Healer (Brotherhood of the Throne Book 2) Read online

  Brenna clutched the pillow to her chest, staring at the top of the ladder. What had happened? She and Kane had kissed, finally, and then he’d bolted. Her eyes narrowed. And he’d said he shouldn’t have let it get that far, as if it was up to him to decide that for her. She threw the pillow back to her mattress and sighed, feeling deflated. She made her own decisions so it wasn’t up to him.

  Brenna smoothed the blankets over both mattresses, her hand lingering on Kane’s. They would be living in very close quarters for quite some time, both here and on the road. Yesterday he’d called her a catalyst and said they had to follow her path - she had enough time to help him realize that he was part of her path.

  Kane was sitting at the table when Brenna stepped off the ladder from the loft. She nodded at Laurel and picked up a mug from the table and poured herself some tea. Kane tensed as she sat down beside him and Brenna faltered, slightly, as she grabbed a piece of bread and some cheese from the platter in front of her. He couldn’t even sit beside her now? Apparently he needed a lot of convincing. She squared her shoulders - might as well start now.

  “Kane, I was hoping you’d come and meet my teacher, Mistress Utley,” Brenna said with a cheerfulness she didn’t feel. “She’s very sweet, but quite elderly and there are a few things around her house that need fixing.” She fixed him with a bright smile.

  “Yes, of course.” Kane kept his head lowered, not meeting her eyes. “I’d be pleased to help.”

  “Thank you,” Brenna said. “We’ll leave as soon as we’ve finished eating.” She took a big bite of bread and chewed it slowly, her appetite for it gone. This might be harder than she’d thought.

  All the way to Mistress Utley’s, Brenna kept up a constant chatter about her life for the past few months. She deliberately kept the conversation light and impersonal with descriptions of the unusual properties of Cloud Lake and the small town that sat beside it, the townsfolk she’d met, and her lessons with Mistress Utley. She finally gotten a smile out of Kane when she described how she’d rushed to farmer Poskitt’s in the middle of a cold February night thinking his wife was struggling in childbirth, only to find out it was his prize milker, Lorraine, who was in distress.

  “It turns out Mistress Poskitt’s name is actually Agnes, which everyone shortens to Aggie,” Brenna explained.

  “I can see why you’d be confused.” Kane smiled when she turned to him. “Lorraine is a pretty name.”

  “Not that I’m any judge of cows, but Lorraine did seem a handsome animal. And, Aggie, Mistress Poskitt, told me she was named her after her dead great-aunt.” Brenna smiled slyly at him. “But not having known the aunt, I can’t say whether there’s a resemblance or not.” She grinned when he laughed. She was feeling that they were almost back to normal, when Kane stopped laughing and looked away. The rest of the trip was spent in silence, Brenna furiously trying to think of how she could make Kane feel at ease when he could barely even look at her.

  “You’ve a nice young man, Brenna,” Mistress Utley said. They were taking a short break and both had gravitated to the window. Kane was outside, stripped to the waist in the warm spring afternoon, muscles flexing as he swung the axe and chopped wood. “It was kind of him to offer to do some chores, but I did tell you my grandson comes over every second day to look out for me, didn’t I?”

  “I recall you saying that, yes,” Brenna said. “But I wanted Kane to meet you, and I wanted you to meet him.” Her smile faltered. “And I’m not sure he would have come just for me.” She turned to Mistress Utley and grinned. “Besides, he does look rather nice out there, doesn’t he?”

  Mistress Utley laughed and patted her arm, turning away from the window. “Back to work, young lady, if you want to finish your studies in two weeks.”

  “But I need to finish them in one week.” Brenna followed Mistress Utley back to the worktable. “Much as I’ve enjoyed Lakeview and appreciate everything you and Laurel have done for me, I must leave as soon as possible.”

  “And why is that?” Mistress Utley asked. “Does it have anything to do with our young man’s arrival? I thought you said he was going to stay with you and Laurel for a while.”

  “Kane brought some news,” Brenna said. “News I’ve been waiting for forever. I have to leave.”

