Free Nature Mage by Duncan Pile Page B

was doing when that creature attacked me. One of the men in my family wanted a reading, and I was reading the cards to see what I could pick up. It doesn’t seem to work like that though,” she added after a pause, staring into the middle distance, a small frown marring the smooth, dark skin of her forehead. “The talent comes and goes when it wants to, and I can’t just call on it when it suits me.”
    Looking back at her three new friends, her expression relaxed, and that lovely smile stretched her features and brought a sparkle to her eyes again. “Eat with me and my family tonight?” she asked.
    “Oh, we’d love to!” Emea exclaimed. “ But we’ll have to ask Jonn. He’s our guardian,” she added.
    “Well, he must come too!” Lydia insisted. “The traffic stops when it gets dark, and we’ll make a circle just off the road on the west side in the lee of these hills,” she said, indicating the raised ground sweeping up from that side of the road.
    “What’s a circle?” Emea asked.
    “You’ve never met any gypsies before?” Lydia asked, receiving three headshakes in response. “It’s what we do with our wagons when we settle down for the night, or for longer. We form a big circle and have a campfire in the middle. There’ll be music, and dancing, and lots to eat. We love to have guests.”
    “Sounds brilliant,” Gaspi said.
    “I can‘t wait,” Emea said brightly. “Thanks, Lydia. See you later, then.”
    The three friends parted from Lydia and found Jonn, who was walking not far from them, talking to a farmer taking his goods to market to get some news of the road
    “Ah, there you are,” he said as his charges appeared. “What’s got you all excited, then?”
    “We met Lydia, a gypsy girl,” Emea said enthusiastically. “She’s invited us all to dinner. You too, Jonn.”
    “Gypsies, eh?” Jonn asked eyeing Emea theatrically. “Well, we don’t want to be rude now, do we?” he said, after a long pause. Emea gave a squeal of delight, and hugged Jonn. “Okay, okay,” he said gruffly, patting her on the shoulder ineffectually.
     
    They travelled on with the rest of the traffic for the short time the light remained. As dusk fell, travel slowed and then stopped, and the sound of tent posts being hammered into the ground sounded from all around them. Most travellers hauled their wagons off the road and set up camp for the night. Covers were pulled over produce and belongings, and soon the mesmerising sight of hundreds of cook fires spread up and down the road as far as they could see. Led by Emea, they wended their way through groups of travellers, all gathered round a fire, hungry for whatever was cooking over its coals, and the scent of a hundred meals brought a flow of moisture to Gaspi’s mouth. In the darkness between fires they passed a few furtive individuals anxious not to be seen, and not a few couples breathing heavily and grunting in the darkness, but Jonn kept them to the wide pools of flickering light as much as possible, and soon came across the sight of a larger fire reflecting off the lacquered reds and greens of the gypsy caravans.
    As Lydia had said, the colourful wagons, remarkable even by firelight, were set up in a wide circle. There were ten in all, and in the middle, lounging round the fire on the ground, were twenty or thirty gypsies, dressed as flamboyantly as their vehicles were painted. Recognising them as they passed into the circle of firelight, Lydia pushed herself gracefully from the ground and came over to greet them. Emea received a warm hug, and Gaspi and Taurnil a flash of that bewitching smile. Gaspi glanced at Taurnil, whose jaw was a little loose. Now that he thought of it, he couldn’t remember Taurnil speaking since they’d met Lydia earlier that afternoon.
    One of the men lounging round the fire looked up at the new arrivals, and levered his tall, rangy frame from the ground to come over. Resting his hands on Lydia’s shoulders, he smiled at