Read Online Eye of the Labyrinth by Jennifer Fallon - Free Book Online Page A

for ages yet, talking about boring things happening in the world outside Mil that Eryk had no interest in.
    He was much more concerned about the present he was making for Mellie. He planned to give it to her at the Troitsa festival in two days’ time. The day was widely celebrated in Dhevyn every year, several weeks before the bigger and more elaborate Landfall Feast. On Elcast, the houses in the village were decorated with fresh green branches, and a maiden’s clothes were hung on the young birch trees bordering the common at the back of Elcast Keep. The village children (and more than a few adults) floated garlands in the bay, made of birch branches and flowers, in the hope that they would forecast the future, specifically who they would marry. Once the second sun had set, the villagers would then gather on the common, singing and dancing around the decorated birch trees until the ale ran out and they staggered home, drunk and sated on the generosity of the duke.
    Of course there were no birch trees here in the Baenlands, but the festival was just as much fun here as elsewhere in Dhevyn. More fun, perhaps, because here in the Baenlands, nobody celebrated the Landfall Festival.
    Eryk had given a lot of time thinking about what he would make for Mellie. He wanted it to be special. He wanted his gift to say more than just “Happy Troitsa.” He wanted her to understand how he felt ...
    “Eryk!”
    He hastily threw a sack over the incomplete carving and jumped to his feet as Mellie and her best friend Eleska Arrowsmith clambered up the slope toward him. He brushed the wood shavings from his trousers and smiled as they approached, thinking that Mellie grew more beautiful every time he saw her.
    “Did you see, Eryk?” Mellie called out. “The
Wanderer
’s back. Reithan and Dirk are home.”
    “I thaw ... saw them,” he stammered.
    “I’m so glad they got back before Troitsa,” Eleska puffed as she climbed the steep slope beside Mellie. She was as fair as Mellie was dark, and just as full of fourteen-year-old selfconfidence as her best friend. “I’m going to make Dirk dance with me all night, and then when I float my garland, I’ll bet it says he’s going to marry me.”
    Mellie stopped climbing for a moment and turned to stare at Eleska. “Don’t be stupid, Eleska! Why would Dirk want to marry you? He’s going to marry Tia.”
    “But Tia hates him!” Eleska scoffed. “She’s always picking on him. Aren’t I right, Eryk?”
    The youth nodded, a little uncertainly. “I think she must, Mellie. She never says anything nice about him.”
    “I know, but she’ll get over that eventually. I mean, she can’t stay mad at him forever, can she? Anyway, I think they’re perfect for each other. Neris thinks so, too.”
    “Neris is insane, Mellie,” Eleska pointed out.
    “That doesn’t mean he’s wrong.”
    “But why do you care?”
    “Because Dirk is my brother, and if he marries Tia then she really will be my sister, so I’ve decided that it has to happen.”
    “Just because
you
decided?” Eleska asked with a frown. “But why can’t she marry Reithan? He’s your brother, too. Then I can have Dirk.”
    Mellie thought on that for a moment. “I suppose. But Reithan’s a bit old for Tia, isn’t he?”
    “Reithan and Tia are perfect for each other,” Eleska declared as she reached to top of the path. “And that way, I can marry Dirk. Who are you going to marry, Mellie?”
    Mellie flopped down on the ground beside Eryk and looked out over the delta with a thoughtful expression. “I haven’t decided yet.”
    “How about Tabor Isingrin?” Eleska suggested, taking a seat beside Mellie.
    “He’s an idiot,” Mellie said. “And he has bad breath.”
    Eleska laughed. “And how did you get close enough to find that out?”
    Mellie laughed, too, giving her friend a playful shove. “You’re revolting, Eleska.”
    “Well then, what about Panka Droganov? He’s kind of cute, don’t you