Arrow (Knife) Read Online Free PDF Page B

time, but now she did. She had to do this, no matter what the risk to herself, because to allow her people to go to war would be a great evil.
    And because one young faery, travelling alone, might escape the Empress’s notice where a troop of armed warriors could not…
    Rhosmari closed her eyes, gathering courage. Then she stood up and said, ‘I will go. I will find Garan, wherever he is, and ask him to give us back the Stone.’
    Lady Arianllys caught her breath, and Lord Gwylan looked more grim than ever. Rhosmari tensed, afraid they would try to stop her – but then Arianllys moved forward, wrapping her arms about Rhosmari and holding her close.
    ‘May Rhys and the Great Gardener watch over you,’ she said, ‘and bring you safely to your destination. And when you have found Garan…give him our love.’
    Rhosmari dug through the chest at the foot of her bed, pushing past old shoes, half-finished journals and her medals from the Rhysian Games until she found her pack. She would need to dress warmly, for once she left the magical climate of the Green Isles there would be nothing to protect her from the harsh mainland weather. Yet there were no winter clothes in her wardrobe, so she could only bring her grandmother’s cloak and a few extra pairs of stockings, and hope for the best.
    She had none of the coins and papers that humans used for currency, but she had a pearl necklace that her father had given her. Surely it would fetch a decent price, if she could find someone willing to buy it. Lady Arianllys had supplied her with a map that showed the nearby towns on the mainland, and a small packet of food to see her through the first day of her journey. Apart from a comb and toothbrush Rhosmari could think of little else that she might need, for if all went well it should only take her a day or two to reach her destination.
    And she knew, now, what that destination would be. According to Gwylan and Arianllys, Garan had gone to the Oakenwyld, where Linden and her forty or so sister faeries lived. Rhosmari remembered Linden saying that the Oak was close to the town of Aynsbridge, and that their human friends Paul and Peri McCormick – Timothy’s guardians – lived behind the great tree in a house called Oakhaven. Surely, with that much information, the place should be easy to find.
    Rhosmari closed up the pack and cinched it tight, all the while reminding herself not to think about what she was doing. It did not matter that she was leaving behind her home, her family, and the only life she had ever known. It was not important what Fioled and the other scholars would think when she did not appear at the House of Learning tomorrow, or whether Rhosmari’s mother would guess what she had done. She dared not consider the perils that awaited her, or all the things that could go wrong. She must simply go, now, before it was too late.
    Yet her feet seemed to have put down roots into the floor, and her chest felt so tight she could hardly breathe. Rhosmari gripped the bedpost as her knees buckled. Had she lost her wits, to believe that she could get away with this? Or even that it was necessary?
    But I can’t turn back now , she told herself. No matter what happens, I have to try.
    Besides, Lord Gwylan and Lady Arianllys were waiting for her. They had warned Rhosmari that it was too windy for her to fly across the strait, and that the waves were too treacherous for her to take a boat. Nor could she Leap, because magic could not transport her anywhere that she had not set foot before. But if she met them at a certain place when she had finished packing, they would show her a safe way to the mainland.
    Rhosmari swung the pack up off the bed and hugged it in front of her, like a protective shield. She was ready now. Any moment—
    ‘Rhosmari?’
    The voice was her mother’s, husky with sleep. The latch of her door began to lift, and with a stab of panic Rhosmari Leaped, throwing her mind across miles of land and water and then