  “I can see it’s very important,” Mistress Utley said. “And I won’t pry, but if you’ve been waiting forever an extra week or two shouldn’t hurt.”

  “You sound like Kane,” Brenna said. “But now that I finally have the news, I have to go.”

  “I understand,” Mistress Utley said. “But there are some things you just can’t rush. Learning magic is one of them.” She pinned Brenna with a sharp look. “And that young man out there is another. He’ll come around when he’s ready.”

  “But, I …” Brenna stopped at the serious look on her teacher’s face. She’d just met Kane, how could she know anything about him? And she hadn’t been planning to coerce him- she simply wanted to make him see that she was right about them – that they belonged together.

  “I’m an old woman, Brenna. I’ve lived a lot of years and one thing I’ve learned is that you can’t force people to you, but you can force them away. Let him come to his own decision, in his own time.” Mistress Utley smiled at her. “I’ve a feeling that one will be worth the wait.”

  In the next week Kane and Brenna settled into a quiet routine. He’d walk with her to her lessons with Mistress Utley, after which he’d usually do some solitary sword work before exercising both Runner and Blaze, then he’d head back to meet up with Brenna.

  They spent afternoons in the mountain meadows, with Brenna showing him which plants to harvest as she stocked up on healing supplies. As they worked, she told him of visions she’d been having.

  “An exodus from both Comack and Kingsreach?” he asked in alarm. “This year?”

  “Yes,” Brenna confirmed. “At least that’s what Laurel and I believe based on the details in the visions.” She reached out and cut the stalk of a plant and carefully placed it in her bag.

  “Why did you wait until now to tell me?” Kane asked. How could she behave as though nothing was wrong? They should have been on the road before now with this news.

  “Duchess Avery has been warned and Laurel assures me that steps will be taken to ensure it’s not the disaster I saw.”

  “But Brenna,” Kane gripped her arm until she looked at him. “This has to be stopped.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Brenna snapped. “Do you think …” she paused and stared at him. Then she shrugged his hand off her arm and backed away until he was no longer touching her. “You really think that I would just allow this to happen? That I could blithely carry on knowing that hundreds of people would sicken, that many would die, trying to escape what must be horrible conditions? I heard their cries in my visions. I know the depths of that misery. You really think I could ignore that?” She glared at him and Kane shook his head.

  “No,” he said. “But there must be something we can do to stop it?”

  “It’s already been done,” Brenna said. “Duchess Avery has been warned. We don’t know the reason for the flight so we can’t stop that, but Aruntun is prepared for the refugees.”

  “Is that enough?” Kane asked.

  “Laurel thinks so,” Brenna said. “Once she told Duchess Avery, my visions stopped. Laurels says that’s because there is a different outcome.”

  “Oh. Good,” was all Kane could say. Brenna had already resolved this, and he was relieved that she had. She did understand what was at stake and that she had a role to play. But why had he thought the worst of her? He wanted her to trust him, so why did he find it so hard to trust her?

  The days after that, Kane tried to show Brenna that he did trust her, but he wasn’t sure how successful he was. She’d been hurt by his mistrust, and he couldn’t blame her. As well, the awkwardness from the kiss never went away, at least not for him, although Brenna acted as though it had never happened. He
wondered if she’d decided she didn’t care for him, not after he’d shown so little faith in her. That would be for the best, for both of them, as he often reminded himself.

  Kane mounted Runner and joined Brenna who already sat atop Blaze. They had just a few more days before they left for Smithin, not nearly enough time to get her travel ready. He had to worry about Laurel as well, who had jumped at the chance to travel south with them. Laurel had promised to get some serious riding in before they left, but she’d been so busy packing up the house that Kane wasn’t sure she’d have time. Two women not used to the road - it could be a very long trip.

  “There won’t be any inns to stay at you know,” Kane said as Runner pulled even with Blaze.

  “I know,” Brenna said. “I’ll be fine.”

