The Witching Trail by AK Mulford

Author:AK Mulford [Mulford, A.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter

Six

Once they caught Bern’s horse, they cajoled Prasus into riding atop the mare as the descent became steeper. The dappled gray horse was spooked, her ears turning wildly, displeasured snorts coming from her every few minutes. Bern brushed a soothing hand down her side.

“I don’t blame her,” Lysi muttered. “She probably can sense whatever that witching smoke was back there.”

The forest opened to their right, a steep drop to the ravine below. The path cut downward, the trail narrowing, but Bern kept walking beside his horse, whispering calming words to her.

“Bern,” Raffiel warned, staring at the edge of Bern’s outer boot that hung over the lip of the trail. “Go in front.”

“There’s space,” he insisted.

“Are we going to talk about what just happened?” Lysi scowled. “Or why those soldiers were summoned by that purple smoke?”

Bern leaned past the horse’s neck to stare at Lysi. “What?”

“We’ll discuss it at the camp,” Raffiel said tightly.

He still hadn’t decided how much he wanted to tell the others back at their base camp. If he asked Lysi and Prasus to keep it quiet, he knew they would. His people had encountered enough horrors. They didn’t need to worry about magic smoke that summoned Northern soldiers too. And then there was the matter of Oliver and his claims. He’d been bewitched by something. Magic? Poison? Both? Whoever that voice was in Raffiel’s head was dangerous, and he needed to get to the bottom of who she was. He still felt her clawing at his mind even hours later.

Prasus let out a cough, and the horse whinnied. She bucked, tossing her head to the side and banging into Bern. Bern’s arms flailed, circling as Raffiel darted forward to grab his arm. Their wrists locked, but Bern’s momentum was too far over the side and, with a yank, they both tumbled over the edge.

Raffiel scrambled against the scrub brush and falling debris, trying to get purchase, but the terrain was too steep. They tumbled head over heels down into the ravine, crashing into the dry river bed at the bottom. He lay on the sun-baked stones, chest heaving, as he looked back up to the top of the ravine. Panic coursed through him numbed his body. It took a few panting breaths before he realized he was uninjured. If the ravine had been only slightly steeper, it probably would’ve been a lethal fall.

Soon the valley would be filled with a roaring spring river when the snow atop the mountain melted, but barely a trickle currently snaked beneath the stones this far south.

“You alive?” Lysi’s voice echoed down from the hilltop.

Raffiel sat up, dusting himself off and glancing at Bern. His silver-haired friend looked queasy and rattled but alive.

“Yeah,” Bern grumbled, pulling a twig out of his hair.

Raffiel stumbled to his feet, instantly tripping over again as the world spun.

“Don’t bother. You’re already in the lowland,” Lysi said with a chuckle. “As much as I’d love to see you fall ass over tits again climbing back up here, probably not for the best.

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