Small Magics Read Online Free PDF Page B

and would have told his older brother the rest had he not been certain that his mother would read the letters as well. And now, his father was complaining about him doing what he had been sent away to do? It wasn’t fair.
    The tailor shop was closed.
    Of course , Thomas thought, staring at the locked door. Now what?
    Common sense told him the tailor would be at the fair, and that’s where Thomas headed. It was only when he reached the edge of the town common and looked at the crowd that Thomas realized that he had no idea what the tailor looked like. For a moment he felt completely at a loss. He shook it off. Someone would know where the tailor was. All he had to do was ask.
    Eileen’s voice, yelling words of encouragement, grabbed his attention. He cast about and spotted her standing beside the wrestling pit, shouting at the top of her lungs. Thomas, guessing what the shouting was about, went over to stand beside her.
    The pit was fifteen feet square, surrounded by a transplanted pig-fence, and had a thick layer of hay on the ground for the contestants to land on. In the middle of it, George was struggling with Liam. They were in a tight wrestler’s clinch, bodies straining against one another. Liam was taller than George, and had once made his living from wrestling. He had even wrestled at the royal court some fifteen years before. He was attempting to use his height to lever George backwards and while he was succeeding, he was not having an easy time. From the look of it, what George gave the other man in height, he took back in strength.
    “Come on, George!” shouted Eileen, trying to rally her brother as the taller man slowly forced him to his knees.
    “You can’t think he’ll win,” said Thomas. “No one beats Liam.”
    “He nearly beat him last year,” Eileen said without looking. A moment later she turned, mouth open in surprise. “Thomas! What are you doing here?”
    Thomas couldn’t even begin a reply to that, and a roar from the crowd saved him from the need. George, moving faster than seemed possible for a man of his bulk, had dropped down to one knee and, with a quick thrust of his hand through the other man’s legs, lifted. The small crowd cheered lustily as George raised Liam high into the air. “Get him!” screamed Eileen. “Get him, George!”
    George grunted loudly and shifted his grip, obviously meaning to throw Liam to the ground. It wasn’t to be, though. Liam, upside down though he was, secured a tight grip around George’s waist. With a mighty pull, Liam slipped off George’s shoulders, got his feet on the ground and with a quick twist, threw George across the pit. George cried out in surprise then hit the ground with a solid THUD that made those around the pen wince. Liam jumped on him and pinned him. Cheers erupted and Liam was declared the winner.
    Eileen and Thomas looked on as Liam pulled the gasping George into a sitting position. “You’ll be fine, laddie,” he said. “You did well this year. Had me worried there for a bit, you did.”
    George gasped a little longer then relaxed as the air flowed back into his lungs. “Nearly had you down, I did.”
    Liam laughed. “Don’t fool yourself, laddie. It’ll be a few years more before you beat old Liam at his own game. Why I once—”
    “Wrestled in front of the king,” George finished for him “Aye, I know.” Liam grinned and held out his hand. George took it, and Liam pulled him to his feet and gave him a clap on the back. The young smith hopped over the fence as Liam called, “Right, who’s next?”
    “Good match!” said Eileen. “You nearly had him!”
    “Nearly,” agreed George. He looked at Thomas. “What are you doing here? You should be at home eating supper.”
    “My father didn’t think so.” said Thomas. “I hardly got in the door before he sent me out again.”
    “Sent you out?” repeated Eileen. “What for?”
    “A better wardrobe.”
    George looked him up and down. “You are a little