The Princess and the Snowbird by Mette Ivie Harrison Read Free Book Online Page B

shape once more, whenever it was necessary, but he could not be sure. He had to help her escape.
    “Get your bows!” shouted one of the men to the boys who were still standing.
    The boys ran for their bows and arrows. Jens moved toward them, deliberately getting in their way. They fell over his feet, then cursed him for his clumsiness. He managed to break at least one bow before the boys got away.
    Jens ran after them into the forest. He could see no sign of the owl, but his father shouted, “I can sense the aur-magic. This way!”
    They were headed north, which was where Jens had first met the girl Liva.
    Jens could not allow them to continue in that direction. He saw a bird flying overhead and shouted, “This way!” It was the wrong color and shape, but it was similar enough that at least half the party turned immediately, rushing in the other direction.
    What arrows were left went to bring down that bird. It was a small hawk, and the rest of the party, including Jens’s father, came back when it was downed.
    Jens stood over the still body of the hawk and felt the weight of this death on his hands. He had never killed an animal before.
    And it was not his bow and arrow that had downed this one. But his intent had. He’d done it so that Liva could escape. He would have traded her for any animal in the forest, of any size. But the hawk had been beautiful. It still was, even in death.
    “The aur-magicked one did not change into a hawk ,” said his father stubbornly, staring at it.
    “It must have,” said Jens, quietly.
    “It was an owl. I saw it. And far whiter than this one.”
    “You must be mistaken,” said Jens.
    “And there is no sign of the aur-magic in this one that would allow it to change from mouse to bird,” his father went on.
    But the other men seemed less interested in finding the real creature who had changed shape and more interested in enjoying their triumph.
    They took up the hawk and brought it back to the village, intending for it to be stuffed and raised as a reminder to all about what happened to those who used aur-magic.
    “Aur-magic,” his father muttered as they marched. “The Hunter would know the difference between an animal and a human with aur-magic. That’s what the burning is for.”
    Jens shivered at the thought of Liva burning.
    “We are too far north, too much away from the strong tehr-magic of the the city. Your mother wanted to comehere. I never understood why. She loved the untouched forest and its wild animals, aur-magic and all. But I should have gone back the day she died. Not that it would have made any difference with you.”
    “Father, I like it here,” said Jens.
    “Because you can’t tell any more difference between the aur-magic and the tehr-magic than you can between an owl and a hawk,” said his father, and with a cutting hand gesture made it clear that he did not want Jens to follow him back to the gathering place.
    Jens went instead to his hut, glad that he had seen the pika, but a little disappointed that he had not seen the girl. Ah well, he would not wish Liva back into the danger of the village. If he wished to see her again, he would have to go to her. Alone, without a hunting party. He wondered whether he would be able to find his way that far north safely. The animals there were not naturally afraid of humans, and he had no magic to tame them.
    But as he approached his hut, he saw the owl circling overhead, and his heart pinched inside his chest. It was not that he had thought she had been harmed, but it was so good to see her again, to know that she cared for him enough to return, even after all that had happened to her. She knew that he was not like the other village men, and that made all the difference to Jens.
    As soon as he thought of the other village men, he remembered her danger. He stepped out into the clear and waved urgently at the owl, thinking to send her away.Instead of obeying him, the owl flew to the ground next to his door and