The Seer

by Rowan McAllister

  With a chuckle, Daks released his hold, stood up, and dusted himself off. “I’m glad she’s found someone. It’s just… Fara isn’t coming with us back to Samebar. She’s found what she needs here, more than she would ever get at the Scholomagi. That leaves Shura and me torn as to what to do next.”

  Ravi bit his lip and stood too as his stomach twisted for an all new reason. “Shura wants to stay?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you?”

  Daks blew out a breath and stepped in close. He brushed a lock of hair from Ravi’s forehead as he said, “It’s a little more complicated than that. I was hoping I’d have more time before I had to make any life-altering choices.”

  “What kind of choices?” he managed to get out around the lump in his throat.

  He sighed. “You know Shura and I are partners, but you don’t know all of it. Remember when I told you about the time after I was sick and I lost Jos?”

  Ravi nodded.

  Daks’s lips twisted in a wry smile. “If you think I’m a pain in the ass now, you haven’t seen anything. I went a little crazy for a while. I searched Rassa for two years for any sign of him until the High Council finally recalled me, because I was making more problems than I was solving. They cut me loose, and I drank my way through several villages, moving farther south into the forests, avoiding returning home to my family hold in defeat. Until one night, I witnessed a mob forming to go after a clan of Cigani in one of those villages. A girl had been murdered, and they of course blamed the Cigani. Even drunk, I knew it wasn’t right for a whole clan to pay for something probably only one of them did, so I snuck out of the village and warned them.”

  He grimaced uncomfortably and waved a hand in the air. “Anyway, some other stuff happened, and I was able to trace the magic used on the murdered girl back to a villager and not the Cigani at all, without much in the way of bloodshed, but the details aren’t really important. The important part is, the Cigani decided they owed me a great debt. And no matter how hard I tried to tell them a simple thanks and maybe some of their famous wine was enough, they decided to bind Shura to me anyway. In case you don’t know this, they take their oath-bindings very seriously. By that vow, she can’t leave my side until her death without disgracing herself and her entire clan.” He sighed and shook his head. “But that doesn’t mean she stopped being human, that she doesn’t have needs of her own. And if I force her to choose, it will tear her apart. She’s my partner and my friend. I love her too much to do that to her. She’s fought a fight that wasn’t hers too long for my sake…. But I have needs too, needs I’ve successfully ignored up until recent events have made that next to impossible.”

  He met Ravi’s concerned gaze, and his lips curved in the oddest little smile as he skimmed his thumb over Ravi’s lower lip. A shiver ran through Ravi’s entire body.

  “I’m really hoping you’re talking about me right now. Because if you aren’t, this is going to be extremely humiliating,” Ravi replied breathily.

  With a chuckle, Daks moved closer. “I’m talking about you,” he agreed before kissing him deeply.

  When they finally pulled apart again, Ravi clutched the wool of Daks’s cloak so he couldn’t go too far and pressed their foreheads together.

  “So, uh, you think you might just like me too much to leave me, then? Is that what you’re trying to say?” Ravi asked, hesitantly, hopefully.

  “I think I might have just fallen in love with you too much to leave you,” Daks corrected far too calmly.

  When Ravi jolted and stared at him, Daks grinned.

  “You don’t tiptoe around, do you? You always just wade right in,” Ravi croaked.

  “Part of my charm.”

  After sucking in a shaky breath, Ravi searched his face. “You mean it, though, right? You really love me?”

  “I may be impulsive to a fault, but once I make up my mind about something, it’s made.” He trailed his fingers over Ravi’s cheek. “You snuck up on me, but I’m not going to hide from it anymore. I can’t.”

  He didn’t exactly sound ecstatic about it, though, which put a damper on Ravi’s joy.

  “But?” Ravi prodded reluctantly.

  “But the two people I love are pulling me in different directions, and I have to make a choice—”

  “Excuse me.”

  Both of 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 cushions scattered around to add to the chaos of colors. The crystals and beads in the windows caught the light of several lanterns and candles resting on shelves and ledges haphazardly mounted around the room, flashing even more colored patterns on the walls. Odd stones, large, glittering crystals as big as a man’s fist, trinkets, carvings, and baubles filled nearly every flat surface, while colorful scarves, blankets, and more pillows draped most of the furniture. The sight was so overwhelming, the red-bearded man nearly blended into everything else in his brightly patched robes.

  Mistress Sabin, in her plain gray travel costume, helped blot out some of the garish display around her, and Ravi hurried to her side for some soothing familiarity after Yan took their cloaks. They might not have been the best of friends on their journey, but she was the closest they had to an ally in this group and the most normal of all of them.

  A large table, draped in more patterned cloth and filled with plates of food, dominated the open area in front of a stone hearth. The gaudy wizard sat at the head of the table in a pink-and-purple cushioned chair, while the priest from earlier and his blond friend sat on a bench along the far side. Their guide, Yan, moved to the wizard’s side, bent, and kissed the man before taking a seat on the bench next to the others.

  “Daks and Ravi, may I present Lyuc, the leader of our little group here and temporary town leader until a new Elder is chosen for the clan,” Yan said.

  “I’m glad to finally have a chance to meet the infamous Daks,” Lyuc replied with a grin. “Your partner has made quite an impression on us.”

  Ravi followed Daks’s gaze as he lifted his eyebrows at Mistress Sabin.

  The mistress grimaced apologetically at the wizard. “Shura was rather, uh, displeased when she woke up to find she’d been carried away from Traget. She refused to rest or let anyone tend her until Lyuc and Tas graciously agreed to scry for you, to make sure you were all right.”

