The Skrayling Tree Read Online Free PDF Page B

that he had come in a taxi.
     It was the same driver who had brought us from Englishtown. I had a sudden thought, asked him to wait, and went inside. I
     wrote a hasty note to the children, came out, and asked him to post it for me. As Klosterheim got into his cab, the driver
     waved cheerfully. He had no sense of the supernatural tensions in the air, nor of the heartbreaking tensions within me, the
     impossible decision I had to make.
    After watching them drive off, I returned to the houseand picked up the medicine shield. I had no interest in Klosterheim’s ambitions or any conflict he was engaged in. All I cared
     about was the information he had given me. I was prepared to risk all to let the shield take me to my husband.
    Almost in a trance, I carried the thing through a blustering wind that tugged and buffeted at it, down to the jetty. Then
     I stripped off my outer clothes, threw the shield into the water and gasped as I flung myself after it. Feeling it move under
     me, I climbed onto it, using it like a raft. The wind wailed and bit at my flesh, but now the shield had a life of its own.
     It felt as if muscles began to form in the skin as it moved rapidly across the water out towards the island we had visited.
     I expected it to follow its owner into the maelstrom.
    Had the medicine shield come completely alive? Did it have intelligence? Or did it intend to fling me against the rocks? For
     now it seemed to protect me as the cold water heaved and the cold wind blew.
    My fingers dug deep into the edges. Even my toes tried to grip parts of the frame as it bucked and kicked under me.
    Then I felt it lift suddenly and move rapidly out to sea, as if it hoped to escape what threatened us. My fingers were in
     agony, but I would have clung on dead or alive. My will had molded me to that huge woven frame.
    All at once it was diving. I had no time to catch my breath, and I no longer had gills. It was going to drown me!
    I saw the high jagged pillars of rock coming uptowards me, saw massive dark shapes moving in the swirling water. I cursed myself for an irresponsible fool as my lungs began
     to fail. I felt my grip on the shield weakening, my senses dimming, as I was dragged inexorably downward.

CHAPTER TWO
On the Shores of Gitche Gumee
    Nine by nine and seven by seven,
    We shall seek the roots of heaven.
    W HELDRAKE ,
    “A Border Tragedy”
    S uddenly I had burst back out of the water into blinding light. I could see nothing and could hear only the wild keening of
     a wind. Something icy had me in its grasp. Frozen air wrapped itself around me and effortlessly ripped my hands from the shield.
     My willpower was useless in the face of such a force. I did all I could to get my grip back, but the wind was relentless.
     If I had not known it before, I certainly understood it now. This was a sentient wind, a powerful elemental, which clearly
     directed its wrath specifically at me. I could sense its hatred, its personality. I could almost see a face glaring into mine.
     I could not imaginehow I had offended it or why it should pursue me, but pursue me it did.
    There was absolutely no resisting that force. It snatched the shield away and threw me in the other direction. I believe it
     intended to kill me. I felt myself strike water, and then I had lost consciousness.
    I had not expected to awake at all. When I did, I felt a surprising sense of well-being, of safety. I was lying on springy
     turf, tightly wrapped in some sort of blanket. I could smell the sweet grass and heather. I was warm. I was relaxed. Yet I
     remained calmly aware of the danger I had escaped and of the urgency of my mission. In contrast to my earlier experience,
     I now felt completely in control of my body, even though I could barely move a finger! Had I reached the realm where my husband
     had been taken? Was Ulric near? Was that why I felt safe?
    I could see the grey, unstable sky. It was either dawn or twilight. I could not turn my head enough to see a