Free Changespell Legacy by Doranna Durgin Page B

said, not even giving Jess the chance to finish asking the question. "I thought maybe to my face they'd at least be more polite about it, but they don't believe me. They think that spot in the woods is the result of some sort of spell, and they intend to figure out what it was, and who cast it. Idiots."
    Jess tried to understand what was wrong with that way of thinking. "And you think . . . what you felt . . ."
    "It's a reaction, not a result," Dayna snapped, then closed her eyes, took a visibly deep breath, and said, "I felt the raw magic sweep through here; I know it wasn't directed. But there was no backlash, so the energy had to go somewhere. If whatever happened in the woods reacted to that magic, it may well have sucked it up. Voila , no backlash, because there's no loose energy whipping around."
    "So that would mean there was no one out there casting spells at the Council," Suliya said. "But that doesn't make sense. Where does the disturbed area come from? Do you think it's coincidence that the entire Council was wiped out?"
    "I think," Dayna said, narrowing her eyes in a particularly dangerous-looking expression, "that the Council could have been attacked one way as well as the other, if the person behind the magic knew what the reaction would be. I think ," and she added dark weight to her tone, enough so Suliya winced, "that the new Council won't be able to figure out who did what if they aren't starting at the right place."
    "But you're the only one here who knows the feel of raw magic so well," Jess said. "Why—"
    "Don't ask that one, Jess," Dayna interrupted. "The answer isn't something I should say out loud."
    Silence fell between them, with Suliya looking like she might want to offer commiseration but too uncertain to follow through, and Jess thinking about what Dayna had said. Finally, looking at the jacket in Dayna's hand, Jess asked, "Do you still want to come with us as far as the . . . spot?"
    "Are you kidding?" Dayna snorted. "I'm coming with you, period."
    "Ay, what ?" Suliya said, as though it had been startled out of her, but Jess only nodded.
    Dayna glanced at Suliya, but her reply was reasonably mild in tone in spite of her obvious agitation.
    "They've made it clear they're not interested in my help here. What's the point of staying? If I'm at Anfeald, Carey will find some way to make me useful. Cesna is still in shock, from what I hear; I can at least take over her duties. And we'll be together."
    Together . . . Jaime and Dayna. The two outsiders. And Jess and Carey, who had always taken Dayna seriously. Jess understood that much unspoken, even as she knew Dayna made herself trouble to leave here unbidden.
    "It's so stupid," Dayna said, jamming her arms into the coat sleeves. "No one knows what happened, and they're not going to figure it out as long as they keep ignoring what I've told them."
    Jess tilted her head, an inquisitive equine gesture indicating something that didn't make sense. "But . . ." she said, waiting for Dayna's attention, for the look in her eye that meant she was truly listening, "Ramble was there. He knows."
    Understanding turned to impatience. "He can hardly tell us, can he?"
    Suliya stiffened, raising her head—a movement that had nothing at all to do with the conversation, and one to which Jess felt an immediate start of alarm; no horse reacted so without something to be alarmed about. "Ay!" she said. "The horses!"
    Jess whirled to the window, puzzled, but Dayna understood immediately, snarling, " Garvin! " and making the name into a curse.
    In an instant Jess understood why, recognizing the departing hindquarters of the gelding she'd ridden from Anfeald. While Suliya stood in astonishment, mouth open, Jess bounded from the window sill, stuffed her bare feet into her padded winter riding boots without tightening the side laces, and bolted out to the barn without her coat.
    There she found Suliya's horse also missing from its stall and the palomino—the only remaining