The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland Read Free Book Online Page A

father doesn’t mean me to be a squire at all? I know Grace likes me and I do hope that we will be betrothed. But my third fear is that my parents may want her to be betrothed to Serle and not to me.
    My three joys. The first is to go out and about with Gatty, and Tempest and Storm. They’re my companions; I am their leader. My second joy is my skill with the longbow. I am the best at that, and have even beaten my father. My third joy is my reading and writing, and what I learn when I talk to Oliver and Merlin.

17
TEMPEST’S TEETH
    A S I WALKED INTO THE HALL, TEMPEST CAME RUNNING out with some teeth between his teeth. They looked like a row of spikes: like the long, pointed teeth of the witch, Black Annis.
    I called Tempest back and made him open his jaws, and what fell out was the comb I carved for Sian for her last birthday! I don’t know where it had been hibernating, but I thanked Tempest for finding it and washed it in the moat. Then I gave the comb back to Sian and told her to use it sometimes. “Otherwise,” I said, “Black Annis will come in the night and eat you.”
    â€œNot just for that!” said Sian. “Would she?”

18
JUST JACK
    S LIM COOKED MUTTON STEW TODAY, AND MY MOTHER complained he put too much spice into it.
    â€œI can’t taste the meat at all,” she said, “or the onions. Only the cinnamon.”
    She liked the honey custard, though, and so did I. At dinner, I told everyone my Jack-words. Jack-Daw and Jack Frost, Jack-Straw. “And there’s Jack-o’-Lantern,” I said.
    â€œThere is!” cried my mother. “And the uglier the better!” Then she screwed up her eyes. I should have remembered that baby Mark died on Hallowe’en last year.
    â€œGo on, Arthur,” my father said.
    â€œThat’s all I know.”
    â€œI know another,” my father said, “and so should you, Serle.”
    â€œI do,” said Serle. “Jack. Just jack.”
    â€œWhat is it?”
    â€œA kind of coat,” said Serle. “Without any sleeves. I think jacks are made of leather, usually.”
    â€œThey are,” said my father. “Cloth or leather.”
    â€œWith small iron plates sewn into the lining,” said Serle. “We wouldn’t wear them. Foot soldiers wear them.”
    â€œVery good, Serle,” said my father.

19
NAIN IN ARMOR
    L YING BESIDE THE HALL FIRE LAST NIGHT, I STARTED to think about the names for different pieces of armor. Then on the far side of the hall, Nain began to snore. And then I connected them:
    And her shoes are connected to her shin guards,
And her shin guards are knotted to her knee joints,
And her knee joints are tied to her thigh plates,
And her thigh plates are thonged to her mail-shirt,
And her mail-shirt’s strapped to her neck flap,
And her neck flap’s fastened to her helmet,
And her helmet’s bolted to her nasal,
And her nasal’s what covers Nain’s nose!

20
OBSIDIAN
    I WAS HALFWAY UP TUMBER HILL WHEN I HEARD A SHOUT and saw Merlin climbing up behind me. He has never done that before.
    When we reached the top, he asked me whether I had ever thought about crossing-places.
    â€œYou mean fords?” I said.
    â€œFords, yes. Bridges! And the foreshore, where the ocean tries to swallow the land, and the land tries to dry up the sea.”
    â€œI’ve never seen the sea,” I said.
    â€œYou will,” Merlin replied. “Look over there, beyond Pike Forest. Where England ends and Wales begins.”
    â€œIt’s trembling,” I said.
    â€œExactly!” said Merlin. “Between-places are never quite certain of themselves. Think of dusk, between day and night. It’s blue and unsure.”
    â€œNew Year’s Eve is a crossing-place,” I said.
    â€œIt is,” said Merlin. “Between year and year. And this year, between century and century.” He snapped a piece of grass, then wrapped one hand