Songs of the Earth Read Online Free PDF

four more times before my thirst was sated. Both he and Ushna thanked the woman, calling her Uttu. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.
I cleared my froggy throat a couple of times before I could ask what had happened. Gregori got a grim look and Ushna's arms tightened around me nearly to the point of pain, but I didn't protest.
Opposite us, Gregori leaned against a footpost. His red hair hung free and loose, framing his long face. "Do you remember being at the stream with the Shirdal?"
I thought for a moment and nodded. The memory was vague but there.
"Do you remember Ushna, me, and the others who came to the stream for you?"
I blinked a couple of times, but the blistered portion of my brain was in the way so I shook my head no.
Gregori looked at Ushna and then back to me. "Socks, your horse, came back to the ranch without saddle or rider. Ushna had been pacing the walls since he woke. He was angry because we let you go out riding by yourself. When I told him warriors were with you, he still wouldn't calm down. When your horse came back without you, he started issuing orders and we all geared up as if we were going into battle." Gregori stopped for a moment, remembering something that made him smile a little. "I don't know who was more frantic, Corey or Ushna, or who was carrying more weapons."
Ushna grunted under me, running his hands up and down my arms. I suspected he did it to soothe me as much as to soothe himself.
"We followed your tracks. It was Corey who spotted the gryphon flying overhead and all it did was make Ushna and Corey more reckless as they galloped into the trees. In any other situation, their lack of caution could've gotten us all killed."
Gregori sent a small glare to Ushna, who ignored him. "You and six warriors were with the Goddess." I gave an involuntary shudder. "Everything was fine. She greeted Ushna and then noticed his ring, the one you made that morning.
"She flipped out. The irises of her eyes expanded and swallowed the white of her eyes and she grabbed you around the crown of your head. You immediately started howling in pain. The Shirdal standing next to you screeched and launched itself into the air. All the warriors instantly went Lupe. You were screaming and screaming, which made the warriors go insane, swinging at things in the air I couldn't see. Those who had weapons drew their blades and brandished them at the empty air. The Goddess released you and you continued to wail. Ushna went crazy and attacked the Goddess. We all believed she meant to kill you. Your skin turned red and blistered as you convulsed and fell to the ground. I thought you'd left us when you stopped moving and crying out. I tried to heal you, but something was blocking me and there was nothing I could do to help."
Gregori held out his hands and looked down at them. "All this power, and I couldn't ease your suffering. What good is magic if I can't use it to do something positive with it?" Gregori's voice held so much selfloathing, I reached out to him.
Gregori looked at my hand. His breathing was ragged as silent tears ran unchecked down his cheeks. With a quiet sob, he grabbed my hand in a bruising grip, as if it were a life line and he was drowning. With what little strength I had, I pulled him toward me, but it really didn't take much. Gregori came to me easily, needing the comfort I offered. He buried his head in my stomach and cried. Huge wracking sobs moved his whole body underneath my caresses. Ushna and I enveloped him. I murmured to him that all was okay. I hadn't died. I remembered something as I comforted my friend, a song to the Earth. I couldn't quite recall where I learned it, but only that I had used it to heal myself once.
"Magically created wounds cannot be healed with magic, but there is an Earth song I can teach you to use when I'm better." It hurt to see Gregori look at me with such hope so I went ahead and taught him the words.
We lay there for a little while, Gregori's tears drying