Eochaidh - Legend of the Horsemen (Book One) by Terri Reid Read Free Book Online Page A

travelers, and in order
to protect themselves they have become excellent at understanding and reading
others.”
    “Reading others?” Monty asked, his nose wrinkling in
confusion. “Like a book?”
    Meaghan turned quickly in her saddle toward Monty, and he
flinched and pulled back on his horse’s reins.   She grinned and nodded. “See, you just read me,” she said.
    “No, I moved because I didn’t want to be punched again,” he
countered.
    “But you understood that before I punch you, I turn in my
saddle,” she said. “You read my clues. Gypsies read clues like that, facial
expressions, body movements and even the way you move your eyes.”
    “Really?” Monty asked, intrigued.
    “Aye,” Jepson replied. “They can tell if you have a winning
or losing card in your hand by the way your pupils dilate.”
    “That’s like magic,” Monty said.
    “Gypsy magic,” Jepson agreed. “But they have also developed
an intuitive sense about danger and have been blessed, or some may say cursed,
with the ability to foretell the future.”
    “My mother says that’s nothing but poppycock,” Monty
replied.
    Jepson paused for a moment and looked down at the camp. Then
he shook his head slowly. “I have seen the fortunes the wise women predict come
true too many times for me to dismiss it so easily,” he said. “However, that is
an individual choice. You can believe or not.”
    Monty shrugged. “Well, it certainly can’t hurt.”
    Jepson turned to him. “Well, let’s hope it doesn’t,” he
replied, clicking to his horse and starting down the hill toward the camp.
    “This ought to be interesting,” Meaghan said, urging her
horse to follow Jepson.
    Monty nodded. “Very interesting indeed.”
    They cantered their horses down to the camp.   Meaghan felt a light frisson of magic brush
over her as she passed by one of the oaks, and Jepson, riding alongside her,
turned, met her eyes and nodded.   “You
feel it too?” she whispered.
    “Aye, it concerns me that my people have felt the need to
camp in a place of protection such as this,” he replied. “If you will allow, I
will seek out the elders of the camp and hear what they have to say.”
    “Yes, please, Jepson,” she agreed. “I’ll keep an eye on
Monty and make sure he doesn’t gamble his mother’s home away.”
    With a quiet laugh and a nod, Jepson urged his horse forward
and galloped ahead of them.
    “Where’s he going?” Monty asked.
    “To speak with the leaders of the group,” Meaghan said
casually. “What would you like to do first?”
    They rode to a makeshift hitching post and slid off their
horses.   After tying them securely, Monty
looked around the camp.   Then he lifted
his head and sniffed the air. “There are delicious smells coming from over
there,” he said, pointing toward the middle of the camp.
    “You just ate,” Meaghan replied, incredulous. “You can’t be
hungry.”
    He grinned at her. “Oh, can’t I?” he asked.
    Sighing loudly, she shook her head in amusement. “Oh, very
well, let us be led by your stomach,” she said. “But I insist that after that
voracious appetite is appeased, I would like to have my fortune read.”
    “Sounds like fun,” he agreed, lifting his arm toward her.
“Shall we proceed?”
    She slipped her hand through his arm and smiled. “Yes, my lord,”
she replied properly. “By all means.”
    Laughing, they strolled arm in arm toward the center of the
camp.   The first tent had music pouring
from it.   Peeking in, they saw a
half-dozen gyrating women dressed in colorful loose flowing skirts and
petticoats, tightly-laced black leather corsets, and white cotton blouses that
exposed their shoulders dancing to the fast-paced music.   Their hips, necks and even ankles were draped
with chains of spangles that caught the light and sent it dancing throughout
the tent. The women drummed on spangled tambourines and flirted shamelessly as
they sensuously danced near the audience of cheering