Read Online Fire Arrow by Edith Pattou - Free Book Online

fire in the head, and I suppose it is so, although it is a fire we kindle ourselves—it is gentle, and, for the most part, without fear. I find it rather pleasant, a hearth fire, if you will." She took a sip of cyffroi, looking thoughtfully at Brie. "I should not be surprised if there was a little of wyll fire in you."
    Brie laughed. "That's absurd."
    "Why?"
    "Because I am Eirrenian and have shown no particular gift for fortune-telling in all my years. No, I have fire in my bow, my arrow, even in my name. That's quite enough fire for me."
    "Perhaps, but perhaps not. I have not had a trance that took such hold of me since I was in Dungal, with a fellow wyll who sought the heart of an unbending fisherman."
    "Would I not have felt it, if I did have magic or draoicht of some kind?"
    "It is usually so. But there have been cases when it lay dormant for many years..."
    "Well, I have no wyll fire, nor any draoicht, and that is that." Brie took another sip of the cyffroi. As she got used to the Dungalan beverage, she was noticing that under the bitterness was a subtle taste of nuts and vanilla. "Are there many wylls in Dungal?"
    "Not so many as there once were. There used to be at least one in every village. But now many villages have none. The coastal villages had their own kind of wyll; they are men, called Sea Dyak sorcerers. There are also only a very few of these left in Dungal.
    "In fact, there is a Sea Dyak sorcerer in Bog Maglu. Perhaps he is the man of power I saw, which could account for the seabirds..." Aelwyn paused as though to examine this train of thought. Then she continued. "He was once the most powerful sorcerer in Dungal; Yldir is his name. I cannot tell you how old he is for no one knows, but there are stories of him alongside heroes who lived hundreds of years ago. Before my parents were born he became a hermit, went off by himself to live in Bog Maglu. There are a few who have made pilgrimages to see him there, and they say he is quite mad, but still powerful. He lives near the stones of memory."
    "Why are they called stones of memory?" Brie asked.
    "Because they are thought to hold the entire history of Dungal inscribed on their surfaces. Only one of great power, such as Yldir, can read the ciphers and pictures etched in the stones." Aelwyn paused. "I see a Dungalan arrow in your quiver. Is this the arrow of fire you spoke of?"
    "Yes. How did you know it to be Dungalan?"
    "The fletching feathers are goldenhawk."
    "It was my mother's. The man Bricriu tried to steal it. It has bands of color I cannot make out. Perhaps you..." Brie reached for the arrow.
    "No," said Aelwyn definitely, raising her hand to arrest Brie's movement. "I prefer not to hold the arrow. Fire magic can be unpredictable."
    Brie nodded, thinking of her blistered fingers. "Yet it is cool most of the time." She paused. "Sometimes I feel it is drawing me to Dungal."
    "It could be," answered the wyll, smiling. "Take care it does not kindle in you more than you bargained for."
    Brie uneasily asked what the wyll meant, but Aelwyn ignored her, saying her head was still pounding and she needed to rest. She finished her cup of cyffroi and settled herself on the ground, pulling her cloak over her face.
    ***
    When dawn came, Brie woke a cranky Aelwyn. Ciaran was already awake, grazing nearby.
    While Aelwyn brewed more cyffroi, Brie consulted her map.
    "That looks to be a wizard's map," observed Aelwyn.
    "It belonged to Crann, the wizard of the trees."
    "I have heard of him."
    "Where is the village where your friend lives?"
    Aelwyn leaned over the map. "Here," she said, pointing to a spot a short distance east of Lake Or. "And this is the way to Beirthoud's Pass." The route through the mountains lay directly north of the lake.
    Aelwyn suddenly laughed, her good spirits restored by the cyffroi. "A fire arrow and a wizard's map. And you say there is nothing of wyll fire in you."
    ***
    As they came to the top of a ridge, they saw Lake Or stretched out