Mageborn The Line of Illeniel, Michael Manning [best ebook reader for laptop txt] 📗

I would have thought that was obvious. I never have understood why women always look for some deeper meaning in a simple statement. “I mean I understand. It’s just that what you’re trying to learn isn’t easy. You shouldn’t push yourself too hard.”

“You think I should just give up?” She sounded angry.

How did she get from apologetic to ticked off? “I never said that Penny...” I started, trying to keep my tone reasonable.

She rose from her bedroll in a smooth fluid motion. Her speed was such that she almost tripped stepping out of it. That didn’t help matters. “There’s your bed. I don’t think this conversation is going anywhere,” she bit out.

I didn’t bother responding. There was little doubt her warped sense of self would turn anything I said into another challenge to her competence. I watched her stalk over to wake up Cyhan before I lay down. I had a bad feeling sleep would be slow to come. Stubborn girl, I thought to myself.

Chapter 16

It did in fact take me quite a while to fall asleep, and no sooner had I done so than Cyhan began shaking me awake. “What?” I said groggily.

“It’s morning. Time to get moving,” he told me.

That didn’t seem possible, but the brightening sky confirmed what he said. If morning ever had an accomplice it was Cyhan. The two of them were definitely conspiring to rob me of sleep. I rose and began packing up our things. I wasn’t grumpy in the slightest. Honestly.

Penny had a nice hot pot of porridge going over the coals of our fire. My first taste told me that someone had forgotten to pack the sugar and spices. I neglected to mention that to her. After last night I doubted it would improve her mood.

“How’s the porridge?” she asked. It wasn’t clear if she was addressing me or everyone in general.

“It’s passable,” Marc answered.

“I’ve had worse... once,” Cyhan said.

“Sorry, I forgot to pack the seasonings,” she said apologetically.

“It’s not bad. I rather like it,” I said, hoping to make her feel better.

“Thanks for the sarcasm, it’s bad enough without you being a smart ass about it,” she glared at me as she said it.

My mouth dropped open in shock. I truly hadn’t been trying to be sarcastic. I looked at Marc for support; clearly I was being wrongly accused. He just shook his head at me in disappointment. Cyhan started chuckling under his breath. At least someone’s in a better mood, I thought sourly.

Marc offered to help me clean out the bowls when we were done. Since there was no stream nearby we had to use sand from a dry gully close by. “You didn’t listen to a thing I said yesterday did you?”

“I didn’t think it was too bad,” I lied. “No sense in being cruel about it in any case.”

“Wrong,” he stated.

“So I should have insulted the food? Like Cyhan did?” Now that I thought back, she had actually apologized after he had said that to her.

“No, she’s already mad at you. You should have stuck with a neutral response like I did. I don’t think you have what it takes to pull off something like what he said.”

“Well if being a jerk makes you more of a man then too bad... I’d rather be...,” my words tapered off. I could see no good in finishing that sentence.

Marc was too quick to waste the opportunity, “Don’t start looking at me like that! Just because I’ve joined the clergy doesn’t mean I like men!” He was laughing as he said it.

I started to reply with something terribly witty and clever, but I was saved by a distraction. Not that it was a good one. I stopped and closed my eyes so I could focus better. I could sense several men in the distance, at the very limit of my range. When we had left Washbrook I had been able to sense things almost a mile off, if I put an effort into stilling my thoughts. Now I found that a half a mile was the best I could manage.

“Hey don’t be like that!” Marc said, “...Mort?”

“Give me a second, there’s someone out there,” I held up my hand. I strained to extend my senses further but it was no use. The figures, there were perhaps five or six of them, moved even further away until I could no longer detect them. I opened my eyes to look at my friend.

“Well? What was that about?” he asked.

“There were people on the road, about a half a mile that way,” I pointed in the direction we would soon be traveling.

“Other travelers… or someone waiting for us?”

“No way to know. Let’s go tell the others,” I replied.

Cyhan and Penny were sparring when we walked back. This time Penny was more cautious, but the results were the same. No matter how quickly she moved and struck she couldn’t touch the older warrior. She wasn’t giving him a chance to throw her now however.

“You might want to save your energy,” I told them.

“Did you sense something?” Cyhan asked as they broke apart.

I explained what I had discovered. “It could be other travelers,” I said as I finished.

“It could be,” he replied as he began checking his weapons. “But we’ll be working on the assumption that there’s an ambush ahead.”

“Perhaps we could leave the road... circle around this part,” Penny suggested.

“Not practical,” Marc spoke up. “I’ve traveled this road many times. The terrain narrows at this part of the road. If we try to go around we’ll have to go several days out of our way,” he gestured at the hills which rose up steeply ahead of us. “I’m not even sure how to get back to the road if we try.”

“Better that than dead,” Cyhan said. “I know the wilderness to the north. If we circle the northern hills we’ll come to a deep gorge. It will take us tens of miles following it before we can exit,