Magic Astray (The Llandra Saga) Read Online Free PDF

But the signs were clear: a cart had come this way.
    Randall’s heart quickened at the discovery. He was both nervous and excited at the prospect of really meeting real, flesh-and-blood elves. Suddenly, he had second thoughts about going further. All the Mages he had spoken to had warned him to stay away from elves and other fae—that they were dangerous and not to be trusted. Even Berry hadn’t wanted to come out here. But Brody, Declan and Tobsen had traded with them several times a year, and they couldn’t even use magic.
    If Eamon was nervous, it didn’t show. Though following the scant trail was slow and difficult, the young man carried out the task with enthusiasm. He whistled cheerfully to himself as he scouted the forest floor ahead, looking for more signs of wheel tracks. Randall tried to shake off his sense of foreboding, and followed behind.
    As the group picked their way through the forest, Randall tried to picture in his mind what elves might look like. He tried to remember all the stories his grandmother had told him as a child, about how some elven noble had fallen in love with a mortal girl, or how some farmer had traveled too deeply into the elven lands and was never heard of again. But for all of her tales, Randall couldn’t remember her actually describing what an elf looked like.
    They have to be beautiful, he reasoned. All of her tales talk about people falling in love with elves, or becoming so enamored living among them that they never want to leave. And I imagine they have to be at least roughly the same size as us. How else would we be able to interbreed? That last thought brought a blush to his cheeks and he quickly pushed it away. Then a thought struck him: Berry might know what they look like.
    “Hey, Berry! Do you know what elves look like?” Randall asked, looking around him for the donnan. “Berry?”
    Eamon stopped, and looked back at Randall. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    “Nothing,” Randall answered. “I was just going to ask Berry a question. Is he up there with you?”
    “I thought he was with you,” Eamon replied, looking around nervously before calling out for their diminutive traveling companion.
    Both boys spent several long minutes backtracking and calling Berry’s name. Eamon became more frantic with each passing minute until Randall put a steadying hand on his shoulder.
    “Maybe he just wandered off,” Randall guessed. “He does that from time to time. He’ll show back up whenever the mood strikes him. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
    “If you say so,” Eamon said, unconvinced. “I still think we should keep looking for him.”
    “Trust me, Berry can take care of himself,” Randall chuckled. “I once didn’t see him for months . He’ll turn up eventually. He’s not a pet. He can come and go as he pleases.”
    Eamon nodded doubtfully, and returned to the trail, but that last statement had reminded Randall that he once thought that Berry might be an elf lord’s escaped pet. If that were the case, the two young men might not see their small friend until well after they left elven territory. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to visit the elves in the first place.
    By mid-afternoon, even Eamon’s enthusiasm seemed to be waning. He had stopped whistling shortly after Berry turned up missing, and the two young men had trudged along in relative silence over the last few hours. Eventually Eamon stopped walking altogether, scanning the forest floor with a concerned scowl.
    “What’s the matter?” Randall asked as he approached his companion.
    “I’ve lost the trail,” Eamon replied gloomily. “Probably five or ten minutes ago. I thought if we kept walking, I’d pick it back up again.”
    “That’s all right,” Randall replied. “It’s a poor trail. It was bound to happen eventually. Let’s backtrack until we find it, and we can camp for the night. It’s going to be getting dark soon anyway. We can start fresh in the morning, and I can have a