The Sentinel Mage

CHAPTER SIX





JAUMÉ WOKE TO rain on his face. For a moment he lay blinking, and then memory flooded back: Rosa’s scream, the smell of Mam’s blood. He sat up and rubbed his face, knuckling his eyes, trying to push the memory out of his head. But no matter how hard he rubbed, he couldn’t erase the memory of Rosa swinging from Da’s grip. He heard her scream above the rain.

Rain.

Thirst kicked in. He lifted his face to the sky, opening his mouth.

Once the gulping thirst had eased, Jaumé started walking, staying in the fir forest, paralleling the road. His pace was slow. Hunger cramped his belly.

Soon he’d reach Neuly, and in Neuly there’d be food.

But what if the curse had passed him while he slept? What if Neuly’s water was already poisoned? What if—?

Jaumé froze as a man on horseback came around a bend in the road ahead of him. He crouched low behind a tree trunk, scarcely daring to breathe.

Horse and rider drew closer. The horse was ambling, its hooves splashing in the puddles. The man sat relaxed, the hood of his brown woolen cape pulled over his head.

Should I warn him?

Fear kept Jaumé hidden as horse and rider came abreast of him. What if the man was like Da? What if the curse had already taken him?

The traveler began to whistle despite the rain, a cheerful, jaunty tune.

It was the whistling that decided him. Jaumé stepped out from behind the tree. “Wait!”

The rider halted. He turned in his saddle, pushing the hood back. He had a farmer’s face, tanned and weather-beaten, jovial.

“Girond has the curse,” Jaumé said. “Don’t go there.”

The farmer laughed. “Away with you, boy. Find someone else to frighten.”

“It’s true.”

The man shook his head. “The curse is a tale, boy.”

“It’s true,” Jaumé insisted, an edge of desperation in his voice. “They’re killing each other.”

The farmer’s face lost its joviality. For a long moment he did nothing but stare at Jaumé, then he hauled on the reins, turning his horse around. He dug his heels into its flanks.

The horse reared forward.

“Wait!” Jaumé shouted. He began to run. “Take me with you!”

But the farmer didn’t slow down.