The Secret of Kells Read Online Free PDF Page A

hair was so long it swept to the ground. It was the colour of snow. The girl had bright green eyes, which were now slits of angry fire. She did not look at all pleased to see him.
    Still stunned with shock, Brendan asked, ‘What happened to the white wolf? Where did it go?’
    ‘There’s nobody here but me,’ said the girl. ‘And your cat.’
    Pangur regarded the girl quietly, then went to Brendan and rubbed against him. The girl asked, ‘What are you doing here? You were probably sent here by your family to get food, weren’t you?’
    Mist swirled around the clearing. The fairy-like figure jumped on top of the stone Brendan thought he had never seen any one able to jump like that – and continued, ‘Well, you can go right back where you came from! If you don’t, I’ll make the wolves get you! You have no right to come here, disturbing the animals and the birds!’
    ‘I didn’t mean to,’ said Brendan, his nerves in tatters from the way the girl kept jumping aroundthe clearing, disappearing into the mist and then reappearing again.
    ‘Look, I’m sorry, right? I’m not here to get food for my family. I’m here to get things to make ink. And I don’t have a family and we have food in Kells! So I wouldn’t come here for it anyway! I was just a bit lost and …’
    The girl, who had been walking away from him with her nose in the air, suddenly stopped.
    ‘You don’t have a family?’ Her face seemed to soften a little. ‘No mother?’
    Brendan shook his head.
    She said quietly, ‘I’m alone too.’ And then she disappeared into the trees.
    Brendan ran after her, saying breathlessly, ‘But my uncle looks after me. He’s the Abbot of the monastery of Kells. And me and this other monk, his name is Aidan, we want to make a book, you see, and I need to get berries to make ink. Berries like this.’ He opened his hand and showed the girl the berries Aidan had given him.
    ‘What’s ink?’ asked the girl.
    ‘It’s hard to explain; it’s like liquid colour and you put it on pages … you would have to see it. ButI have to get the berries.’
    ‘Well you can’t. You must leave.’
    Brendan’s mouth set into a stubborn line. ‘I’m not leaving the forest until I get what I came for. I won’t do any harm, I promise you. It won’t hurt your old trees just to take a few berries. It’s really important. The book we will make is so beautiful! We just need the berries to do it.’
    The girl seemed to consider for a few moments, then said, ‘Oh, all right then. I’ll help you get the berries. If I don’t help, you will probably spend ages rampaging through the forest and annoying the trees and unsettling everyone. But if I help you, you must promise me one thing.’
    ‘What is it?’ asked Brendan. He was a little bit afraid of this girl. He was sure she was one of the magical creatures he had been warned against. If she was magic, who knows what she might ask him. He had heard stories about the bargains magical beings made with humans. They never worked out well for the humans.
    ‘I don’t want you or your cat to come into my forest again. I don’t want to see either of you here. You must promise me that you will not comeback.’
    Brendan didn’t want to make the promise, and by the look on Pangur’s face, she didn’t want to either. But they really didn’t have a choice, if they wanted to get the berries for Aidan. So, reluctantly, Brendan nodded. Then he said, ‘My name is Brendan. What’s yours?’ But the girl just laughed and started to lead the way through the trees. Where there had just been grass before, there was now a carpet of snowdrops.
    The sun had come out again, and they seemed to be following a path through the light. The girl was definitely magic, thought Brendan; otherwise how could she dart ahead so quickly? Sometimes she leapt halfway up the trunk of a tree as if she had wings; sometimes she glided along their upper branches like a squirrel. He would catch sight of her face