No Place for Magic by E. D. Baker Read Free Book Online Page A

took off anymore. "Don't worry," he said. "A sea monster that could make it this far upriver won't be any problem for my singing sword."
    "You have a singing sword?" asked the boy who was missing a tooth. "Can I see it?"
    While an admiring crowd of men and boys gathered around Eadric and Ferdy to escort them to the river, I was left to follow with my ladies-in-waiting. Some of the local maidens stayed behind to help clear the square; the rest tagged along as we filed through the streets. From the venomous glances they gave me, I was sure they were hoping that I'd trip and fall into the river headfirst, leaving Eadric available again.
    Although enough townsfolk carried torches to fend off the darkness, they couldn't block the night's sounds as we entered the rugged terrain surrounding the town. Unseen birds called warnings at our approach, and deep-throated insects thrummed in the rocks nearby. A howling in the distance was plaintive, with an oddly human quality. Eadric had told me that werewolves plagued his kingdom off and on; they must have come back.
    As we passed the end of the wall and drew closer to the river, the rushing water nearly drowned out the cries of the birds, and I could smell the pungent odor of freshwater and dead fish. The women from town who had gone this far left us, some of the torch-bearing men hurrying them back. The rest of the men became more vigilant, breaking off their conversation with Eadric to study the river. I noticed that the men around me were armed with pitchforks and stout sticks, as if they could be of any use against a sea monster.
    "The river looks so peaceful," I said to the young man closest to me.
    "It looks peaceful because it's deep," he said, holding his torch high. "This is the Yaloo River. Its headwaters are in the mountains north of here. By the time it gets this far, it's very deep and stays that way as far as the sea. You wouldn't believe what we've seen in these waters this past year. Some monsters have started going upriver to spawn, but the real horrors are the ones that come here to eat them. We used to enjoy walking by the river, but now it isn't safe for man nor b—"
    Something enormous splashed in the middle of the river, sending wavelets over the bank almost to our feet. Torches were held higher, their light reflecting off the water where ripples continued to arrow in our direction. Whatever was out there was coming our way. Their swords drawn, my knights ran to join Eadric on the riverbank.
    "Get back, Your Highness!" said the young man as others hustled me behind an outcropping of rock. I could hear the cries of the ladies-in-waiting as they huddled together close by. The men hovered around me for a moment, but when one of the villagers near the water called out, they ran back to join their companions, shouting, "Stay there!" to me and taking their torches with them. I tried to follow them, only to have the one man who had been left to guard me block my way. Retracing my steps, I strained to hear what was going on while trying to think of how I could help without it being obvious that I was using magic.
    I heard running feet, the slap of something large and wet on stone, a man crying out, then Ferdy's familiar voice. "Slash, hack, chop and whack . . .," he sang, which meant that Eadric was fighting the sea monster.
    Hiking up the hem of my gown, I was trying to climb the rock to see if I could help when there was a high-pitched keening and the rush of wings, and something hit me in the chest, knocking me back the few feet I had climbed. I landed on the ground with an Oof! then struggled to sit up, realizing when I couldn't that something heavy was weighing me down and had started to lick my face. My hands met scales when I tried to push it off.
    "Emma," said the voice of an adolescent dragon, "I've been looking all over for you. See what I won!"
    I rubbed my eyes and tried to see my assailant in the near dark. From the sound of his voice I knew it was my friend