Read Online Tamlyn by James Moloney - Free Book Online

Everyone grows older,’ I said witha laugh, but her pronouncement and her penetrating eyes unsettled me.
    â€˜I don’t mean in the passing of days, Silvermay. I can see it in your face: the things you’ve seen and done are not the normal fare for a sixteen year old.’ She looked towards Tamlyn as she said this, in case I missed her meaning.
    â€˜There’s a lot to tell,’ I said. ‘And the first is that the boy in this stretcher is Ryall, who grew up in your sister’s home in Nan Tocha. We’ve brought him here hoping you can save him.’
    Immediately, she dropped to her knees so she could inspect Ryall’s injuries. ‘He’s barely alive, poor dear. Take him to the house,’ she ordered.
    With Ossin at one end of the stretcher and Tamlyn the other, Ryall was carried to the cottage I was longing to see.
    Like every home in Haywode, ours was one large room divided by curtains that could be drawn across to give privacy when needed. Mattresses, filled with straw, were stored against the wall each morning to give more space for the work of the day. My mother quickly dragged one of these into place to make a pallet for Ryall.
    â€˜Help me with the bandages, Silvermay,’ she instructed.
    I’d been Birdie’s assistant many times and I obeyed without thinking, taking the stained rags as she removed them and bringing new ones from the store she kept ready. In the meantime, she checked every part of Ryall, drawing in a sharp breath once or twice as she uncovered the worst of his wounds. She spent a long time examining his left arm, in particular. ‘I don’t like the look of this,’ she commented.
    I was so absorbed in the nursing I didn’t notice that both Tamlyn and my father were no longer standing behind us. When I went searching, I found them just far enough from the house not to be overheard, my father’s face no less stern than it had been earlier, on the road.
    â€˜â€¦ carry a load like that,’ I heard him say. ‘I should have guessed long ago, after you worked so tirelessly in the fields during the harvest. No commonfolk can keep up such a pace.’ Ossin shook his head. ‘I remember, too, how you wouldn’t accept the gift of my sword on the day you left. It would remain mine, you said, and you would return it to me one day. Only a Wyrdborn must be careful of what he owns, in case it does him harm.’
    During our walk, people had stared in amazement at Tamlyn’s show of inhuman strength. My father had only heard of it from Dinny Grentree, yet he was the first to wonder whether a Wyrdborn might be capable of such kindness. I was on the point of saying, no, youhave it wrong, you’re imagining things, when Tamlyn spoke up in reply.
    â€˜I don’t deny it, Ossin. I am a Wyrdborn. Worse still, I am Tamlyn, the son of Coyle Strongbow who serves the king.’
    â€˜Then there’s no place for you in Haywode. It’s best that you leave.’
    â€˜No,’ I said sharply. ‘Father, you’re treating Tamlyn like you’ve never known him before.’
    â€˜I know he’s a Wyrdborn. Isn’t that enough?’
    â€˜Tamlyn is different and you know he is. During those weeks he was here, you came to respect him, to like him even.’
    â€˜Yes, and every woman was in love with him, too,’ said Ossin. ‘It’s a common trick of the Wyrdborn, Silvermay. Their foul magic can alter the mind — with tragic results, as poor Hespa nearly found out.’
    â€˜Yes, but who saved her from the Wyrdborn?’ I replied. ‘And ask yourself, why did you warm to him while he was here? It was because of the devotion he showed to Nerigold and his hard work around the village. That wasn’t a spell conjured over our minds; he did those things willingly. You should judge him by the way he acts, not by what he is.’
    Ossin Hawker was a brave man who kept careful watch for