Raven Flight Read Online Free PDF

this depends on you. Can youlearn the skills you need by the summer after next? Will it be long enough?”
    I bit back my first response. Three Guardians to find, all in different corners of Alban; three branches of knowledge to master; and then, the disparate talents of humankind and Good Folk to be brought into an alliance strong enough to stand up against the might of Keldec and his Enforcers … all that in a scant year and a half? When I had thus far failed to exchange even one word with the Folk Below? It was … I must not say impossible. I was one of Regan’s Rebels now, and I must not even think it. “I’ll try my best,” I said.

WHETHER SAGE SENSED, SOMEHOW, THAT FINDING the Folk Below was more urgent than ever, there was no telling, but the next day she was at the entry to Shadowfell, asking to see me. Sula had been on guard duty with Gort and came to fetch me from the infirmary. At the entry Gort was wrapping his weaponry and Sula’s in a cloth, and beyond the opening stood the small figure of my fey friend, her hood up against the cold, her worn green cloak covering her to the ankles. She would not come inside until every piece of iron in her path had been shielded. A chill wind blew the highland winter in, setting a shiver deep in my bones.
    “We’re clear,” said Gort, tucking the bundle of weaponry away in the alcove near the entry, a place that had not existed within the intricate plan of Shadowfell until the need for it had become clear with the arrival of Sage and Red Cap. It was no wonder the Good Folk referred to the area around Shadowfell as the Folds. The terrain was steeped in earth magic. It seemed to change of itself, barefell becoming forested hollow, dry stone suddenly shaping itself to hold a mirror-clear mountain tarn, ridge and cliff and cave forming and vanishing in startling defiance of any rules known to humankind. It was a deeply odd place, but one thing about it seemed plain: whoever controlled those changes was not ill-disposed toward Regan and his band. If the land altered, if something appeared where there had been nothing, it always seemed designed to give our band an advantage. The appearance of the storage area near the main entry was one of those useful changes—it allowed not only the temporary concealment of the iron weaponry so feared by the Good Folk, but also ready retrieval of the replacement spears and knives fashioned of other materials, which our guards substituted for their usual armory when Sage and Red Cap came to visit me.
    “Come in,” I said, ushering Sage through to the small chamber set aside for our meetings. The two guards rearmed themselves with wooden spears and returned to their positions. All the rebels were accustomed to these visits now. “I need your good counsel.”
    As briefly as I could, I told her of Cian’s dramatic arrival and the dilemma that now faced us. I did not know if a year and a half would be sufficient time for Regan’s forces to prepare a successful challenge to the king. It didn’t sound long; but then, Tali had implied that the northern chieftain, Lannan, had a substantial personal army. The most doubtful part of it was my contribution. Even if I could find the Guardians, even if they agreed to teach me, even if I could learn to harness my gift, what about the GoodFolk? It simply wasn’t in their nature to cooperate with humankind—Sage and Red Cap were notable exceptions—and I faced the daunting task of persuading them to help us despite the very real likelihood many of them would lose their lives in the process. And all by the summer after next. Regan had made it plain to me that without their aid, the rebellion was unlikely to succeed. The might of Keldec was formidable; fear would keep most of the chieftains loyal to him.
    Sage listened quietly as I set it out for her; indeed, she spoke not a word, but rested her chin on her hands and regarded me with grave eyes.
    “I don’t really see how I can do it in so