  “That means no hot baths.” He ignored Brenna’s glare. “Last time we traveled you needed a hot bath every night.” He was being a little harsh, but it was still early spring and he’d only made this trip once before. Who knew what the road was like now that the snow was gone?

  “Not at the end,” Brenna said. “At the end I was fine.”

  “You were not fine,” Kane retorted. “I practically had to carry you across the border.”

  “That wasn’t from riding,” Brenna said. “That was because I was using too much magic. It won’t happen this time.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Are we going to be chased?” she asked. “No? Then I won’t need to use so much magic. Besides, that’s been the whole point of being taught by Mistress Utley.”

  “I suppose,” Kane said. “Do you think Laurel will be all right?”

  “Laurel,” Brenna said. “Will do anything to get to Smithin to see her children. They always attend the spring festival of Ush together. She was worried she’d miss it this year, but now she thinks there is just enough time to make it.”

  This was the first time Laurel had been away from her two children - seventeen year old Russel and fifteen year old Tressa - for so long. Laurel hadn’t come out and said it but Kane was sure she’d been assigned to watch over Brenna and see that she learned how to manage her magic. He remembered Avery and Neal when they’d first met at the border - neither one of them had looked comfortable at finding an unknown witch with so much power. It must be a good sign that Laurel was willing to let them leave.

  “How do you feel?” he asked Brenna after an hour of riding. It was a sunny day, and the trees were starting to bud. The road had wound around the lake and now they were heading towards the town. Blaze had spent a quiet few months in a barn – it was time to make sure she was reacquainted with a town and other horses and carts.

  “Fine.” She grinned at him. “But I always think that until I get off.”

  “So get off and then tell me,” he said. She looked at him in surprise before she laughed pulled up on her reins and slid to the ground.

  “I’m fine,” she said, then laughed and disappeared.

  Brenna’s horse snorted when her reins were dropped.

  “I agree, Blaze, invisible people are so tiring,” Kane said.

  “We are not,” came the response from on his left. “Just for that, I’m going to try something new.”

  Kane looked around, trying to figure out where she was. Blaze’s reins moved and then to his surprise, the horse disappeared. And snorted again, louder this time. Not a good sign.

  “Kane, I did it,” Brenna shouted above the sounds of a distressed horse.

  “You did, but Brenna.” He kept his voice calm to avoid further spooking the horse. “Make Blaze visible. Now,” he said firmly. He could hear Blaze stamping her feet and Runner pranced nervously in response.

  Both Brenna and her horse popped back into view, and Kane slid off Runner and grabbed the other horse’s reins.

  “It’s all right Blaze,” he crooned to the frightened horse. He ran his hand down her neck until her skin stopped twitching.

  “What were you thinking?” His voice was calm, but he was furious. “What would happen if she ran? Would she become visible? Could we track her? What if she’d hurt herself?”

  “Oh,” Brenna said. “Sorry, I didn’t think far enough ahead. I just thought of it and decided to try it.”

  “Exactly,” Kane said. “You don’t think things through. You can’t just try out spells. It’s too dangerous.”

  “I said I was sorry,” Brenna said. “I didn’t know the horse would react like that.” She hung her head. “I wasn’t even sure I could do it.”

  Kane sighed and handed Blaze’s reins back to Brenna. “Well now you know,” he said. “And I can see that it could be very useful, but you need to practice that in a safe way. With both horses.”

  “All right,” Brenna said. She tugged on Blaze’s reins and started walking back down to town. “I’ll practice with them. And I’ll let you know if I have any other ideas for using magic.”

  “Thank you,” Kane said. “We may not want Laurel to know you can do this. I’m not sure we should trust her with all of your talents. Do you think Mistress Utley gave her full reports on your progress?”

  “I don’t think so,” Brenna said. “Mistress Utley is a stickler for students trusting her. I’m sure she’s told Laurel that I have control over my power, but did she tell her I can control the weather, or,” Brenna looked over at him. “Make a horse invisible? I don’t think so.”

  “Can you?” Kane asked in surprise. “Control the weather?”

