The Eye of the Hunter Read Online Free PDF

his sire and then at his dam.
    Fear sprang up behind Petal’s eyes—not for herself, oh no, but instead for her children. She reached out to Tomlin and took his hand in hers.
    But the Elfess shook her head. “Nay, Small Urus. Thy guess concerning the firstborns is a shrewd one, yet except for me, I think it speaks of no one here…at least, not directly.”
    The young buccan swept his hand in a wide gesture, taking in all the Warrows. “If not us, if not Atha and me, if not Silvey or Bear, if not my sire and dam, then who?”
    The Elfess smiled down at the Waerling. “List, Small Urus, it is truly a destiny far beyond, for the Eye of the Hunter will not ride the skies above for another thousand winters—one thousand and twenty-seven winters, to be exact—”
    Bear blurted out, “One thousand and twenty-seven years? Why, this is 4E1980, and that’d be in the year”—he did a quick sum in his head—“4E3007…yes, 4E3007. A very long time hence. B-but here, now! None of us will even be alive then.”
    Petal looked at the Elfess. “Riatha will, Bear. Riatha will.”
    And now all the Warrow children looked at the Elfess and realized for the very first time that she was not a mortal.
    Riatha shrugged off their stares. “And so will thy descendants be alive, thine Small Urus, and thine Little Riatha the firstborns of the firstborns, or so the rede prophesies.
    “This
Huntra Eäg
,” asked Tomlin, naming it in Twyll, the eld Warrow tongue, “this
Eye of the Hunter
, just what is it?”
    “That I do know, Pebble,” answered Riatha. “It is a harbinger, one of the hairy stars, coursing across the sky, bringing its dooms with it. Thousands of winters pass between its comings, yet always it returns, each time riding through those nights at the fading of winter, at the onset of spring; and always it first appears among the stars we name the Hunter, as the Hunter’s eye, red and bloody.”
    Silvey’s mouth had formed a silent
O
as the Elfess spoke. And she snapped it shut when Riatha fell quiet, the audible click causing all to turn and look at her, and she felt as if somehow she had made a mistake. But Atha saved her from further embarrassment, turning once more to the Elfess and asking, “The prophecy also speaks of
Lastborn Firstborns
—what does that mean?”
    “And what is
the light of the Bear
?” chimed in Bear, the stripling’s eyes glittering in the lantern light. “The prophecy speaks of that, too.”
    “And
bane and blessing
,” added Silvey. “What about that?”
    Tomlin cleared his throat. “Well, at least we know what the
Hunter
or
hunted
part of the rede means.”
    “What?” asked Bear. “What does it mean?”
    “Just this, Bear,” responded Tomlin. “When we sought to slay Stoke, he in turn tried to kill us, putting truth to the old saying concerning the hunting of dangerous animals, and it echoes perfectly the words of the prophecy:
    “Deadly predator,
    Deadly prey,
    Hunter and hunted,
    Who can say
    Which is which
    On a given day?
    “And so shall it be once more should that monster rise again. For if he is hunted, then he in turn will hunt those who hunt him.”
    A silence fell over them all, broken at last by Silvey. “But who is to say that this
rede
has
anything
to do with that monster? I mean, it could concern something or someone else entirely. What is in the prophecy that points to Stoke at all?”
    All eyes turned to Riatha. “’Tis
the light of the Bear
, wee one.” At the looks of incomprehension upon faces of all the Waerlinga, Riatha explained. “There where Urus fell, deep down within the ice, there is a golden glow. Why? I know not. Yet it is there, far below—an unexplained light, calling. And this I do know, Silvereyes, and so do thy parents: Urus at times took the shape of a Bear….”
    * * *
    May 29–31, 4E1980: Days of joy and despair, for Riatha came…And this is what she said…
    * * *
    And in a glade in the Boskydells a millennium later, two dammen sat