Free Briannas Prophecy by Tianna Xander

tights he wore under his gold jewel covered tunic. “How much do you want to bet that obviously anatomically incorrect codpiece is going to give him troubles?” she leaned over and whispered. They watched as the man tried to bend backward and kneel, while still moving forward under the low set pole. The giant jewel encrusted codpiece hung up on the limbo pole and pulled it from its resting-place. Amber laughed hysterically and pointed. “Do you see that, Bri, the pole is stuck to the codpiece. How is that for a sorcerer’s staff?” she whooped with laughter.
    The man staggered around and waggled his brows at the women suggestively as he held the long pole under the codpiece. The limbo judges chased him down trying to get their game prop back. After that, the rest of the contest passed quickly. The winner was Pan, which wasn’t surprising, since he won almost every year. The man was a contortionist.
    Soon, the two women became aware of the man in the red cape again. He seemed to be everywhere they looked.
    “What do you think he wants with us anyway?” Brianna shivered.
    Amber thinned her lips and looked at him through narrowed eyes. “I’ve been afraid to wander too far from you because of him. I don’t think it’s us he’s after, hon. I think he’s after you for some reason. But we shouldn’t let him spoil our fun.” Amber pouted. “Let’s see if we can ditch him.” She grabbed Brianna’s hand and pulled her through the crowd.
    “I really don’t think this is going to do much good.” Brianna cast a quick glance over her shoulder. He was out of sight for now, but how long would it take for him to catch up with them again?
    A huge swarm of people entered the room and they broke up to visit the vendor stands. Brianna lost her grip on Amber when a large group pushed her ahead of the crowd to the other side of the room. Brianna twirled around. Should she try to find Amber? Deciding to let her friend find her, she wandered over to the nearest vendor and began to look at the items for sale. The table was covered with jewelry made up mostly of turquoise and jet.
    An amber and jet necklace caught her eye and she picked it up to get a better look at it. Brianna was admiring the way it looked on her when she began to feel unsettled again. Turning slightly to the left, she held another necklace up and looked casually into the mirror and stiffened. He was behind her again.
    Brianna set the necklaces down and chose a similar, but less expensive, amber and jet bracelet to add to her magical jewelry. She waited for the colorfully dressed gypsy witch behind the table to wrap it and place it in a small bag, all the while surreptitiously watching the strange man.
    Leaving the table, Brianna moved to another, casually making a slow circuit of the room. She was afraid that if she tried to make a run for it, she wouldn’t get far. As long as she was in a crowd of people, she was safe. At least she hoped so.
    She turned furtively, hoping to see that the stranger had disappeared again. With any luck, he’d had to make a trip to the men’s room, but as usual, he was right behind her. The bizarre man would get close when she was by herself. But when she joined Amber or another of her friends here, he would back off. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this man meant to do her harm. What was it about him that made her so afraid?
    Brianna wished for her earlier bliss when she’d been ignorant of the man’s dark brooding presence. He never seemed to get real close, but he was never far from her, either. She tried to act normal, completely oblivious to his scrutiny, walking slowly from one vendor to the next, eyeing the exquisite jewelry, the wonderful colored robes, and the decorations. The hair on the back of her neck prickled with unease. She could feel him watching her.
    “Go away, go away, go away,” she chanted under her breath. Why is he following me? She closed her eyes and said a quick spell for protection, then