  “Yes, for a short time. Enough to send it somewhere else, although Mistress Utley councils that I must have a care for whomever unexpectedly gets that weather.”

  “I’m impressed,” Kane said. And he was. Already he could see the possibilities for battle. “How accurate are you when you redirect it?”

  “Not very,” Brenna said. “And so far I’ve only dared try to manage gentle breezes and small snow falls. I don’t think even Mistress Utley realized how much restraint I was using.”

  “Good,” Kane said. “You definitely should practice that, just not around Laurel.”

  Brenna and Kane left Poskitt’s barn after tending to Runner and Blaze and walked back to town. There was a horse tied up outside Laurel’s house.

  “Look,” she pointed to Kane. “Maybe Laurel’s received some replies to her messages already.”

  Immediately after deciding to travel with them, Laurel had sent off a flurry of messages. Brenna wasn’t sure how quickly messages traveled, but she knew Laurel was eager for replies.

  The horse and tack were of much better quality than the usual message rider. The horse was a dappled gray, with a black mane and tail that gleamed in the sun. The saddle and bridle looked worn, but finely crafted, with tiny scrolls worked into the leather along the smooth seat.

  Brenna stepped past the horse and up to the door of the house, Kane close behind her. She could feel him tense as they entered and found Laurel in conversation with a young man. Laurel smiled at something he said before turning and rising.

  “There you two are,” Laurel said.

  Both Brenna and Kane removed their jackets and hung them on pegs by the door, as Laurel stepped over to them, beaming.

  “Brenna, Kane, I’d like you to meet the grandson of someone who was a very dear friend of mine. Eamon Spence, this is Brenna Lightfingers and Kane Rowse.” Laurel smiled fondly at Eamon. “Eamon’s grandmother was one of my teachers, Brenna, much like I’ve been teaching you. She is a fine Seer and a wonderful person.”

  Eamon bowed formally, smiling at Laurel, but Brenna could see how his eyes darted first to her and then to Kane, before settling back on her.

  “It’s an honor to meet you, Mistress Seer,” he said before nodding to Kane. “And you Master Rowse.”

  He had very nice teeth, Brenna noticed. His wavy chestnut hair was longer than the fashion in Kingsreach and almost as long as hers, and he’d tied it back with a black ribbon that matched his vest. His shirt was crisply white, and looked like he’d ridden in it no more than a few minutes.
Black breeches were tucked into shiny black riding boots.

  “Call me Brenna,” she said and smiled. She took his arm and steered him back to his chair, ignoring Kane, who had tensed up behind her. She frowned for a moment. Kane couldn’t even trust her with a friend of Laurel’s? It was obvious Eamon was here to see her, and really, she had no reason to be anything other than polite and friendly. It’s not as though she was going to marry him. Brenna sat down in the chair beside Eamon and Laurel sat on the bench. Kane, with a brief nod to all, grabbed his coat and left the house. Soon she heard the sounds of wood being chopped.

  “Well, Eamon, where have you come from?” Brenna asked.

  “I’m just in from Cottle, up further into the Seven Sisters, near the Shadow River,” Eamon said.

  “Oh, Kane just came through there a few weeks ago. Is it spring there yet?” Her only time in Cottle had been a sad one. She’d been with Duchess Avery and Neal Ravershaw. At her request they’d stopped at the house where Sabine Werret grew up. Brenna had wanted to let the young healer’s mother know her daughter had died without pain. All she remembered of the town itself was a group of cottages huddled in the cold and snow.

  “It’s spring there now,” Eamon said. “The passes are almost clear, and the ice on the Shadow River broke a few days before I left. In fact, that was the sign of spring I was waiting for. Once the ice cracks like that, day or night, the whole village gets outside and has a little celebration.” He smiled.

  The door opened and Kane strode in, went immediately to the basin and washed his face and hands.

  “Kane,” Brenna turned to him as he wiped his face with a dry cloth. “Eamon’s from Cottle. Isn’t that where you stayed one night on your way here?”