Air: Merlin's Chalice (The Children of Avalon Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

would. The sky and the hawk were there just on the other side of this forest, I told myself. But fear still tickled at the back of my neck. There were thieves, wild animals, and goodness only knew what else here in the thick of the forest.
    If only I could see the sky.
    As my fears increased, my footsteps began to speed up. I moved faster and faster. I had to get through the wood. I had to escape from these oppressive trees, which were always reaching out, ready to grab me at any moment.
    I had to find the sky.
    I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could. There had to be an end to this. There had to be a break in the trees somewhere.

Chapter Six
    H iyah!” Galloping hooves raced toward me from behind. “Hiyah!”
    I turned and stood frozen with shock. I knew I should get out of the way. I was about to get run down, but my legs wouldn’t move. My mind refused to believe that what I saw was real.
    A knight in full, gleaming armor was bearing down on me, his horse coming at me at a full gallop.
    I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. I couldn’t breathe.
    The knight continued to race toward me, his hand raised above his head clutching an enormous sword. He came closer, faster, raising his sword even higher, ready to strike me down.
    I was dead. There was no point in moving because I was dead.
    I just stood in the middle of the path as my death came closer and closer. At the last second, I closed my eyes and clutched my arms against my body.
    The heat and the smell of horse invaded all of my senses. Galloping hooves came within inches of me. My hair flew in the gust of air. And then he was behind me.
    He had gone straight past!
    I spun around and watched as, with a great war cry, the knight struck his sword into the side of an oak tree. The sword wobbled up and down with the force of the blow as the knight let it go. He continued past until his horse slowed down enough to safely turn about and return.
    Ignoring his sword, the knight rode straight up to me. “You all right? Tell me you aren’t hurt, wot?”
    “What?”
    “What, wot?” replied the knight.
    “I…I’m sorry?” I looked past the knight at the tree where his sword was still waving gently.
    “I’ve just saved your life; have you nothing to say?” the knight said, puffing out his chest.
    “You have?”
    The knight pulled up the visor on his helmet to stare at me.
    Behind the shining metal were pale brown eyes crinkled with the lines of one who had spent a great deal of time smiling.
    “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t…I mean, I hadn’t…er, thank you,” I said. Remembering my manners, I dipped into a deep curtsey. “Thank you, good knight, for saving my life.”
    The knight gave me a small bow from atop his horse.
    “Er…” I began, glancing back at the sword. “May I ask exactly what you saved me from?”
    “What?”
    “What was it that you saved me from?”
    “Oh. Er, that, er…” The knight gestured randomly toward the tree. “That, er, oak.”
    “The oak?”
    “Yes. It was reaching out toward you and, er, oh, hobnobbit!”
    A laugh burst out of me, releasing all the fear I’d pent up just a moment ago. For a minute there, I hadn’t been entirely certain that the knight was in his right mind, but clearly even he couldn’t keep up the pretense.
    There had been nothing attacking me.
    He laughed in great guffaws, leaning back so far that for a minute I was afraid he would lose his balance and fall off of his horse.
    The horse sidled a little, making the knight sit up straight again and pull on the reins to control it.
    “Well, now you’ve found me out, wot?”
    “What?”
    “I say, you’ve… oh, never mind.” He turned his horse once again and rode back to the tree. Grasping onto the handle of his sword, he gave a tug. It didn’t budge. He pulled hard, and then again, so hard that his horse began to sidestep away.
    “Fiddlesticks!” He turned back to me and said, “I say, do you think you could give me a hand,