Read Online Soulvine 03 A Bright and Terrible Sword by Anna Kendall - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Anna Kendall
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earthquakes and withering in that landscape on the other side of the grave. Eventually it had summoned that bright and terrible thing, which I had merely glimpsed, to rend the sky. Later one of the web women, Alysse, had called that monstrous shining ‘the sword’, and she had turned pale with fear when she spoke of it. So why now didn’t the loss of so many Dead also disturb the landscape?
I had thought to leave all this confusion behind me for ever. I had thought to find Maggie and make a new life with her and my son. I didn’t want these questions, didn’t want any more—
Grrrrrrfffffff!
All at once the dog growled, leapt to its feet, and raced towards the oaks, barking frantically. Leo jerked awake and sat upright. In the starlight the scar across his face shone dully. ‘What? What is it?’
‘I don’t know! The dog just went mad!’ I drew my knife.
‘Stay here!’ Leo said, and somehow he didn’t sound like himself. I did not stay there. Leo ran into the trees but I, faster, got there before him. At first I could not see in the dimness under the canopy of leaves. Then I could, and I cried out.
The dog had caught a rabbit. His jaws with their vicious teeth closed on the rabbit’s neck. It gave a high, inhuman scream and then, even as I watched, the rabbit became human. A woman, and the dog’s jaws were closed on her neck. Blood spurted in a powerful jet high into the air. The dog shook her body as if were a rag, then dropped her.
‘Stay away!’ Leo cried.
I knelt beside the woman and turned her face upward. She was dead, and the dog had mangled her face. But I knew her. Alysse, the web woman who was Mother Chilton’s apprentice. She had come to me and to Tom Jenkins as we were being taken by savages over the western mountains. She had told me Soulvine Moor was destroying the web of being that weaves life and death together. She had reprimanded me for tearing that web, and when she was done scolding me and warning me, a white rabbit had hopped away from me into the moonlight.
Another life lost because of me, and another frustrating mystery: What had Alysse wanted to tell me that now I would never know?
I straightened and faced Leo. Bile rose in my throat. ‘You knew.’
‘Knew what? What are you talking about, Roger?’ He stared at the bloody pulp of Alysse’s face, then abruptly dashed behind a tree. I heard the sound of retching.
I was wrong – wasn’t I? How could Leo have known what Alysse was, or that the dog would attack her? But he had yelled, ‘Stay away!’ with something very like authority. And it was unlike his passivity to dash after the dog; it would have been more typical of him to huddle beside the fire, gun ready and face fearful. On the other hand, here he was vomiting at the very sight of blood – not the reaction of a man who anticipates a murder. I hadno real reason to believe that Leo ‘knew’ anything about this attack.
But the dog knew. It had made an unerring leap at the rabbit that was Alysse, and not with its usual joyful hunting of food for us to eat. This had been a snarling attack with bared teeth. Just as when other dogs had protected me: in a cottage in Almsbury, on a rock beside Hygryll on Soulvine Moor. But Alysse had been no danger to me. So why had the dog killed her?
It sat with blood on its muzzle, looking at me. Stifling my fear, I squatted beside it and looked into those green eyes. I saw nothing but dog. Pleased by the attention, it tried to lick my hand, and I snatched it away as if from a fire. ‘No!’
The dog looked puzzled and scratched at a flea.
Gently I covered Alysse’s face with the spare cloth from my pack. She had died trying to reach me to tell me something, of that I was sure. The web women knew where I was. But the web women were no danger to the Brotherhood of hisafs fighting Soulvine Moor. The two groups had different ideas about how to fight and so did not work together; both my father and Mother Chilton had told me that.
I had thought to leave all this confusion behind me for ever. I had thought to find Maggie and make a new life with her and my son. I didn’t want these questions, didn’t want any more—
Grrrrrrfffffff!
All at once the dog growled, leapt to its feet, and raced towards the oaks, barking frantically. Leo jerked awake and sat upright. In the starlight the scar across his face shone dully. ‘What? What is it?’
‘I don’t know! The dog just went mad!’ I drew my knife.
‘Stay here!’ Leo said, and somehow he didn’t sound like himself. I did not stay there. Leo ran into the trees but I, faster, got there before him. At first I could not see in the dimness under the canopy of leaves. Then I could, and I cried out.
The dog had caught a rabbit. His jaws with their vicious teeth closed on the rabbit’s neck. It gave a high, inhuman scream and then, even as I watched, the rabbit became human. A woman, and the dog’s jaws were closed on her neck. Blood spurted in a powerful jet high into the air. The dog shook her body as if were a rag, then dropped her.
‘Stay away!’ Leo cried.
I knelt beside the woman and turned her face upward. She was dead, and the dog had mangled her face. But I knew her. Alysse, the web woman who was Mother Chilton’s apprentice. She had come to me and to Tom Jenkins as we were being taken by savages over the western mountains. She had told me Soulvine Moor was destroying the web of being that weaves life and death together. She had reprimanded me for tearing that web, and when she was done scolding me and warning me, a white rabbit had hopped away from me into the moonlight.
Another life lost because of me, and another frustrating mystery: What had Alysse wanted to tell me that now I would never know?
I straightened and faced Leo. Bile rose in my throat. ‘You knew.’
‘Knew what? What are you talking about, Roger?’ He stared at the bloody pulp of Alysse’s face, then abruptly dashed behind a tree. I heard the sound of retching.
I was wrong – wasn’t I? How could Leo have known what Alysse was, or that the dog would attack her? But he had yelled, ‘Stay away!’ with something very like authority. And it was unlike his passivity to dash after the dog; it would have been more typical of him to huddle beside the fire, gun ready and face fearful. On the other hand, here he was vomiting at the very sight of blood – not the reaction of a man who anticipates a murder. I hadno real reason to believe that Leo ‘knew’ anything about this attack.
But the dog knew. It had made an unerring leap at the rabbit that was Alysse, and not with its usual joyful hunting of food for us to eat. This had been a snarling attack with bared teeth. Just as when other dogs had protected me: in a cottage in Almsbury, on a rock beside Hygryll on Soulvine Moor. But Alysse had been no danger to me. So why had the dog killed her?
It sat with blood on its muzzle, looking at me. Stifling my fear, I squatted beside it and looked into those green eyes. I saw nothing but dog. Pleased by the attention, it tried to lick my hand, and I snatched it away as if from a fire. ‘No!’
The dog looked puzzled and scratched at a flea.
Gently I covered Alysse’s face with the spare cloth from my pack. She had died trying to reach me to tell me something, of that I was sure. The web women knew where I was. But the web women were no danger to the Brotherhood of hisafs fighting Soulvine Moor. The two groups had different ideas about how to fight and so did not work together; both my father and Mother Chilton had told me that.
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