Kendra Kandlestar and the Shard From Greeve Read Online Free PDF Page B

Because she too was my student. Do you think she was just born gurgling and burbling magic spells? Of course not!”
    Kendra blinked in surprise. She had never really thought about her mother having to learn magic; all she had ever heard was that Kayla Kandlestar was a powerful sorceress. Kendra wondered if her mother had once stood in this very garden trying to practice the same lesson. She couldn’t imagine the legendary Kayla Kandlestar having any trouble trying to pluck a simple leaf.
    “That’s enough instruction for today,” Uncle Griffinskitch grunted. “Come, let’s go take our tea.”
    Kendra hung her head and tugged her braids in frustration as she shuffled her feet across the garden towards the yew tree house.
    This is way harder than I ever imagined, she thought. I’m stuck here, no magic, no hope to find Kiro before spring. Nothing’s going to happen.
    But as Kendra was soon to find out, she couldn’t have been more wrong. Inside her heart, her battle was brewing—and so was one in the outside world.



THAT NIGHT THERE WAS A SHOWER OF FALLING STARS. Kendra watched it in amazement with her uncle from the tiny observatory that was perched at the top of the yew tree. If you have ever seen a falling star, then you know it can be a beautiful sight to behold—now think of a thousand of them all at once and perhaps you will begin to imagine the brilliant spectacle that ignited the skies over the quiet land of Een. To Kendra it seemed as if the heavens themselves were at war.
    “Humph,” Uncle Griffinskitch muttered as he stroked his long beard. “These stars are an omen; something important is happening in the outside world. Tomorrow we must visit Winter Woodsong.”
    “I thought she was across the River Wink, visiting Enid Evermoon,” Kendra said.
    “Aye,” Uncle Griffinskitch returned. “And that’s where we shall go too; I do not want to wait to hear her wisdom regarding this cosmic storm.”
    So at first light Kendra and Uncle Griffinskitch set off to seek the old sorceress known as Winter Woodsong. They crossed the River Wink by way of Peddler’s Bridge and by mid-morning reached the outskirts of Kojo’s Hope, the town where Winter was visiting her friend. Kendra had never been to this part of Een, and she looked upon her new surroundings with interest. On the right side of their path a wall of stone appeared, over which a row of tall yellow flowers nodded gently in the wind. Even though it was autumn, the flowers had not lost their bloom, and as she passed Kendra suddenly heard this song fill the air:

    There was an old wizard from Een,
    The grumpiest that’s ever been seen.
    He always said humph
    (What a lot of bumph)
    And his odor was just obscene.
     

    Kendra turned and looked in surprise at her uncle.
    “Humph,” he grumbled, tugging his beard in irritation. “Pay it no mind.” Yet these words had no sooner left his lips than another song was heard:

    There once was a wizard too white
    His beard was as long as the night
    He looked like a ghost
    Or so he would boast
    His breath was worse than his bite.
     

    “Er . . . where is it coming from?” Kendra asked.
    “The flowers,” Uncle Griffinskitch muttered. “We’re passing by the Rainmaker’s Rhapsody; it’s an enchanted garden, renowned for these songbells.”
     

    “They don’t seem to like you very much,” Kendra said.
    “Humph,” the old wizard snorted, glaring at the row of flowers leaning over the wall. “Come, let’s leave this place behind and seek Elder Woodsong.”
    At that moment, as if to respond to the mention of her name, Winter Woodsong herself stepped out from an opening in the garden wall. “Go no further, old friend,” she said, “for here you find me.”
    As the frail old woman spoke, a tapestry of wrinkles shifted across her face. She was a tiny, delicate creature, and she moved slowly and carefully, without vigor. From head to foot she was snow white, for time had bleached her hair and skin of