The Wittering Way by Nat Burns Read Free Book Online Page B

happen to her. I was also unsure about why they had taken her. To what end? The longer we dallied, the greater the danger could become.
    “What’s next, Yewsy? You’ve gone farther into these woods than most.”
    Yewsy turned a quizzical gaze toward me. “No, not really. I usually go the other way around and south, to avoid the Neisi. Mother has burned the hazards of Felshea Falls into my very breast.”
    “Ahh,” I agreed. It was common knowledge that crossing the falls was the closest way out of the forest but it was fraught with danger, both from the Neisi and from the Gobbyes, who often camped beneath the bridge. Rumor had it that children were the favorite food of both creatures.
    I thought of my own mother, heard her repeated warnings and felt a flash of pain rip through me. Thankfully, this mission was helping me place her death to one side. I firmed my jaw and mentally repeated again—I would grieve later.
     
     

Book Ten
     
     
     
    A SMALL HINT of sunlight brightened the eastern sky some hours later and I breathed a sigh of relief. The wooden bridge across the top of Felshea River loomed large against scattering clouds. It was a welcome sight. I was fatigued from the many legs we had traveled through the forest during the night and knew my companions were as well. Though well past atrebud stage, they were nevertheless young and had even less stamina than I.
    I narrowed my eyes together, creating slits. I shut out all surrounding sound, especially Tsisi’s chatter, and listened for my sister. She was talking to...a young woman. A very thin young woman, of Brinc clan. The glimpses I saw of her face showed shadowed, gaunt cheeks with sharp cheekbones and sunken, gleaming blue eyes. Oddly enough, I sensed feelings of affection radiating from Avapeony.
    I snapped my eyes wide as we trod forward toward the river. This was a puzzlement indeed. How could Avapeony feel anything other than hatred for her captors?
    RoseIII approached closely behind me. “Cleome, what say we rest a time before we make the crossing? We will need powerful wit about us.”
    I nodded and lowered my bags as we moved deeper into the trees that were nestled against the foothills of Ziv Mountain. In the brightening dawn, the nuances of the Neisi’s form were even more evident. I saw now that gill slits laddered up the sides of its torso. They moved as it breathed in air but it was heartily evident that the creature needed to return to the water and soon.
    Tsisi buzzed by my head. “I’m off to get food,” she said. “I’ll bring back some for all.”
    “Wait! There’s no way you can carry enough,” I said wearily. I turned and spied tiny Capel watching me with bright brown eyes. “Would you go with her, Capel?”
    Her fammie, Walsh, brightened and broke into happy tendrils which she wrapped around Capel’s head, making a tall hat. Capel knocked the fammie aside absently and smiled at me, one cheek dimpling in as if touched at birth by a Jana finger. “Of course! Come, Tsisi, we’ll sing as we work.”
    I smiled as I watched her skip away, the Jana and the fammie spinning in dance above her head. I knew Tsisi would protect her from any Morri magic so turned my attention back to our rudimentary campsite.
    Lemon and Saffron, fammies limp, sat together to one side, murmuring to one another, the Neisi standing slack behind them. I marveled again at how similar their appearance, with matching short golden curls and huge clear, green eyes. Twinning did occur from Lake Feidlimed but it was greeted with a sense of awe. Only very powerful magic received twins. I thought about their mother, Airgialla, who certainly fit that criteria. She was a daughter of RoseIII’s Thorn join before entering into the Basil join as a young woman. Once settled in, she had worked hard to foster her household skills and was now one of the most powerful hearth wits out there. Even my mother, so powerful in her own right, had sought advice from Airgialla’s