Read Online The Old Magic by James Mallory - Free Book Online Page A

was.
    His Aunt Ambrosia knew. Merlin was sure of it. But no one could get Aunt Ambrosia to talk about something if she didn’t want
     to.
    Perhaps he could find his answers outside the forest. But everyone told him that the outside world was a big place—if he went
     in search of answers there, how would he even know where to begin looking?
    They talked for a while longer, and Blaise gave him a honeycomb wrapped in oiled muslin—“And mind you, don’t eat it all before
     you get home, young sir!”
    But somehow Merlin didn’t feel like going straight home today. When he left the hermit’s hut, Merlin wandered aimlessly through
     the forest, but none of his usual diversions had the power to distract him from his brooding today.
    It was springtime. The birds were building nests for their eggs; the young bucks, their antlers still covered in velvet, locked
     horns over the does in contests that were still half in play; the she-wolves in their dens guarded new litters of downy cubs
     with the help of the proud fathers.
    All the animals of the forest had families—except him. Aunt Ambrosia was all the family he had, and Merlin sensed that there
     was something missing. He could not share this confused feeling with his foster-mother, and that saddened him. Once he had
     shared his every thought with her, but more and more these days, Merlin found himself brimming over with thoughts and ideas
     and questions he could not even form into words.
    Disconsolately, he kicked at a stone in his path and watched it skitter off into the bushes, disturbing a colony of hares.
     The sentry-hare drummed at him angrily with its powerful feet before following the others in flight. Merlin sighed, leaning
     against a tree. Even hares had families.
I’m all alone,
he realized with surprise. He’d never thought about it before; somehow it had never mattered. But now it did. It mattered
     very much.
    “Why isn’t there anyone like me?” he demanded plaintively. He wanted companions of his own kind. He couldn’t be the only one
     like himself in all the world. The world was
huge
—Blaise had said so.
    But what if he was? What if he was going to be alone forever?
    Herne watched Merlin. Though he was only a few feet away, Merlin did not see him—nor would he, unless Herne wished it. He
     shook his head sadly at Merlin’s words. Both he and Ambrosia had known this time would come. The boy was lonely without knowing
     what he longed for.
    Herne knew. Merlin was not a child any longer. The boy was nearly a man. The same restlessness that drove all the creatures
     of the springtime forest drove him as well. Soon he would want to claim his rightful heritage—but what was that? Did Merlin
     belong to Mab and the Old Ways? To Avalon and the faith of his dead mother Elissa? Or was there a third path that Merlin must
     find for himself, if he could?
    Perhaps I can help him find his answers—and perhaps give him something that will shield him from the harm that may come.
    Herne made a cryptic gesture with his right hand. Like Ambrosia, he had given up much when he had forsaken the Old Ways, but
     just as she retained her knowledge of herbs and healing, some small magics were left to him.
    A shining figure appeared in the distance, stepping grandly out of concealment and into Merlin’s sight. It was a great silver
     stag, its branching antlers shining like fire in the spring sunlight. Its white coat shone with the soft pale brilliance of
     the full moon, and it gazed at Merlin with wide knowing eyes.
    Run, boy. And find only the good that the world holds,
Herne commanded silently. A flick of his fingers sent the stag leaping away, with Merlin running after it.
    When it ran, Merlin chased it almost without thought. The glorious creature was like nothing he’d ever seen in all his life
     and he wanted to get close enough to touch it. In the thick undergrowth of the forest, Merlin was as fast as any deer, but
     somehow no matter how hard he tried, he