Wild Magic Read Online Free PDF Page B

world.’
    ‘You’re damn lucky you aren’t,’ Katla fumed, her grey eyes sparking dangerously.
    They stood eye to eye in this way, as like as a pair of birth-hounds, neither prepared to back down, until Halli, appearing suddenly with a couple of wheels of muslin-wrapped cheese in his arms, intervened.
    ‘It’s good to see that you’re well enough to argue with Fent, but let him take the sword, sister,’ he said quietly. He gave Fent a cold look that made his younger sibling quail in a new and unusual manner.
    He knows
, Katla thought, remembering with sudden clarity the conversation she had overheard after the feast. He knows that Fent is a murderer, that he killed Finn Larson in hot blood at the Allfair. And how much, she wondered, did he know of the episode with the seither, Festrin One-Eye? As if in answer to this, she watched his gaze fall to her miraculously mended right hand, saw how his brows drew together into a single straight line just as their father’s did when he was confounded. Taking advantage of this moment of inattention, Fent shouldered past them both with the box and trotted smartly down the path, his red head bobbing with suppressed energy.
    ‘Let him go,’ Halli said, placing a restraining hand on Katla’s shoulder. ‘The sword is cursed and so is he. Why do you think he hasn’t shaved these last few days?’
    Katla shrugged. ‘Laziness?’
    Halli gave out a brief, harsh shout of laughter. ‘After the seither told him all his ventures would meet with disaster, he hasn’t dared take a knife to his face for fear it will slip and cut his throat!’
    Katla grimaced, feeling almost sorry for her twin.
    ‘And you—’ He stared down again at her arm, lost for words.
    Feeling uncomfortable, Katla tugged her sleeve down over her hand. ‘Oh, that,’ she said inadequately. ‘It’s better.’
    ‘Rather too quickly for nature.’
    One of their farmhands came into view carrying a roll of sailcloth and, catching the end of their conversation, gave Katla a curious glance. Halli took her by the arm and drew her out of the way until the man was out of earshot.
    ‘Was it the seither did this to you, made it whole?’
    Katla warded him off and started walking up the path again. She didn’t want to think about this now. ‘I don’t know.’ Past Feya’s Cross, where the path forked, she took the way up towards the mountain pastures. ‘I don’t care, either,’ she added, firmly. ‘All I know is that it’s whole again and that’s all that matters to me.’ She flexed her fingers, revelling once more in the healthy sensation of separate fingers and strong muscles.
    ‘It may be all that matters to you, but there are those who’ll talk of witchcraft if you don’t keep it hidden. They’ll shun you for it, and the rest of our clan, too.’ He frowned. ‘And with Da set on this mad plan, we’re likely to be outcast soon enough as it is.’
    ‘Not if the stories about Sanctuary are true. Not if he brings back the gold.’ Katla’s eyes shone at the thought.
    ‘It’s all nonsense.’
    ‘Da doesn’t think so.’
    ‘Da’s head’s been turned inside out by that nomad mapseller and his fairytale maps.’
    ‘If Da hears you say that he’ll pound your head. Anyway, who’s to say the map’s not real – it’s most accurately drawn.’
    ‘Aye, well there’s something odd going on,’ Halli glowered. ‘For his is not the only map I’ve seen.’
    Now it was Katla’s turn to frown. ‘Showing the oceanway to Sanctuary?’
    ‘Keep your voice down. Aye. I caught a glimpse of a map that Hopli Garson was showing to Fenil Soronson at the Allfair.’
    Katla considered this in silence for a moment. ‘Then they’ll be planning an expedition too?’
    Halli nodded. ‘No doubt. Fenil is just as mad as Da for tales of treasure and lost islands and the like.’
    ‘But we must get there first!’ she cried, her face lit with fervour. ‘Can we not just take the
Fulmar’s Gift
and set out