Read Online Hero by Alethea Kontis - Free Book Online Page A

stay,” said the lorelei. “This magic will be one of my finest works.” Cwyn hopped anxiously from pillarstone to pillarstone, flapping her wings and stirring the air. The bracelet of stones at the witch’s wrist burst to life with an inner fire.
    This display of power frightened Peregrine; he took small comfort in the fact that it would lay the witch low for some time in the aftermath. “I worry about you, Mother. I fear this magic is too taxing for you.”
    “You’re a sweet girl,” said the lorelei, meaning nothing of the sort. “Hold the map for me, darling.”
    So much for getting out quickly. “Of course, Mother.”
    Intoxicated by the sheer pressure of magic filling the room, the compulsion to do the lorelei’s bidding overwhelmed him. He shuffled to the table to retrieve the map where he’d tossed it. Betwixt remained glued to his skirt; Peregrine almost tripped over the chimera twice. In his hands the map buzzed with energy, as if reinfused with the life of the animal from whose skin it had been made. The steam made the hairs on his arms and neck stand on end.
    The lorelei’s voice echoed, deep and melodic:
     
“From Earthen fire let cauldron bubble,
Reveal to me Woodcutter trouble.”
     
    Sparks of lightning from the cauldron cracked against the cave walls. The cauldron’s contents became a small sun, blinding with a bright yellow light. Rooted in place by the spell, Peregrine could not turn his face away.
    The map began to bleed.
    Somewhere north of Arilland a pinprick of blood welled up out of the skin and ran, dripping onto the ground and instantly vanishing into smoke like liquid flame. The map turned to ashes in Peregrine’s fingertips and danced away on the gale-force drafts of wind now swirling about the room.
    Relieved of his duty, Peregrine felt his limbs tense and come back under his own control. He slowly backed away from the lorelei and her cauldron. He froze when she turned in his direction, away from the cauldron, but the rapture on her empty face was not directed at him. She was focused on the bird.
    The ball of the bright yellow light from the cauldron swallowed Cwyn, holding her just above the fire in the center of the cavern. The raven began to spin—or the colors around her did—either way, Peregrine’s stomach rolled sickly on the bird’s behalf. Betwixt’s low growls vibrated through Peregrine’s skirt and into his legs. The chimera’s snake tail wrapped around Peregrine’s wrist and guided him slowly backwards, away from the spell.
    From the reflection in the moat, Peregrine watched the ball of light and feathers in the center of the room spin faster and faster. Then it began to grow larger and larger. Peregrine swayed. He blinked several times. Lights flashed. His head throbbed. He closed his eyes. Blood roared through his head. He slipped, lost his footing, stumbled into the water. He opened his eyes.
    The roaring was not in his head. From far above, pieces of the cave ceiling began to fall all around the lorelei. Fingerstones trapped her in a crystalline cage before crumbling to the floor. The rumbling got louder and the pieces got larger. A tiny shaft of daylight hit her hair, and then another, reflecting blue on the walls around them. The lorelei threw back her head and screamed to the sky.
    The witch was making a hole in the mountain.
    Terror swept through Peregrine. The lorelei could bring the mountain down with her insanity. If she woke the dragon, the world would soon be finished with them all. The lorelei needed to harness the dragon’s magic for her infernal spells. Surely she wouldn’t be so stupid, but he knew she had the potential. Right now, he had no idea what Fate had in store for him.
    Betwixt, however, had other plans. The snake tail yanked his arm, almost pulling it out of the socket. Peregrine landed quite unceremoniously on his backside in a lump of skirt and hair and chimera. He rolled under a very large, very old outcropping and prayed it