SummerDanse by Terie Garrison Read Free Book Online Page A

of your little maejic tricks. The wood simply reflects the power back onto you. Now, give me something to eat.”
    I shrugged away from him, got a bowl, and filled it with stew, then served myself and moved as far from him as I dared.
    Well, I mused, that explained the headaches. And why I couldn’t feel the life vibrations. But how strange that something as inanimate as wood could hate magic so. Yet, when I thought about it more, wood wasn’t really inanimate. It was a living and growing thing. On Stychs, I had met Etos, the spirit of a tree whose “body” was little more than a stump but whose soul lived on in mighty power.
    I touched the collar again. Now this wood, this wood that hated my power and probably hated me, too, this wood was my unceasing companion. By now I knew I couldn’t take it off, not by myself, not without any tools.
    When he finished eating, Anazian got another length of vine and came over to me. I slurped down the last of my meal before he bound my wrists together again.
    “I have told them to behave themselves tonight,” he said, as if I should be grateful, then went off for his meditation.
    Returning to the fire, I found a blanket and, curling up beneath it, I fell asleep. This time, I slept right through the night, and in the morning found that the vines had obeyed Anazian.

    And so the journey went for the next few days. Anazian would be harsh, almost brutal, in the morning. He’d grow weaker during the day, and in the evenings, before meditating, his tongue would be loose. It was a disconcerting pattern, but at least I recognized it and knew what to expect.
    Three nights after his explanation of the wood, he sat giggling as I cooked. My exasperation reached new heights.
    “You really haven’t figured it out yet, have you?” he asked, sounding much like an arrogant child.
    “No,” I growled, wondering what he could possibly be talking about. “I haven’t. Why don’t you tell me?”
    “All right, I will.”
    I waited, keeping my attention on the food I was preparing.
    “I’m taking you to Penwick,” he finally said.
    “What?” I exclaimed. “The capital city?”
    “The very same.”
    My heart sank, and I blinked back the tears that rose to my eyes. Every bit of my body ached, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it. While I might not know our exact location, I was sure we were still in the eastern forests, hundreds of miles from the capital. I would never survive a journey that long.
    “Ah, but don’t despair. There is more you don’t know—probably haven’t guessed, probably couldn’t guess.”
    I didn’t reply, sure that if I tried to say a word, I would burst into tears. He came closer and patted my shoulder. I shrank away.
    “It won’t take long to get there.”
    I looked at him sharply. Was he suggesting that we would be using the Royal Guard’s network of messenger horses? That was the only way to travel faster than we already were. Unless he meant dragons? But no, that couldn’t be. Other than the red dragons, the only ones in Alloway were those kept by the king for the fighting pits. Held by magic against their will, I could scarcely imagine that even the dragonmasters had enough power to control one out in the open for long.
    With a mischievous smile, Anazian asked, “Want me to tell you?” His voice held an immature note of pride. “I’m folding the land!” And he laughed as if this were the greatest joke in the world.
    “Doing what?”
    “There, you see. Your great master hasn’t taught you everything.”
    Well, no, of course he hadn’t. I’d only been studying with him for a few short months. Anazian knew that. I wasn’t sure which I wanted to understand more: what he was talking about or why he acted so strangely every night.
    “I’ve been folding the land,” he repeated. “Making it so that each step we take moves us farther than normal. It doesn’t make much difference in the forest, for land on which many trees grow is difficult to