The Silver Pear Read Online Free PDF

hear the ringing of horses hooves against the stone cobbles, the calls of the men, more clearly.
    “What is it?” She took a step toward him and he flinched, his eyes never leaving the entrance to the tunnel.
    “I’m sorry.” He shuddered and ran a hand down his face. “It’s the dark. I can’t . . . ”
    She felt a rising sense of panic. A horse passed the courtyard entrance, and then another. Any moment, the pitchfork-wielding guard would take up his post again.
    But she couldn’t leave him.
    Her hand rose up to clutch the silver pear, but magic had to be her last resort, especially with another sorcerer only yards away.
    Soren was half bent over himself now, and she grabbed hold of his shirt and hauled, but he pulled away from her, his arms coming up to shield himself, as if she was going to strike him.
    He made an inarticulate sound at the back of his throat, and it sent a chill slithering down her spine.
    Someone had done something very bad to this man. And it involved darkness.
    She reached out to him again, unsure what to do, and faced the notion that she might have to bespell him.
    He backed further away from the tunnel, breathing in short, gasping pants.
    “Oy!”
    The shout came from the entrance to the courtyard, and she took a step back, deeper into the shadows. The guard had returned to his post, and he held his pitchfork up, and then called behind him for help.
    Miri hoped he’d only seen Soren. She glanced to the side, hoping the door to the tunnel was deep enough in the shadows it would be hard to make out.
    The guard jogged toward Soren, and panicked, Miri leaned hard on the door. It swung shut with a creak, and she could only be grateful for the guard’s shouts then, because they covered the noise it made.
    The guard’s cry had been taken up beyond the courtyard and she moved away, keeping close to the wall, and deep in the shadows, putting some distance between herself and the secret passage.
    “Who are you?” The guard had grabbed hold of Soren, but he stood, unresisting, his eyes closed, his breathing a little more calm, a little deeper.
    He was coming back to himself, gaining control.
    She saw the moment when he conquered the panic, lifting his head with a snap toward the door.
    Then he turned his head unerringly in her direction.
    “What is it?” A man ran up to the guard, and Miri recognized William’s man of affairs, Henry. She pressed back against the wall and held her breath, her mind racing.
    “I don’t know. Just found ’im here. He looks a bit like the one we rounded up earlier, but that one’s locked in the dungeon. This must be another one.”
    Bespelling would be the only quiet way out. The only practical solution, but she had never done it before. Had never wanted to.
    It felt wrong.
    She didn’t mind the guard and Henry so much, as they were in William’s camp, and had aligned against her, but Soren would need to be bespelled to get in the tunnel, and she chafed at the thought of doing it.
    As Henry grabbed Soren’s other arm, she realized she had no choice.
    She gripped the silver pear and raised her hand, and just as she threw the spell, William and his new sorcerer stepped into the courtyard.
    She wanted to howl with dismay.
    Her spell hit Henry and the guard, and they released their grip on Soren and turned away, walking toward William.
    Soren stood absolutely still for a moment, and she wondered if she’d overreached and hadn’t managed to bespell three at once, but then he started walking toward the hidden door.
    Miri ground her teeth. It would have been perfect if William wasn’t right there, watching him. She closed her eyes, and threw a second spell at Soren, bringing him back to himself.
    He stumbled, as if the spell had suspended him a little above the ground, and her ripping it away had dropped him back down.
    He ended up on one knee, and again, looked over at her. His face was tight and hard. Angry.
    She didn’t have time to worry about it.
    The