  “She wouldn’t let anyone else rest either,” Lyuc added wryly.

  The familiar, proud, cheeky grin Daks threw at the wizard eased some of the tightness in Ravi’s belly, and he found himself smiling too.

  “You scryed us?” Ravi asked a little nervously, not quite knowing what that entailed.

  The wizard’s green eyes twinkled at Ravi.

  “We did. I thought it an excellent opportunity for Tas to practice working with Singer… and without him. But don’t worry. We didn’t give her details, only that the two of you were quite safe and, uh, comfortable.”

  Lyuc winked, and Ravi felt his face heat. Daks’s grin faded as he scooted closer to Ravi.

  “Why don’t we all dig in?” Yan asked, breaking the awkward silence. “I’m sure our guests have to be starving after their long day. We’ll talk when we’re finished.”

  “I told Shura I wouldn’t be gone long,” Mistress Sabin said regretfully.

  “We can fend for ourselves,” Daks offered. “We’ll fill you in later if you want to get back to her.”

  Daks said it with his usual confidence, and Mistress Sabin smiled gratefully at him. She gathered a heaping plate of food to take with her and hurried out the door, leaving Ravi and Daks alone with a group of strangers who were a lot stranger than most. Strangers he already resented for not even allowing him a minute to process the fact that Daks had told him he loved him.

  Under the table, he sought out Daks’s hand, and Daks immediately threaded their fingers together. When he looked up, he caught the wizard, Lyuc, watching them with a small smile on his face before he turned to glance at Yan, his smile warming.

  Well, at least I shouldn’t have to worry about any of them trying to poach Daks. They all seem pretty firmly paired up.

  That probably should have been the least of his worries, with a pain priest sitting right across from him, but he’d take what he could get.

  “Please, help yourselves,” Yan said when no one moved after the mistress’s departure.

  Daks apparently didn’t need to be told twice. He reached for a large pitcher on the table, filled his mug, and downed half the contents without putting the pitcher down. When he caught Ravi looking at him, he said, “I was thirsty. Want some?”

  He poured for Ravi before topping his off again; then they both joined the others in filling their plates. Ravi wasn’t particularly hungry. His Vision hangover hadn’t subsided yet, and he had a lot to think about. But he knew better than to ever pass up a free meal. Who knew when the next would come. Plus, putting this conversation off as long as possible wasn’t a bad thing, except that it meant he’d have to wait that much longer before he and Daks could finish their talk.

  Their respite couldn’t last for long, though, and sure enough, only about halfway through the meal, the strange red-bearded wizard in the garish, comically patched robes speared Ravi with his gaze. “You made quite an entrance earlier. Do that often, do you?”

  The hum of murmured conversation between the others stopped dead, and Ravi caught Yan giving Lyuc an exasperated frown.

  “Not really,” Daks replied somewhat hostilely while Ravi struggled to swallow his bite of food.

  Thankfully, Lyuc turned his intense gaze to Daks, because there was something off about that man, something in the depths of his eyes that made Ravi shiver. He really wished he hadn’t allowed Yan to take his cloak now, so he could hide inside it.

  “But it has happened before?” Lyuc pressed.

  Daks pursed his lips as he leaned back in his chair and straightened his legs under the table. “Why don’t we start by you all sharing a bit more information about yourselves before we get into any of that? Shura was hurt, and Fara was obviously distracted, so as far as we’re concerned, you’re all strangers, not even counting who and what you are. Why should we trust you?”

  The former pain priest, Tas, narrowed his eyes. “If you recall, we’ve been taking quite good care of your friends for days. I healed Shura right in front of you, and Yan and Lyuc have opened their home to you—”

  He stopped when the big blond man, Girik, p
ut a hand on his arm, though not without a last disapproving harrumph that made Ravi’s lips twitch. Maybe the Brotherhood wasn’t so scary when you were up close and personal with them. They were just men, after all.

  “We understand your reticence,” Yan jumped in before anyone else could speak. “Meetings can be tense when all parties don’t know where they stand. That’s why I’d hoped we could relax over a good meal before easing into more serious topics.”

  He threw a look at Lyuc as he finished, and Ravi had to hide another smile. Despite the strangeness of their situation and the hard lessons life had taught him about trust, he thought he could learn to like these people. They hadn’t shunned him or treated him like some alien thing to be ogled. They had gifts, just like him—or probably even stranger. He wasn’t used to being on this side of the fence, but he liked to think he was a better man, more accepting of differences than his family and his fellow Rassans had been.

  “It’s okay, Daks,” Ravi murmured, and Daks turned his stubborn glare away from the others to give him a searching look. “You said to follow my feelings. These people have been kind to Shura and the mistress, and they’re showing kindness to us. We shouldn’t insult their hospitality.” He reluctantly turned back to Lyuc, though he kept his gaze trained somewhere in the vicinity of Lyuc’s chin. “That’s only the second time something like that has happened to me… that I know of anyway. But I do have other Visions and Dreams. I’m only here now because I saw your Spawn, uh, the horse, uh, man—”

  “Bryn,” Yan interjected.

  “What?”

  “Our friend, Brynthalon.”

  “Oh. Uh, okay. I saw Brynthalon in a Vision and feared for Daks’s life. But since the prophecy happened the second I saw you, I suppose that means I was meant to come here.”

  Habit made him shoot nervous glances at everyone at the table, but their faces all remained purely curious, no judgment, no fear or disgust, and he relaxed a little more.

  “And can you tell us anything about what it meant?” Lyuc asked.