Wind Rider Read Online Free PDF Page B

seemed
magical, though different from the pixie blades. I would have to ask Carolina
about it.
    Kara closed the book and put it back in her bag.
    We started walking east; Woltan held the compass, followed by me, Kara, the smith, Elias, and Karsten . The going was easier here — we were not exactly in
a clearing, but the forest was not nearly so dense. We could not walk a
straight line exactly, but at least we could see where we were going, and walk
around the fir trees. The needles felt good underneath my feet.
    We walked on and on, dodging trees. There was no
sign of the enemy, no strange smells in the air, no strange feelings of malign
energy. There was just sunshine, and pine needles, and clean cold air.
    Suddenly, Karsten whistled.
    We turned around and backed up to where he stood.
    “It was the mushrooms!” he said. “I saw some
mushrooms here, and when I dug them up, my feet hit stone, and I found this!”
He was pointing at a patch of three cobblestones, tightly fitted together. The
road. It was narrow, more of a footpath, covered with hundreds of years of
dirt, but you could see stones every few feet.
    “We cultivate these mushrooms in the old city. The
are delicious and full of energy, raw or cooked.”
    I looked around. The mushrooms seemed to like the
stone and soil combination. There were hundreds of them along the road.
    Woltan smiled, patted Karsten on the shoulder. “We won’t be lacking for food or
road now, and had we not taken you along, Karsten , we
would be lacking both.”
    Karsten smiled. “Tonight
we’ll have soup, if we find a spring. And if you save any for later.”
    Elias and Cullen put down their bags and began
picking mushrooms and stuffing their mouths with them. Karsten ,
laughing, followed suit. It was good to see Karsten laugh. I idly touched my hand to sword hilt, and the image of Carolina came to
mind. Eat now, Anders, with the others. The road is not long, but it is
hard, and you may have to fight your way along it.
    I dropped my hand from the sword and Carolina
faded from my view, smiling at me. I saw Kara looking at me.
    “What counsel does your pixie give you?”
    “To eat now, while we can, for the road is not
long, but difficult, and we may have to fight along it.”
    Kara nodded, and bent down to pick up some
mushrooms. She handed two to me. “Good advice.” She bit into a mouthful, and
chewed, swallowed. “They taste like berries and nuts put together.”
    I took the mushrooms and ate them. I bent down to
pick several more, then looked over at Kara and Woltan ,
who were busy picking mushrooms. “Is this the road then, of which the map
speaks?”
    Kara nodded. “It’s going the right way. And it’s
very old.” She pointed one way down the path. “This way leads Southeast to our
country, the land of the Kriek . That way leads
northwest around the dark lord’s mountain to the glass palace, and beyond, to
the ocean and the merpeople . I think you may have to
travel this path again soon.”
    “Won’t I be able to make a portal?”
    Kara shook here head. “Not with your uncle’s eyes
on you. And we can’t make a portal somewhere where there are no Kriek , and to a place we’ve never seen.”
    Then we were walking Southeast, on the path,
picking mushrooms as we walked. The road was narrow, perhaps three or four feet
across, but at least there were no trees on it.
    We came to the end of the mushrooms and began to
walk faster, still chewing on the mushrooms we had picked.
    For some reason, maybe the walking, the fresh air
or the food, I felt better than I had in weeks. The air was still chilly but
the sun filtered through the trees surrounding the path, warming my neck and
arms.
    It was another hour before we came to the river.
    My legs had begun to feel sore, and when I looked
at the others they looked weary as well. The river was shallow, and the smell
of the water dried my throat. I had had nothing to drink since that morning.
    Soon we all were sitting down except