A Templar's Gifts by Kat Black

Author:Kat Black [Black, Kat]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-54-533259-0
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2011-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

We rode blind, and my thoughts raced. I had never been totally without contact to the power. It was a helpless feeling. Thinking that at any moment we might be led off a cliff had my insides heaving. But there were advantages as well. Without my eyes to distract me, I heard things I might not have otherwise.

The men spoke in soft tones, yet their words came to me clearly. Aine and I had stumbled across the site of a secret meeting. They thought us spies, sent from the camp of an enemy.

The journey was long, much of it up slopes and through forest. And through it all, I felt no life from anything around me. I rode in a daze with Aine slumped against me. Exhausted, she had fallen asleep. I held her close so that she would not topple off. Time passed slowly. I had no idea what they meant to do with us. But it mattered not, there was nothing I could do about it.

Higher in the mountains the air grew colder. When I felt Aine’s shiver against my chest, I wriggled my plaid free and draped it around the both of us. She slept on, oblivious, and I spent the time trying to solid up my shielding.

Near midday, we rode into a flat patch and the horses stopped. I’d been drifting in and out and came awake as Aine did.

“What’s happening?” she asked, her anxiety building and taking mine with it. Men were dismounting around us, their conversations muffled.

“I don’t know, but we’ve arrived wherever we are meant to.” The snap of twigs announced the approach of someone and I pressed my legs to hers in warning.

“Ye won’t be needing these,” he said. The voice was the blank one. I squinted to see what he looked like as the covering over my eyes came free. He was a tall, ruddy-skinned man with dark hair and eyes. As he stared at us I had the feeling he was taking my measure. “To those who don’t know them, the mountain paths are treacherous. So I’d forget the notion to run ere it comes to ye.” I stared at him, trying to see what it was that made him so different, so silent. I found nothing.

It was fully dark and we were at the center of a gathering. Tents were pitched at various spots. A large fire glowed brilliantly nearby. Across its span a great spit stretched and a brace of hare was roasting. My stomach rumbled.

We were untied and helped from the horse. Aine sidled close to my side and took my hand in hers. I was glad of it, for the fear had returned as did my awareness of more men around us. Out of the loop of my plaid Aine began once again to shiver.

“Can I have our pack?” I asked the man. “We’re cold.”

“Haul up next to the fire,” the blank one said. “We need to go through it first.”

He disappeared into one of the larger tents, leaving us behind on our own.

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