The Eye of the Hunter Read Online Free PDF Page B

at picnic, there in the early summer Sun. And one had a secret to give the other…
    “…and so it was that Riatha brought the news to my ancestors, Lacey,” said Faeril, looking up from the diary.
    “After the Elfess left, Tomlin and Petal moved from the Weiunwood, coming here to the Seven Dells and bringing their brood, for Riatha had warned them that a great darkness was gathering in the north, and she would have them move to a place of safety.
    “They came here to have the protection of the Thornring, surrounding the Land as it does. But little did they know that the Spindlethorn would be breached during the Winter War.
    “Hai! As it turned out, the Weiunwood was the safer place to be after all. Even so, they all survived—Petal, Tomlin,Small Urus, Little Riatha, Silvereyes, and Bear—though many others did not.
    “The Winter War: that was what the Elfqueen Rael had seen as a great darkness gathering in the north, that was the threat which crashed upon the world back then: Modru sought to conquer the world, and he used the Dimmendark as his greatest weapon.”
    “Tuckerby Underbank!” exclaimed Lacey, naming the great hero of the Winter War. “He saved all.” A frown came upon her face. “But what’s that got to do with anything, Faeril?”
    Faeril smiled at her companion. “Just this: Years past, Tomlin and Petal made a pledge to run Stoke to earth and to slay him, foul creature that he was. That pledge was renewed by Small Urus and Little Riatha, the firstborn bucco and dammsel. And they had trained in the weapon skills of their parents: sling and bullets for the buccoes and”—Faeril hefted the bandoliers—“throwing knives for the dammsels.
    “Eventually Small Urus married, and so, too, did Little Riatha. And their firstborns in turn renewed the pledge and took up the weaponry skills: slings for the buccoes of Small Urus, knives for the dammsels of Little Riatha.
    “Some thirty or so generations have been born since that long-ago time, and the descendants of Tomlin and Petal are scattered to the winds, moving elsewhere, marrying, having children; each generation in turn scattering farther, marrying, having children, who in turn scattered, down through time…
    “But although firstborn damman after firstborn damman has been born, still all renewed the pledge, all were trained in the skill of throwing knives…just as the firstborn buccoes of firstborn buccoes were perhaps trained in the sling.
    “Too, Petal had written a journal, a record of the pursuit of Stoke. It became a tradition for the firstborns to copy that record, just as I copied the one made by my dam, and she hers, and so on back to the time of Petal herself.”
    Again Faeril picked up the small booklet. “This is my copy, Lacey, made from the original journal, from Petal’s journal, now in my dam’s possession, the original that I will inherit when my own firstborn damman arrives.
    “But I’ve known all along that I’ve something to accomplishbefore that time comes. I knew it even before I began training in the knives, even before I renewed the pledge, even before I began making my copy of the diary. It seems as if I’ve always known that Destiny has something in store for me.”
    Faeril fell silent, and in the distance a mourning dove called, and Lacey felt her heart clench with sadness. “But what’s this got to do with you leaving, Faeril…with your going away from the Bosky?”
    Faeril took up the journal and flipped it open to a particular page. “Don’t you see, Lacey? Here. Petal wrote that in 4E1980 Bear ciphered that the Eye of the Hunter would come in 4E3007.”
    “Bu-but, that year will never come!” responded Lacey. “I mean, it’s impossible! We didn’t even
have
a year 4E3007. It never came. It never will. For we now stand at 5E985, and the Fourth Era is past, over, done.”
    Faeril smiled at Lacey’s remark. “Oh, Lacey, think a moment: Bear didn’t know about the Winter War when he cast that sum,