Exile's Return (Book 1) by Kate Jacoby Read Free Book Online

the leg. The grey gelding’s near front hoof was tender to the touch but not badly injured. Finnlay straightened up and looked the horse straight in the eye. ‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say you did that deliberately.’
    He turned to the stream and dug around a bit to find some clay mud and moss. Packing it into his palms, he smeared it over the horse’s hoof and up towards the knee. The compress would reduce the swelling and with any luck, by morning Finnlay could be on his way again. But … on his way where?
    He looked around the clearing then back up the way he had come. Even from here, he could only just pinpoint where the sun was and soon it would disappear behind the rise and an evening chill would descend. He should have begun building a fire – but he didn’t. Instead, he found the nearest log and sat down to think.
    When he’d left Arlie and Martha yesterday morning,they’d been travelling almost due east towards Solmoss. Now, if Finnlay had turned south at that point and kept in a near straight line, then surely by now he would be close to the southern border of Shan Moss. Of course, if he’d not gone in a straight line he could be just about anywhere! And it was entirely his own fault. Arlie had warned him about the forest but Finnlay had been so sure about that touch – so certain … of course, he had mentioned nothing to Arlie and Martha about it. It would not do to get them all excited over what could turn out to be nothing. When he’d left them to travel to the Gathering on their own, Finnlay had merely told them he had something he needed to take care of and that he would rejoin them later. In his haste, he had hardly noticed where he was entering the forest, nor which direction the maze of hills and valleys would take him.
    Then the touch had gone – and no matter how hard he’d tried, he’d not been able to resurrect it. So now the question was, had he imagined it? Or, despite all logic and sense, had his brother really come back? Was he somewhere in this damded forest, on his way home? Or was he still wandering the lands of the southern continent, determined never to return to Lusara?
    Finnlay glanced up at his horse as it stood silently by the stream edge. ‘Why don’t you Seek him out, eh? If I told you what he looked like, could you find him?’
    It was, of course, pointless talking to the horse but – suppose he’d been right. Suppose, for one moment, Robert was somewhere in Shan Moss, that he’d come back and was even now, close enough for Finnlay to find him. Would that make it any easier for Finnlay to convince him? There was no certainty at all that Robert would even speak to him.
    With a sigh, Finnlay played idly with the twigs in his hands. Marcus was dead. There was no getting around that. Marcus was dead and the Enclave needed a new leader. Even now they were all gathering together in preparation for Standing the Circle. Arlie and Martha were getting closer by the day – and that was exactly what Finnlay should be doing right now instead of chasing his tail in a cold and friendlessforest, looking for a brother who was probably not even there.
    But he’d had to try. With Marcus gone, Finnlay knew the Enclave was in deep trouble. Now more than ever they needed a strong leader – and when he’d felt that touch, the touch of his brother’s presence two nights ago, he’d had no choice but to follow it. If he could just find Robert and convince him to Stand the Circle then perhaps, after all this time, the Enclave would finally be able to fulfil its destiny. It was too much of a coincidence: Marcus dying ten days ago – then Finnlay finding Robert (it seemed) back in Lusara. Surely the gods had intended it – surely it was time for Robert to put aside his objections to the Enclave and join them fully. Surely …
    Surely the last person Robert would ever listen to was his younger brother. No, Finnlay sighed again, and came to his feet. This was a hopeless