Read Online Barrenlands (The Changespell Saga) by Doranna Durgin - Free Book Online Page B

said to Laine. He was already working at the ties on the chestnut's pack, though the animal didn't strike Laine as a pack horse in the least. "We'll hobble Ricasso; Shaffron won't stray from him."
    The horses were nervous enough that Laine never would have left one of them untied, but he didn't say so. Instead he flipped the stirrup over the saddle and tugged at the girth. When he glanced up, he discovered Shette had moved closer, and was extending a hand to pet the big black horse, murmuring some soothing nonsense.
    "No, Shette!" he cried, lunging for the reins underneath the horse's chin just as the animal laid its ears back, flinging its head up and baring its big yellow teeth. Shette stumbled back in astonishment as Laine was swept off his feet and tossed to the ground, but Ehren was swift on those long legs and left the chestnut to snatch the cheekpiece of the black's bridle— but only to stroke the beast's neck.
    The horse subsided; it lowered its head and flapped its thick mane against its neck as though nothing had happened. Shette stared at the creature, appalled— an expression she couldn't manage to tuck away before Ehren glanced at her.
    "I'm sorry," he said. "It's best if you don't try to touch them. I should have said something right away."
    "That's all right," Shette said, her voice uncertain; she glanced down at Laine as though looking for guidance. "I... imagine you had other things on your mind."
    From the ground, Laine grunted, recovering from his awkward sprawl. "This horse has given me more bruises in one evening than Spike's managed in the last month," he said wearily. "And that's saying something."
    Ehren's mouth quirked... humor, and apology as well. He leaned down to take Laine's arm.
    Laine stiffened, every muscle jerking to attention. The clash of steel and eyes watching him and blood and cries of pain and fire across his throat ... his legs gave way, his arm slipped out of Ehren's grasp, and he landed in a heap, on the ground again. Ehren hovered over him, surrounded by an aura of dark and ominous colors. Dangerous.
    "Laine?" Shette's concerned voice sounded so very far away.
    Laine took a big gasp, and blinked, and then frowned to find the earth so near again. "What the Hells?"
    "Battle shock," Ehren said, his voice sounding deliberately even, and extended a hand again— his other hand. This time Laine made it to his feet without incident, though the world around him still seemed farther away than the images and sensations in his mind. He shook his head and reached for the saddle, forcing his body to behave.
    "Just what did you run into?" Shette asked suspiciously, holding out her arms for the saddle Laine pushed at her. Ehren watched him, obviously not sure it was safe to leave Laine on his own just yet.
    "Nothing you want to get close to," Laine assured her, snapping fully back to the here and now at the thought of those sumacs. "Some kind of spell on the sumac grove. The trees were..."
    "Alive," Ehren supplied, finally turning back to the chestnut. "Slimy and alive."
    "Blackened, slimy and alive," Laine decided, seizing the chance to act like a big brother instead of a vacant-minded clod. "Their branches were like cold, oozing fingers. Just imagine, Shette... going through that grove at night, with sumac fingers reaching for your neck... in the darkness... silently...."
    "Stop it," Shette snapped.
    "And what were those bat things?" Laine said, a genuine question this time, and aimed at Ehren. "Have you ever seen anything like that before?"
    Ehren flipped the pack tarp neatly off the chestnut's load; it settled to the ground behind him. His face looked strained, Laine thought, finally noticing the details of this world again. "Not before, and never again, if I have a choice. They were quick. I'm lucky they only got me once."
    "You were bitten?" Shette asked, and hastily set the saddle on end just beneath the wagon. "Are you all right?"
    "Bitten or clawed, it's hard to tell," Ehren said,