Earth's Magic by Pamela F. Service Read Free Book Online

rippling around them flickered a moment, then returned to its silvery glow.
    “We haven’t much time,” the Lady said, alarm taut in her voice. “You must go soon.”
    “But can you give me no clue where I can find my father, where I can at least begin to search?”
    “No. But I can give you this. Perhaps you know its mate.”
    She pulled a bracelet off her arm and handed it to Merlin. He stared at the bronze band encircled by the flowing pattern of running deer. “My mother had one like it,” he whispered. “She said my father had given it to her. And I … I have now given it to the person I most love.”
    “That is good,” the Lady said. “I hoped that you would. It is meant to be a love gift. And I believe I know her too. She is powerful herself, and she is the one—the
only
one, I think—with whom you can share these secrets. I sense she has a role to play in this yet. But I beg you, tell no one else. The risk is too great. And if you succeed and find my son, give him this bracelet from me.”
    As Merlin slipped the bronze band onto his own wrist, the little dragon sleeping on his shoulder stirred. The Lady laughed. “Ah, you have one of Blanche’s brood, I see. She will be pleased, in her ill-tempered dragon way.”
    Merlin craned to look at the dragonlet, who had opened one red eye. “Yes, but this one seems a bit odd for a dragon.”
    “A vegetation eater, then? Well, some are. That’s part of the great balance. Otherwise, the world would soon be denuded of livestock. Here, he should enjoy this.”
    From out of the silvery air, she pulled a plump pink fruit that smelled of honey. She held it up to the dragon, which snapped at it, sucking and smacking until it was gone. Then he curled up again in the fur-lined hood and snuggled back to sleep.
    Again the light flickered, faded, and came on more weakly than before. “Hurry,” the Lady said urgently. “You must go. There must be no trace of our meeting.”
    Around them the silver light churned, swirled, and dissolved into mist. The Lady was gone. Merlin stood alone by the rocky inlet of Derwentwater.
    He found his staff lying against a rock. In a daze, he took it up and began walking back along the lakeshore toward Keswick. Only slowly did he notice that the fading mist was lit not by moon and comet light but by the shrouded sun. More hours had passed than he’d realized.
    He was tired—tired to the core of his bones, it seemed. But he was also too agitated and overwhelmed by what he had learned to think about sleep. There was so much that needed doing, so much that needed thinking about. And he sensed there was little time for any of that.
    Merlin was nearing the outskirts of town when he saw Heather running toward him, her braids flying. Rus with Goldie astride his back came galloping beside her. “Earl! We were so worried about you. No one had seen you. You hadn’t slept in your room.”
    As she drew nearer, she noticed his drawn and haunted expression. “Are you all right? You look ill. Where have you been?”
    “I don’t know quite where I was. Somewhere … else. And, yes, I suppose I’m all right. It’s just that there’s so much … so much …”
    She put a hand on his arm. “Good gods, Earl, you look like the weight of the world has fallen on your shoulders.”
    “In a way, it has.” He ran a hand through his lank black hair, and Heather glimpsed the bronze band on his wrist, a twin of her own.
    “Earl! That bracelet.”
    He glanced down at it and smiled. “Yes. My … my grandmother gave it to me.”
    “Your grandmother?”
    Gently he pushed a strand of her dark blond hair back from her face. “There is so much I have to tell you. And she said I could, to you at least. But first, there’s something I need to talk to Arthur about.”
    Just then, Sil stirred on his shoulder and opened both bright red eyes. Heather pushed down her burning curiosity and gently stroked the silver tail. “I think he’s grown.”
    “He’s