The Veil Weavers Read Online Free PDF

said Eneirda.
    “I don’t know what to do,” I said. “How can I fix the veil?”
    “Tss. If you cannot, we all will die,” said Greyfur.
    “You must find a way,” said Keeper.
    Corvus cawed in agreement.
    But how? I borrowed Maddy’s ring and walked over to the doorway. Through the ring, I could see a gold line marking its edge, and a gash stretching across it. Magic poured out, golden as honey. All around the tear, magic was pale and thin, as if it had been drained off.
    I touched the edge of the veil and hung on as magic poured up my arm. I could feel the veil stretching around the world, woven of threads as fine as spider’s silk. I could feel the tears in all the doorways the nexus ring had been through, and feel magic flowing into the human world.
    I grabbed both sides of the veil and pulled them together. They touched and light flared, but I couldn’t get the edges to connect. Frustrated, I muttered, “To fix something, you need the right tools, like a needle and thread to sew up a hole. I don’t know what I need, or if it’s even possible to repair it.”
    “You’ll find a way. We’ll all help you,” Maddy said, nodding towards the group beside the lake. Then her eyes widened. “Maybe breakfast will help!”
    She had a huge grin on her face as she checked out the meal Keeper and the otter-people set out for us. Keeper had lit a fire – he was heating water for mint tea and grilling meat. Buns were lined up at the edge of the fire, warming. A small bowl full of dried berries sat nearby.
    “You have buns?” Maddy asked.
    Keeper nodded. “Usually I bake my own but these are a gift from a park warden, a friend of mine.”
    When I looked surprised, Keeper laughed. “I have many friends.”
    Starving, we settled in to feast. Once I was full, I sat back and started to think again. “How was the veil created?” I asked.
    “Aleena is the best storyteller,” said Keeper. I could hear disapproval in his voice, as he remembered the trouble she’d created before she understood the damage caused by the nexus ring.
    I could tell that Aleena heard it too; her pale skin grew even more pale and her eyes darkened and snapped in anger. But she stayed – perhaps the Will of the Gathering held her.
    “Long ago,” she said, “the Ancient Ones helped the earth grow. They taught living things magic, and embedded it in the rocks, in water and ice, in the very air we breathe. They drew it from sunlight and moonlight and stardust.”
    Aleena spoke in her beautiful voice like she was weaving a story. She was a natural storyteller, her voice soft and fluid. She was beautiful to watch, too, if you didn’t know how scary she could be.
    “They worked to keep magic in the world, as humans multiplied and learned to build. Some humans remembered magic, but more forgot, enamoured with building, making and doing. Eventually the Ancient Ones gave up on humans and divided the world in two – one for magic and one for humans – and set the veil between.”
    Eneirda nodded her approval.
    “Where are they now?” I asked.
    “They are no more,” said Aleena.
    “What happened to them?” asked Maddy.
    Greyfur answered. “No one knows, hnn. When the veil was, they were not.”
    “But what happened to them?” Maddy asked again, sounding stubborn.
    Keeper shrugged.
    “Maddy, come with me,” I said.
    She followed me back to the doorway.
    “Hold up your ring.”
    She slipped her ring off her finger and held it up for me to peer through.
    Watching through the ring, I grabbed both sides of the tear, hung on past the initial shock of magic, and settled into the veil. I could feel every gash. When I settled deeper I could feel time moving along the veil. I went even deeper, until I could hear the veil singing. I knew I was hearing the song of the Ancient Ones. But I still had no idea how to fix the tears.
    Maddy and I walked back to the shore of the lake. “I need to know what happened to the Ancient Ones,” I announced.