The Shadow Companion Read Online Free PDF

isn’t bad! It’s not evil!”
    “It’s Sir Matthias. He thinks…” Gerard really didn’t want to go on, but he had started, so there was no dropping it now.
    “What about him?”
    “He thinks that magic profanes the Quest.”
    “He what?”
    Gerard looked miserable. He was not only carrying tales, but making trouble, when all he wanted to do was warn Ailis. “He thinks that magic…that it’s wrong to use on the Quest. And if he finds out that you’ve been using it, I’m worried he’ll—”
    “He’ll what? Toss me out by the side of the road—to fend for myself?”
    “Of course not!” That would be wrong. Unchivalrous. And it would deeply disturb both Arthur and Merlin, who had chosen to send Ailis out with the Quest.
    “Good. Because Merlin sent me on this journey in order to use my skill to help find the Grail, remember?”
    “When the time was right, as I recall.” Gerardwas also remembering a discussion he and Merlin and Newt had had before Ailis rejoined them. They talked over their concerns about the influence Morgain might have had on the girl; about what traps the enchantress might have set, waiting for Ailis to trigger them. Ailis was part of the Quest for many reasons, not the least of which was to see if she drew Morgain to her. But that was one secret that Gerard would rather die than divulge to her.
    “All I am saying is…be careful. Don’t…don’t play around with magic. Don’t cause storms, or…or do anything. Just…”
    “Just sit in a corner and do needlework and look pretty for the knights? Is that what you’re saying?” Ailis stood up, slamming her thankfully now empty bowl onto the ground.
    “I am so very tired of everyone telling me to sit, and wait, and be a good girl! ‘You’ll have your time,’ Morgain says. ‘The time is coming,’ Merlin says. ‘Don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself,’ you say. Why not? Why must everything be hidden under a rock? When do I get to stand up and take credit for helping to defeat Morgain, rather than just hiding behind you and Newt and your swords and your bashing?”
    Her hands balled up at her sides as though she wanted to hit something, and the words poured out of her.
    “Morgain was right about one thing—nobody takes me seriously! Not even Merlin! Everyone tells me what I can’t do, and nobody wants to see what I can do! Nobody—except Newt.” She saw Gerard flinch and went for the kill, not knowing why, except that it was effective and she was angry.
    “Newt’s scared of magic, but he doesn’t tell me not to use it. He doesn’t tell me to sit in a corner and act like a lady, or not to speak to anyone, and not to wear pants, or—”
    She knew it wasn’t fair. Gerard had never said those things to her. It wasn’t his fault Sir Matthias wanted her to be a substitute for his delicate daughter. And Newt wasn’t all that accepting of her, either. He wanted to keep an eye out for her, reminding her of how useless she was without the magic, and how, if it wasn’t for the magic, she would never have met Morgain. And then she never would have had her eyes opened to all the possibilities in the world—the possibilities that everyone kept holding out of her reach, telling her “not yet.”
    “Ailis—”
    “No!”
    As she shouted it, an unexpected clash of thunder split the heavens. They both stopped and stared at each other.
    “I didn’t make the storm,” she said in a much quieter voice. “But I can make it stop. That should make everyone happy, right? And nobody will ever know. Just the way you all want it.”
    She turned and stalked out into the rain, not bothering with her shoes or jacket or the oiled tarp.
    Gerard sighed, picked up his stew bowl, and started eating his dinner. If she was going to be like that, there was nothing he could do to stop her.
     
    Elsewhere in the camp, Newt had his hands full with a different kind of argument.
    During the storm, one of the flimsier pavilions had blown