Magic Astray (The Llandra Saga) Read Online Free PDF Page B

turn scouting ahead.”
    “I can do it!” Eamon replied heatedly. “I’ve gotten us this far, haven’t I? I’m not going to get us lost!”
    “Whoa, just a minute,” Randall hastily interjected. “I’m not saying you’re doing a bad job. I just thought you might want a break from scouting. If you want to keep the lead, that’s all right with me.”
    “Sorry,” Eamon replied, somewhat mollified. “It’s just this forest. It’s like it seeps into your skin and drags your mood down. I would’ve thought the elves lived some place bright and cheerful. But this place is just so gloomy! Why would anyone want to live here?”
    “I dunno,” Randall said. He’d been thinking much the same thing. “Maybe they like their privacy.”
    “Indeed we do,” spoke a thickly accented voice from just behind the two travelers. “And you’re trespassing.”
    Eamon and Randall spun quickly to face the speaker. She appeared to be a young girl just blossoming into womanhood, perhaps only twelve or thirteen years old. Even though she was a full head shorter than him, she wore the leather breeches and jerkin of a woodsman, and there was a sharp-looking short sword filling her fist, pointed directly at the two young men. Her stringy brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her face and clothes were smudged and dirty, as if she’d been out in the forest as long as they had. As they stared at each other, two young boys came out of hiding, even younger looking than the girl. Randall guessed that they were perhaps eleven years old at most. But each also carried a sword, and they handled them with the easy manner that only comes from long practice.
    “Elves!” Eamon breathed, a long smile spreading across his features. “They’re so beautiful!”
    Randall crinkled his nose and looked sideways at his friend. Eamon’s expression carried a dreamy quality, as if perhaps he had drunk one too many cups of ale. Shaking his head in confusion he turned back to face the trio of youngsters. There wasn’t anything special about them. They were only children. It was only when he locked gazes with the girl that he noticed that there was something different about them, after all.
    Their eyes , he thought. They’re like cat’s eyes!
    The girl’s eyes were a deep and vivid amber, with slit pupils. He found himself lost in her gaze, unable to look away. As he stared, he noted that she wasn’t really a child after all. Her lips were fuller and her hips rounder than any child’s. What he’d mistaken for dirt earlier were merely shadows from her high, delicate cheekbones. She wasn’t really as short as he’d first imagined, either. That must have been a trick of the light, because he could see now that she was easily as tall as he was. She was...beautiful.
    He could feel a slow smile creeping up his lips as the two young boys approached. And then, in an instant, the feeling was lost. Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, he looked back at the girl, and his mouth gaped open. She was just a child after all! Magic! Randall thought. Master Erliand had warned me that the elves could weave magic without even needing to speak a word.
    That was when he noticed the approaching boys. Their expressions spoke of ill-intent, and Randall instinctively dropped into a defensive posture, his hand falling to the hilt of his dagger.
    At his sudden movement, the girl’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. She called a word out in a melodious tongue, and the two boys stopped their advance. Sniffing the air carefully, her eyes widened and she once again addressed the pair of travelers.
    “Well, half-breed. I guess you get to live to see another sunrise. The chief is going to want to talk to you. Come along.”
    She turned on her heel and began walking deeper into the forest. The two young boys with her fell in behind Randall and Eamon, motioning for them to follow. Eamon needed no prodding. His face was still filled with a stupid smile, and it was clear that he