyway? I’d probably be doing them a favor going off on my own, wouldn’t I?

But the feeling driving him wouldn’t relent.

Grasping the reins tightly in his sweaty palms, he nudged the animal with his thighs the way he’d seen the others do. The mare ambled a bit but seemed loath to leave her companion or the clumps of tender spring grass surrounding the cabin. He nudged her a little harder, this time with his heels. She lurched into a trot that made him yelp, and it was all he could do to stay in the saddle.

This is a terrible idea. This is an incredibly terrible idea.

He should have tried to run to town instead. At least he would have gotten there in one piece.

By the time he saw the rooftops silhouetted black against the indigo sky, his ass and thighs were screaming. Pulling hard on the reins, he was nearly pitched over her head as the mare came to an abrupt halt. His dismount was something less than graceful, and the horse threw an accusing eye over her shoulder at him as he winced and patted her side clumsily.

“Sorry. Sorry. But just think, I could die