The Changespell Saga by Doranna Durgin

Author:Doranna Durgin [Durgin, Doranna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horse, horses, shapeshifter, shapechanger, fantasy, magic, wizard, spells, adventure, contemporary, love, young adult
ISBN: 9781611385496
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Published: 2015-08-31T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Dayna sighed, shifting in the saddle and thinking about how fast things could happen. Jess had been taken, Jess had been gone... Jess had come back. Then she’d taken Arlen to the farm where she’d been held—but the place was, not surprisingly, abandoned.

Not for long. Now a peacekeeper team escorted Dayna’s team to the farm, with Jess to show them the way and Carey to help them deal with the horses. She did wish Sherra’s guard Katrie was there—Dayna had come to trust her uncommon good sense.

After all, even if Arlen’s speculation that the rogue wizards weren’t as dangerous as they were deluded was true, they’d already proved themselves plenty capable. And what difference did it make when Willand was with them, anyway? The tag spell on those darts proved as much—never mind what had been done to Jess!

Dayna didn’t know the details of Jess’s captivity. She only knew she’d instantly divined a difference in her friend—a difference that went far beyond the appalling bruise on her face.

Even when Jess was newly human and lost on a strange world, she’d had an unshakeable inner confidence—something her new human friends had not been able to shake, despite their disbelief that Jess was not a horse. She had known certain things beyond all discussion—her Words, her Rules, and the behaviors that lay at the root of all horse/human interactions.

When Dayna looked at Jess’s face now, she saw the repercussions of shattered Rules. Her wariness, her defensiveness... her hurt. Even her friend Ander had earned a quick glare for coming up on her too fast.

Dayna didn’t want to be around when someone finally ignored those keep-your-distance signals once too often.

She stood briefly in the stirrups, tugging her twisted pant leg into submission.

“Not used to the riding, huh?” Carey asked, moving beside her on a smudgy brownish horse that reminded her of Lady. He sat in the saddle with ridiculous ease despite his permanently lingering injuries.

She just scowled at him.

“I thought so.” He gave her a crooked grin. “Wizards never learn to ride properly.”

“As if there’s usually any need,” Dayna grumbled—though she, too, understood it was best not to reveal their activity with the magical signature of so many wizards in mage-travel.

Carey’s grin faded. “Do you really think you’ll learn anything at the farm?”

“Nothing obvious,” Dayna said. “But there’s no telling what might help. If we can figure out their goal or their refinement methods, we have a better chance of creating an effective changespell.” She blinked, and made a face. “I said that like I’d lived here all my life, didn’t I?”

“That you did,” Carey agreed. They rode in silence, while Dayna watched Carey watching Jess. She’d wondered why Carey had truly come along, given his staffing crunch—but the reason, of course, was obvious.

Jess.

He caught her eye. “I can’t let anything happen to her,” he said. “Not now. There’s too much... going on.”

“Jess wanted to take that run,” Dayna said, her voice taking on an edge of impatience. “She makes her own decisions, Carey.

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