Free Jadde - The Fragile Sanctuary by Clive Ousley Page B

the inner feeling would light up and I guessed what someone would say – and
I was always right.  I lived that way until I married my Desira. I told her and
she kept the secret. Then Jadde blessed us with Seara. We watched her closely .
. .’
    Seara exploded excitedly. ‘And then when I
was young I healed my mother after she sliced her arm with a flint.’
    Halle caught a little of Seara’s
excitement. ‘And we knew to keep it unannounced. Sometimes when she was a mere
infant Seara couldn’t muster the power to heal. It was hard because people
around us fell ill some even died, perhaps unnecessarily. We feared the Brenna
and their cruel rules.’
    Seara took up the account. ‘Then I learnt
after many seasons to summon the power at will. I healed my mother when her hearing
began to fail. Secretly I healed a few illnesses by stroking people in
sympathy.’
    Malkrin remembered the kind child who
visited the sick.
    ‘But I couldn’t heal too frequently or
people would have guessed. It was sad and I felt bad, very bad when people
suffered.’
    ‘We helped her come to terms with the reality.’
Halle declared proudly. ‘Then the boar gored me and Seara cured the wound and I
had to pretend to have a serious limp . . . we are ashamed to reveal this Sire.’
    ‘All that time I had concern for you and
helped your family – and you had been fine ?’ Malkrin was astonished but
realised the implications. Josiath had been right. There was hidden highsense
amongst the people.
    ‘Then I was so mad at your sentence that I
forgot the limp and Priest Helm Rantiss noticed.’
    The priest will face an accounting, Malkrin
thought angrily.
    ‘We hid with mistress Cabryce the same
night you were in the cells.’ Seara added nervously.
    ‘ Cabryce is in consort with you as well ?’
Malkrin raised his voice in astonishment.
    ‘It was a terrible thing to inflict
ourselves on her when she was deep in fear for your fate. We hoped for her
sympathy and would have pleaded. We could see confusion and distrust on her
face so laid ourselves and our story before her.’ Halle looked suddenly
grimmer. ’She helped us gather our belongings with Desera’s tearful help.’
    ‘And here we are,’ Seara finished.
    Her tinkling voice cheered Malkrin as if
healing powers were in her words as well as her hands. He stood and tested his
muscles and legs.
    ‘My friends, your story is truly
extraordinary. I thank you for your help and friendship. But now we must plan
how to survive, for this is an inhospitable land we must travel.’
    Seara smiled, collected
the bowls then took them to the back of the cave. Halle sat beside him and uttered
boldly. ‘Lead the way Sire – but where to?’
    ‘We must find the Wolf-hood
bandits and seek their help.’
    ‘ Their help ,
to do what Sire?’
    ‘To locate Jadde,
and place all the injustices before her.’
    ‘But they’re
bandits and will kill us.’
    ‘I’m not so sure
they are just bandits and I don’t believe they will dispatch us.’

 
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    C abryce wiped a tear from the corner of her
eye and straightened her back. She removed both hands from the hearth’s mantle
and ran them through her hair. No one would see her sorrow. That was the end of
it – on her face at least. She would find a way of getting Malkrin back into
Edentown. In the meantime she would be a model citizen and court any suggestion
the priesthood or the Brenna made. Short of taking anyone as my betrothed of
course, she thought fiercely. Images of Guy Beartooth filled her mind with
revulsion. She hoped the Brenna would not leave their comfy castle homesteads
to involve themselves with her – a mere kinswoman. They’re too busy feeding
off the taxes extracted from the ordinary folk , she thought bitterly. Then
threw an earthenware jug against the hearth and seethed. The fire hissed in
sympathy as the honey beer evaporated.
         That felt better. She smacked her
hands together and took a deep breath,