Read Online The Mirror of Fate by T. A. Barron - Free Book Online Page B

while unconscious, the ballymag was voicing his views.
    “How can you even speak about going back there?” Hallia pressed. “Once should have been enough.”
    “All I know is something feels very wrong.” I motioned toward the dark vapors rising from the swampland. “There’s a presence down there, something I haven’t felt in a long time. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I know it’s dangerous.”
    She eyed me doubtfully. “Careful, young hawk. This is one time to be sure of your intentions.”
    “I am sure. I want to help the land—our land.”
    “Not just to be someone’s image of a great wizard?”
    “No!” I jabbed my staff into the turf. “And whether or not you believe it, I also intend to be careful.”
    She drew a slow, unsteady breath, and shook her head.

8: A RROWS THAT P IERCE THE D AY
    As Shim’s thunderous cough faded into a rasp, I stepped nearer. “Tell me, old friend. What happened to you?”
    He made an effort to sit up, then fell back to the grass with a resounding thud. The noise was lost, however, in the ongoing tumult from the wrestling giants not far down the hill. Their bellows and roars, punctuated by bodies slamming the turf with enough force to shake the entire slope, joined with the shouts of their onlooking companions. “My poorly node,” moaned Shim. “So stuffed full of muckly muck. Can baredly breade.”
    His massive head turned toward me, spilling more mud and the twisted, barkless remains of a tree. “Merlin. What ith you doings here?”
    “A mistake—my own. But it’s good to see you again.”
    “And you, even wid so muj disgustingly muck.” He groaned, lifted his hand, and took a swipe at his nose. “I’d be gladly to takes you homely, bud I cad hardly move. I feel so weakly! Certainly, definitely, abtholutely.”
    “What happened?”
    His pink eyes glowed like a smith’s tongs. “Dey tries to block da giants’ roadway, de anciently way across da marth. Why, it’s been dere since Fincayra wath bornded. And it’s our bestly pathway for summer fishing in da eastern seath.”
    Glancing at the grappling giants, I shook my head. “Who would be so foolish? So brazen?”
    “Marth ghoulth.”
    “Marsh ghouls?”
    “Yeth!” His enormous hand closed into a fist. “When we tried to opens da roadway anew, dey attack us. Wid arrowth, murderly arrowth, so strong dey can pierce da day.”
    Behind me, Hallia gasped. At the same time, I could feel the ballymag starting to stir again in the sling upon my chest.
    “What do you mean, Shim? Arrows that pierce the day?”
    “Angrily!” he bellowed, ignoring my question. “I gets angrily! I chases dem off da roadway. Arrrarrr, dose ghoulth, dey trick me. I fall headfirstly into a deeply pool of muck.”
    I reached my hand to touch his earlobe, though it was so caked with mud that only a few patches of skin shone through. “That was brave of you.”
    “Brave bud stupidly.”
    “Maybe so.” I grinned. “But I remember a day when you weren’t so brave. When you’d run until sundown just to avoid a bee sting.”
    Shim half guffawed, half coughed. “I never did like getting stingded.” Then the edges of his mouth turned down. “Dis time, dough, I almost drownded. Only my friends’ brawnily arms pulls me freely. And even den, I thinks I’m surely going to die from muckly muck.”
    Solemnly, I pondered his words. My heart beat almost as loud, it seemed, as the shouting giants down the slope. “But why, Shim? Why have the marsh ghouls suddenly turned so vicious? They were always frightening, to be sure, but only to those who entered their territory. Now they’re attacking giants, terrorizing villagers . . . as if they’re chasing everyone else—even the snakes—out of the swamp.”
    The great eye studied me knowingly. “I’ve seen dat look before, Merlin. You ith full of madness again.”
    “And your nose is full of muck. Here, let me see if I can help you.”
    Using my staff for support, I began