Fell (The Sight 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and watching sheep, especially for a fairy child.
    Alina thought suddenly of King Stefan Cel Mare, of Lord Vladeran, and of the famous Order of the Griffin. She loved to hear tales of the secret Orders, but even more of the King, who in her mind was a strong and protective presence, almost the father figure she lacked. She often pictured him on a fine horse, wielding a sword to defend justice and the right. She often wondered too what it would be like to ride into battle serving a proud monarch, or one of the King’s brave liege lords in the lands beyond the forest, like Lord Vladeran.
    Alina sighed, walked over to the pile of dank straw at the back of the barn, and lay down cheerlessly in the growing darkness, drawing a thin, dirty blanket over her shivering body. On the floor beside her was more of the muslin cloth that she used to bind her upper body under her shirt, to help conceal the fact of her sex from the outside world. It made her almost ashamed to be a girl, let alone the child of goblins.
    She was very cold, but the herb drink was working warmth through her veins, and bringing that familiar headiness that made her eyelids feel like leaden weights. Alina gave a loud yawn, wondering if the mixture really protected her from the spirits of the forest, and lay back, trying to keep her hazel eyes open. She was wondering fearfully what sleep would show her this time, or if the goblins would come in the night and tell her the truth of her changeling past.

IN THE HOVEL OLD RANNA WAS GLARING angrily at her husband, and the light from the kitchen fire sent sinister red shadows dancing about the walls. They were both standing by the kitchen now and whispering darkly together, as Alina lay in the barn and tried to sleep.
    “You heard what she said,” hissed Ranna. “She was talking to one of Vladeran’s soldiers. There’ve been several around of late. If the girl remembers anything, we’ll—”
    “Of course she won’t remember,” snapped Malduk. “Do we have to go through this again, woman? What about the potion?”
    Ranna cast a nervous look at the locked chest, which Malduk had sat on earlier, and on which now sat Alina’s knife.
    “Perhaps you’re right,” she muttered. “And I’ve always told them you’ll beat them both, if they go near the chest.”
    Ranna seemed a little reassured, but then her cruel eyes darkened again.
    “But what if someone recognises her, husband? One of his soldiers.”
    “Why do you think we make her cut her hair and dress as a boy?” answered Malduk. “Besides, you see how she’s really changed. Nothing like she was.”
    “It’s the change in her I’m worried about, fool,” grumbled Ranna. “We can’t keep her nature a secret much longer. She’s growing up so fast. Others are married far earlier than a girl like her, and there are already rumours about it in the village. I’ve heard some of the women muttering, busybodies that they are, and now Lord Vladeran’s men are nosing about. What about Mia? She’s always chattering.”
    “How could I foresee that your sister and her husband would drop down dead,” growled Malduk accusingly, “and we’d have to take her in.”
    “It’s going wrong,” said Ranna fearfully. “I always warned you it would come to no good. After you found her.”
    “Oh, stop your whining, Ranna. And what about all the work she does? She’s a help to us, ain’t she?” Malduk said. “Humble Vlak shepherds with a servant, and a Saxon servant too,” he added proudly. “That’s rich. How the others marvelled at us when I found her. Or him. A Saxon waif, eternally in the debt of good old Malduk and his dear, kind wife, Ranna.”
    Malduk chuckled and rubbed his hands, thinking of something else too.
    “Bogdan’s as jealous of us as ever,” he said with satisfaction. “Always calling Alin a warlock, and saying he’ll bring the devil down on us. It’s only because he wants a servant himself.”
    “Bogdan,” snorted Ranna. “I