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

hood pulled all the way up despite the warmth of the spring sunlight filtering through the trees. Had he done the right thing? Each time things went from bad to worse, he asked himself that question, and he was still afraid to answer it.

Seers were always the most unpredictable of the magic users. Even after hundreds of years, the scholars hadn’t perfected training them or predicting when their power would manifest. At least half of the Seers he’d ever met were borderline insane… but they had their own tower at the Scholomagi and were well taken care of, particularly now when any tiny bit of information they could glean from their gifts was necessary. Ravi would be better off there than here at least, right?

Despite his best intentions, Daks stood and started pacing. He didn’t like it when he had too much time to think. He started questioning everything and tying himself in knots. He’d been cut adrift by the High Council. He had no clear directive anymore, no one else calling the shots. Was he making good decisions?

“How long has she been gone?” he asked impatiently.

Shura raised an eyebrow at him. “Not more than two hours.”

“Mmf,” he grunted and went back to pacing.

“Sit down and rest, Vaida, or you will reopen your wound, since you haven’t yet let me stitch it closed.”

“It’s fine,” he grumbled, even as he settled himself on the fallen tree again.

That wasn’t exactly a lie. It hurt… a lot. But it had only bled a little since he’d jarred it getting on the horse that morning and then again when they’d stopped. He’d probably be in more pain if he let Shura wield the needle on him than if he just left it to heal on its own, anyway.

Feeling the weight of someone’s stare, he glanced up to find Ravi studying him with concern. Even shadowed by his hood and obscured by the stringy strands of tangled auburn hair he hid behind, those gorgeous amber eyes caught the afternoon sunlight like jewels before the man quickly averted his gaze.

Liquid gold like brook-cooled ale after a hot summer day working in the fields back home.

Ugh. Dear gods, it’s come to this.

He was waxing poetic over a crabby little man’s eyes. Next, he’d be carrying a harp and skipping through the wildflowers.

“Shur, give me something to do,” he whined.

“Hush,” she hissed, and he was on the verge of growling at her when he realized she wasn’t looking at him and her body had tensed.

He followed her gaze, searching the trees until he finally spotted movement across the clearing. After a few tense moments, he recognized a familiar blond head and gray cloak and confirmed that she was alone.

Shura stood by his side practically vibrating like a coiled spring until he said, “Go on. We’ll wait here.”

Despite his recent concerns, she didn’t go running blindly toward Fara like some lovesick virgin. She swung in a wide arc from their location, moving silently but quickly through the undergrowth. Daks sometimes wondered if her people didn’t have some sort of innate magic, the way they could move with such deadly grace and stealth through even the roughest terrain, but he’d never sensed it if they did.

From their hiding place, mostly shielded from the clearing, he watched Shura approach Fara cautiously. Eventually, she must have decided all was safe, because she stepped out of the shadows and into the sunlight, startling the other woman and her horse. Daks grinned. She loved doing that to people.

The women exchanged a few words before Shura led the way back to their hiding place in a far more direct line than she’d taken out.

“Any success?” Daks called when they were within easy earshot.

“Yes and no,” Fara answered, blowing out a breath as she allowed Shura to take the reins of her mare and lead it to the others. “Reyan is not a large town,” she continued, closing the last few yards between them. “Not like Urmat. And having two members of the Thirty-Six in their midst has made everyone edgy. But I’m afraid we don’t only have them worry about. The people I talked to said the brothers have been given their own small contingent of soldiers, and they’re questioning anyone coming down from the North as well as patrolling the two riverbanks near town. I don’t think we’ll be able to get anywhere near a boat without being spotted and questioned.”

“And if we make a dash for it, the pain priests will likely be sent for,” Daks finished for her, frowning.

“So exactly what part of that is success?” Ravi squawked.

Shura narrowed her eyes at him, and Daks took a step forward, blocking their view of each other.

Despite Ravi’s tone, Fara’s grim expression lightened a little as she answered, “I’ve found Maran’s family. They are well-known and liked in the community… a great deal more than the soldiers and brothers at the moment. Their farm isn’t far up the Kun. We can keep to the forest until we find a safe place to cross. We might get a little wet again, but we should be given a safe place to rest and dry off on the other side.”

Daks pursed his lips. “You think they’ll be sympathetic?”

“Any time Maran has spoken of her family, it has been with pride,” she answered somewhat defensively. “I heard nothing in town that would make me think otherwise.”

“I’m sure they’re good people,” Shura gently interjected. “And they may dislike what is going on as much as the rest of us. I think what he’s asking is, do you believe they’ll be willing to take the risk of helping us? Because it is a risk. They have to live here once we’re gone.”

“They know what happened to Maran’s boy. They’ll help,” she replied confidently.

After meeting Shura’s questioning gaze, he gave her a small shrug, letting her know he’d accept her decision. Anything was better than sitting around doing nothing, and honestly, they didn’t have a lot of options. They could send