The Spell of Rosette - Kim Falconer [38]
Rosette nodded, still gazing at the horse as Clay moved him over to the fence, re-tying his bedroll and duffle bag onto the back of the saddle. He pulled the guitar over his head, strumming a few chords and breaking into a spontaneous song about travelling with a beautiful witch, before strapping it to the saddle as well. Rosette handed him her staff but kept her backpack on. Once Clay was up on Dozer, Rosette grabbed a handful of white mane, stepped on a fence rail and mounted behind him.
‘Great view,’ she exclaimed.
Clay took a deep breath as she slipped her arm around his waist. He glanced down at her long slender fingers over his belly. ‘Better than I’d imagined.’
It took a bit of urging to get Dozer’s head out of the oat-tasselled grass and into a smart trot down the middle of the road. Once in motion, Drayco loped beside them.
‘So how did it happen?’ Clay asked.
‘Pardon?’
‘How did you bond with a wild temple cat from the Dumarkian Woods?’
‘That’s a day I’ll never forget for as long as I live,’ she sighed.
Rosette closed her eyes and let the memory fill her mind.
Are you going to tell him? Drayco asked.
‘Do you mind?’
I like hearing my story.
Rosette smiled. ‘Me too.’
‘This is really weird, Rosette. It’s like listening in to half a conversation. Can he understand you aloud as well as your thoughts?’ Clay asked as he urged Dozer around some large potholes in the road.
‘Either way he hears me, I hear him.’
‘Does he understand what I say too?’
‘Sure, even with your accent.’
‘What accent?’
Rosette laughed. ‘That accent, country boy.’ She gave his belly a pinch.
Clay twisted around to catch her eye. ‘I assure you I do not have an accent.’
‘That’s fine if you think so, but don’t be surprised if the other bards make mention of the way you say your a’s and e’s and r’s.’
‘They’ll shut up when they hear me play. I’m quite decent.’
‘That’s good to know. Now, are you ready for this tale or not?’
‘Fire away.’
‘It happened five years ago. I was sixteen.’
‘Really? That means we’re the same age.’
‘We are?’
‘I am turning twenty-one after midwinter solstice, in the month of the Water-bearer.’
‘Well, I’m before you. I turned in the summer, in the month of the Twins.’
‘Perfect. I love older women.’ He took both reins in his left hand and gave her thigh a squeeze.
Rosette nudged him with her shoulder. ‘Settle down. We aren’t going to have any escapades today. We’d never get there on time.’
‘Oh, I can be quick if I have to.’
Rosette laughed. ‘I’m sure you can.’ She leaned forward. ‘Clay Cassarillo,’ she whispered, feeling the curve of his ear against her lips, ‘speed doesn’t much impress me.’
He laughed. ‘I can take my time. I’m quite decent at that as well.’
‘Also good to know,’ she said.
‘And I’ll mind my manners.’
‘You best do so. This is not just a walking stick I carry.’
‘It isn’t?’
‘I train with the sword.’
‘You’re going to the right place then. Sword Master An’ Lawrence is the best.’
‘So I’ve heard.’
Dozer clopped across a wooden bridge and ploughed tirelessly up the next hill, as Drayco scampered through the creek coursing for water rats.
‘It was five years ago?’ Clay encouraged her to continue.
‘I was living with my mentor on the edge of the Dumarkian Woods.’
‘Did you grow up there?’
‘Not really.’
‘Where were your parents?’
‘It’s complicated. I left home rather suddenly.’ It couldn’t hurt to tell him some version of the truth. He was just an apprentice bard and this would be good practice for getting her story down. She hadn’t counted on his persistent questions, though.
‘Why?’
Silence.
‘Really,’ Clay repeated. ‘Why did you leave your home suddenly?’
‘If you must know, I’d had a fight with my mother.’
‘About what?’ Clay asked.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘I think it does.’
‘It doesn’t.’
‘If it led to you bonding with a temple cat, it does.’
Rosette sighed into the back of his neck. ‘Oh, all right.