The Amber Legacy Read Online Free PDF Page A

finished by saying that the crystal was singing to me.’
    Emma rose, and bent to lift the steaming water pot from the fire. As she removed it, the fire went out. She filled a yellow cup before returning to her chair. Holding the cup at her lips, she blew softly across the top of her tea, and stared into space. ‘Well?’ Meg asked.
    ‘Patience,’ Emma said, and sipped at her beverage. ‘Are you sure you don’t want some? It’s good for relaxing.’
    Meg shook her head, irritated by the old woman’s slow manner. Her attention shifted to the room. Like the soothsayer’s cave, the old woman’s cottage was cluttered with a weird assortment of items. She spotted books. No one else that she knew in the village bothered with reading, except Saltsack Carter who did his sums for work costs and customer orders on paper. A multitude of jars were stacked along shelves around the hearth. She counted five battered travel chests pushed against the walls, and large ochre-coloured pottery jars of assorted shapes were scattered around the room. A stuffed kookaburra was mounted on a tall perch, and a red fish swam in a glass bowl on a grey marble pedestal.
    ‘He said the crystal was singing to you. Are you sure that’s what he said?’
    ‘Perfectly sure,’ Meg replied. ‘In fact, he said the crystal knows me. What’s that mean?’
    ‘How did he react?’
    ‘When?’
    ‘When he told you this about the crystal?’
    ‘He was scary—a little. He ordered me out of his cave.’
    ‘What did he do with the crystal?’
    ‘He snatched it up as if he—’ she stopped, trying to find the word to describe what the old man had done.
    ‘As if he was afraid you were going to take it away from him?’
    ‘Yes!’ Meg realised. ‘That’s what it was like. Which is stupid because I don’t care about his little slice of amber. It’s not worth anything. And I don’t steal.’
    ‘No,’ Emma agreed. ‘That’s very true, Megen Farmer. You are a good and honest girl. I’ve seen you and I’ve heard people talk about you.’
    ‘Who?’ Meg demanded, curious.
    ‘Different people,’ Emma answered. ‘Who said what isn’t important. Who else have you told about this?’
    ‘Mum. But I haven’t told her everything.’
    ‘Anyone else?’
    Meg screwed up her face. ‘Why?’
    ‘I need to know who else knows.’
    ‘Why?’
    Emma coughed, and sipped at her tea. She sighed, and said, ‘Why did your mother send you to me?’
    ‘Samuel told me to come,’ Meg replied.
    ‘Yes he did, but you wouldn’t have come if your mother hadn’t insisted. So why is she so keen for you to bring me this news?’
    Meg didn’t like the old lady’s interrogative manner, and considered leaving. She didn’t have to be here. But the old lady’s eyes—eyes that seemed warm and friendly despite the stern and haggard face in which they sat—compelled her to answer. ‘You’re right. I didn’t want to waste our money. I don’t believe in the stuff everyone else believes in, especially prophecies. I’ve never seen one come true. I think people like you and Samuel just take money and tell people what they want to hear.’
    ‘Very astute for one so young,’ Emma interrupted. ‘Astute, and cynical.’ She glanced at Sunfire curled on the mat, canine eyes watchful, and looked back at Meg, observing, ‘No wonder he follows you so faithfully.’
    ‘What’s that mean?’ Meg asked warily.
    ‘Animals, clever ones, understand the nature of people better than people do. They choose to serve those who deserve service. He trusts you. He knows you.’
    ‘I feed him,’ Meg rejoined. ‘I pat him. I’m kind to him. That’s why he follows me.’
    ‘If you say so,’ Emma replied. ‘So why has your mother sent you to me?’
    Meg shrugged. Reluctantly, flushed with embarrassment, she said, ‘She thinks—I might have—the Blessing.’ She snorted, and shrugged again, adding, ‘She hopes I have the Blessing—which is stupid.’
    ‘Why is it