The Seven Swords Read Online Free PDF Page B

of the lightning-quick sprite, causing it to fall face-first in the grass, too. The fairy squealed. And then—and then it sprayed Qwon, just like a skunk!
    Only the smell was amazing.
    Qwon’s grip loosened as she was transported to a field of lavender and flowering sweet peas. A smile crawled across her face. Her eyes brightened.
    The fairy wriggled free and churned toward the staff. Qwon came around and yelped, “No!” just as the fairy bent to pick it up. But before it could, it was plonked on the forehead with a stone that Dred had thrown from the little window. “Ouch!” the fairy barked.
    Qwon got her first good look at the fairy. She was very thin and stood a little less than five feet tall. Her shoulders were only a foot across, and her legs were so long she hardly had a torso. Her arms were also disturbingly long, and she had pink hair drawn into an athletic ponytail that nearly reached the back of her knees. Her hair had three thick black streaks, one down the middle and two on either side above the ears, which added to the skunk effect. She was barefoot, but was otherwise dressed in plain cotton pants and a matching shirt.
    The fairy bent to pick up the staff again, and this time a small fusillade of stones sailed from the window. She screeched and bolted away without looking back.
    Qwon sprinted forward and slid feet first, scooping up the staff as she passed it. She threw her back against Dred’s door and said through the opening, “Thanks.”
    â€œDon’t thank me yet,” her kidnapper replied wryly.
    He was clearly enjoying this.
    Jerk , thought Qwon.
    She slid left along the wall to the corner, turned, and continued moving until she reached the middle of the next wall, where there was another door. She tried it. Locked. Just as she’d suspected.
    Qwon let the staff fall into the crook of her arm and quickly tore two small strips of fabric from the bottom of her T-shirt. She balled them up and stuffed one in each nostril. She had to do something to defend herself from the fairy’s intoxicating scent. Then she stepped toward the clearing, but before she even reached the grass, the fairy came from nowhere and poked Qwon’s back. She tumbled forward, her staff in front of her, and wheeled around.
    The sprite was in a semicrouch, her stick held across her body. Her face was twisted into a gnarly grimace. She was small but powerful.
    Her eyes were the color of tropical seas, and their pupils were as deep and limitless as the night sky. Something about the balance of her features, the clear hue of her skin, and her tiny, knowing smile made Qwon freeze.
    She was almost achingly beautiful. How was Qwon going to strike this creature?
    But then the fairy hissed like a cornered cat, and sprayed again.
    Qwon’s nose plugs didn’t block the scent completely, but they helped. She lunged forward and twirled her staff, knocking the fairy in the shoulder. The fairy did not retreat. She hissed again—revealing a mouthful of pointy teeth that belied her beauty—and continued fighting with a flurry of jabs and swings. Qwon parried them all, mixing in attacks of her own.
    They were too equally matched.
    Finally each jumped back. Qwon could hear Dred’s muted laughter, which she did not appreciate. She did not like this game.
    Qwon looked the fairy squarely in the eyes and said, “My name is Qwon Onakea, and I’ve been kidnapped. Who are you and why are you here?”
    The fairy cocked her head. She said something that Qwon had a hard time understanding because, like her smell and her beauty, her voice was borderline enchanting.
    The fairy repeated herself, taking pains to suppress whatever it was that made her voice so enrapturing. “I am Shallot le Fey,” she said. “I was taken too, from my home in Leagon. I have been in this yard for a month, and until today have not seen a single person.”
    Qwon nodded slowly and said, “Well,