SHIELD OF THE GODDESS

CHAPTER FOUR

JENAN

THE SAME MORNING THAT SHALA SAILED south toward Feros to find her destiny, a boy walked west toward the same city in search of his.

Jenan of Pelas guided an ox that pulled a two-wheeled cart. He was tall for a boy of sixteen winters, with long raven hair and amber eyes, and though he looked thin next to the huge beast, he was its master. Its eyes followed the boy’s hand gestures, and it went where he willed it to go.

The cart held a precious cargo: bundles of wool from his family’s flock, fresh from spring shearing. His family had been shepherds for generations, and lived in a high meadow where they had thirty ewes and a ram. Pelas, the town closest to their home, was a day behind now. The journey to Feros would take another nine ninedays, but it would be worth it. Selling the wool there would earn enough to support his family for two years.