Read Online [Books of Bayern 1] The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale - Free Book Online Page B

She looked around to see what had disturbed so large a stone. No one. But perhaps, she thought, for just a moment, there had been a flash of gold. Perhaps it had been the tip of a yellow braid disappearing in the timber and shadow.
    Ani ran back to camp, grimacing with each step for her sore ankles, and was brushing Falada when the hikers returned. Ungolad saw her and for a moment seemed surprised to see her alive and dry, but his expression changed again so quickly that she questioned if she had seen truly.
    He passed her, patted her shoulder, and said, "You missed a fine waterfall, Princess."
    She was not sure that he or anyone had thrown that stone. But even if he did, she thought, I'm protected. I don't need to fear. She patted the handkerchief at her chest and believed even more fervently that it was protecting her, that she could hear the voice of her mother's blood even as she heard the birds speak.

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A week after the waterfall, the company came to a tree as thick as five men that had fallen across the road. While some of the guards and horses worked at moving the obstacle for the wagons, the rest of the company forged their own way through the forest. Ani and Falada wove through the trees a bit apart from the others.
    Something is not right, said Falada.
    What is it?
    I do not know. His ears twisted to listen behind and to the side, but he kept on walking.
    Stop a moment, said Ani. She leaned forward to pat his neck.
    Suddenly Falada whined and reared. Ani clutched at his mane and gripped his middle with her legs, saying all the while, Easy, Falada, it is nothing, easy now.
    Falada got his footing back and quieted down. His skin shivered under the saddle.
    Something whipped me, he said.
    Ani looked back and saw no one. Immediately to the right ran a long gorge, a fall steep enough to break a neck.
    Ani and Falada caught up to the rest on the road and pulled alongside Ungolad at the end of the company. She looked the guard over. His braids hung down his back like slain prey thrown over the hunter's shoulder. He wore a long sword at his side. He was looking forward, squinting in the sun. Some bit of courage was prickling inside her, begging her for action. She considered Ungolad's horse, a bay nearly as tall as Falada.
    Falada, can you tell me about this horse and what he thinks of his rider?
    Falada whisked his tail and turned an eye to the horse beside him. There was a change in the rhythm of his walk, and he lowered his head. The bay shook his head and picked his hooves up higher. From long association with Falada, Ani thought she could detect the spirit of the bay's response but waited for Falada's words to make her certain. Ungolad noticed the princess's attention, and he smiled at her.
    "Do you admire my beast, Princess?" he said.
    She nodded. "He is a pretty horse, and you ride him well. He seems a bit meek, but I have observed that you like to be in absolute control."
    Ungolad blinked in surprise. She felt surprised herself, and she smiled pleasantly.
    "You are a student of men and horses, then," he said, "and I had heard that all you were fit for was to be married off and produce princelings."
    Ungolad's comment would have stung, but its carelessness suggested that she had startled him, and she felt encouraged to continue.
    "In my study of horses, I can say a fair bit about yours," she said as Falada silently related to her all he had learned. "He was a wild colt, caught and trained later than usual, and had to be thoroughly broken, which made him ridable, but broke his spirit as well. He has had many owners and has been beaten into obedience so often that by the time he came into your hands he was as docile as a cow. He thinks you are unpredictable, heavier than you used to be, and smell unpleasantly. And he has a stone in his right front hoof."
    Ungolad laughed with obvious force. "Well, Princess, you have more game spirit in you than I thought." He smiled, and the very