Shadows on the Stars Read Online Free PDF Page B

trail of green light as it zipped through the steam. It struck Tamwyn hard in the chest. Like his father in the dream, he hunched over, wincing in pain.

3 • Starlight and Torchlight
    Tamwyn groaned, rubbing the sore spot on his chest. The glowing green missile that had struck him bounced off, swerved in the steamy air above the hot spring, and shot at him again. He managed to duck just in time, but it still clipped the top of his ear.
    “Batty Lad!” he shouted. “Why do you have to—” He ducked again as the green-eyed creature zipped by his other ear. “Have to nearly chop off my head like that?”
    “Ooee ooee, manny man,” squeaked the little beast as it did an erratic loop, skidding through the mosses that grew beneath the overhanging rock. “Me feeling very bouncy, after hunting lotsa bugs.”
    With that, he scrunched his batlike face into something resembling a smile, and plunged straight into Tamwyn’s tunic pocket. When Tamwyn opened it to peer inside, all he could see was a tiny ball wrapped inside a wrinkled wing. Right away, the ball started snoring contentedly.
    Tamwyn shook his head at this mystifying little creature. What was Batty Lad, anyway? It seemed that the Lady of the Lake had known more about him than she’d been willing to say. Then again, there were many things the Lady seemed to know that she hadn’t wanted to reveal.
    Even so, Tamwyn longed to speak with her again. About last night’s vision—and about the wild, dangerous plan that was now forming in his mind.
    A sudden change in the light caught his attention. As he crawled over to the edge of the mossy shelter and looked outside, the stars swelled brighter. Dawn already! The snow-ribbed slope of Hallia’s Peak turned silver, then white, in the strengthening glow from above. As always, with the brighter light of day, the sky’s constellations became harder to see. Within seconds, he couldn’t even see individual stars—just blue sky, utterly clear.
    So different from his own thoughts. He scowled, stuffing the magical slab of wood back into his pack. Morning had arrived—and although he was now fairly sure what he had to do, he had no idea at all how to do it. Or how to explain it to Elli. For while she probably hated him now—and would keep right on hating him until he told her about her harp—she surely wouldn’t want him to die. And with this new plan of his, death was more than likely.
    Turning back to the summit, he watched her sitting up on the Stargazing Stone. She stretched out her legs on the snowless surface, like a waking mountain lion, then raised both arms high above her head. All of a sudden, as if she felt Tamwyn’s gaze, she stopped stretching and turned around. The look she gave him was colder than last night’s icy wind.
    Beside the Stone, a small round figure sat up in the snow. It was Nuic, Elli’s ever faithful (and ever sassy) maryth. His little body swirled with streaks of dark red, which told Tamwyn that the pinnacle sprite had also seen the vision last night. Erasing any doubt, Nuic put his tiny hands against his sides and said dryly, “Hmmmpff. Nothing like seeing the world being destroyed by an immortal monster to ensure a good night’s sleep.”
    “I saw it, too,” declared someone’s deep voice from across the slope. It was Scree in his human form, bare-chested despite the chili mountain air, walking toward them. “But I don’t believe a bit of it.”
    “Really?” demanded Elli. “Why do you say that?”
    “I just don’t, that’s all.” He glanced over his shoulder at the slender elf maiden who was striding gracefully across the snow behind him. “Visions like that are as unreliable as elvish folktales.”
    Over by the mossy overhang, Tamwyn winced. He could tell that, as graceful as Scree could be in flight, he had landed with a crash when it came to Brionna. Just as Tamwyn himself had done with Elli.
    Indeed, Brionna’s green eyes flashed angrily. But she kept her voice calm