Bone Magic by Brent Nichols Read Free Book Online

falling apart,
the ink fading to where it was almost illegible. The writing was
delicate and feminine, and there was a lock of golden hair tied in
a ribbon. Tira didn't read it, just stuffed it back into his
pocket. She hated knowing things about the people she killed. They
always came back to haunt her dreams, and details only made it
worse.
    "We need to
move," said Tira. "I don't want to be here if that man comes
back."
    Tam nodded.
"Which way?"
    It was a good
question. They couldn't very well go back to Mirk's Ferry. "I guess
we go forward," she said. "There has to be a bridge or a ford
eventually."
    There was a
mule hitched to the cart. They tied Daisy and the pony to the back
of the cart. Tam drove the cart, while Tira commandeered the
captured horse. Nothing would persuade the children to get back
inside the cart once they were out, so the girls crowded onto the
seat beside Tam while Mikail walked. When he got tired he rode
Tam's pony.
    The forest
ended, and for a time they rode through prosperous farmland. Tam
and the children gaped at everything they saw, from stones silos to
spotted cattle. A fortified keep on a hilltop had them staring back
over their shoulders until it was lost from sight.
    For two days
they followed the river, camping in pastures. The river was always
to their right, wide and fast, the far bank a solid mass of
unbroken forest. There were no boats and no bridges. Every village
had a wall around it, and the farm houses all were built like tiny
fortresses with stone walls and stout doors and narrow windows.
    One afternoon,
a garrulous young farm boy walked with them for a couple of miles,
chatting. Tira asked him where the nearest bridge was.
    "Bridge? I
don't know. Maybe at Willan's Crossing? Only I heard it was overrun
by goblins. That's the closest bridge, though. It's up the road a
piece."
    "How far?"
    He shrugged,
rubbing the side of a bony, sunburned nose. "I don't know. A ways?
I've never been."
    "Doesn't anyone
cross the river?" she asked.
    He looked
shocked at the idea. "That's goblin country! We get raids over
here, but across the river? There's goblins everywhere."
    When they
stopped to camp for the evening, Lina wailed, "How will we get home
if there's goblins?"
    "There won't be
goblins," Tira told her.
    "But that boy
said!"
    Tira grinned.
"He also said he's never been across the river. He's never been
anywhere. He doesn't know what he's talking about."
    "But what
if…"
    "It will be
fine," Tira told her. "Tam and I will keep you safe."
    The next day,
though, the farms ended and the country grew wild. This wasn't the
ancient forest they had seen on the other side of the river. This
was farmland abandoned for twenty or thirty years. The road grew
rough, and they had to steer the cart around saplings, or push it
through washed-out sections. On the other hand, game was plentiful,
and Tira brought down a nice buck at midday. She dressed it and put
it in the cart.
    In the
afternoon the road improved slightly. There were paving stones,
though they were buckled and uneven. Saplings had been chopped off
low to the ground, and washed-out sections had been crudely
repaired, making the road bumpy but navigable.
    Late in the day
they came to a squat stone building standing by the side of the
road. Instead of windows it had arrow slits for archers. The door
was solid oak and covered in metal studs. "Maybe we should stay
here tonight," Tira said. "It's defensible."
    "I thought you
said there weren't any goblins," Lina objected.
    "That's not
exactly what I said."
    "I'm scared of
goblins!" Lina wailed.
    "Oh, for… Look.
If I see anything shorter than five feet tall, other than you
three, I'll put an arrow in it. I promise. All right?"
    "Now that,"
said a gruff and gravelly voice, "is the most insulting thing I've
heard all day."
     

Chapter 5
    Lina gave a
small shriek and crowded closer to Tam on the bench. Tira, her
cheeks growing warm, looked at the closest arrow slit in the hut
and gave a helpless