He didn’t know how to cipher or write. At least, that had been true yesterday. He picked up a stick, and rather clumsily wrote the words – I – can – write – in the loose dirt of the ground. What language was that? It wasn’t the common Altongue that everyone spoke day-to-day. It was…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #67
The boy returned to camp. He wasn’t sure if he should say anything about the strange fight he’d just witnessed. The shadow-thing hadn’t forbidden him from talking about it, but somehow it had felt private. He thought that probably he would mention it to Fleat first, and see what the owl-child thought. But Fleat must…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #66
Dawn broke like water seeping among the trees. A wind from the mountains was seething in the treetops, but down at ground level there was barely a stir of air. The boy woke early, made himself something to eat out of the stores, listened to birds singing and felt a bit at loose ends. Both…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #65
The boy was less tired than the others. While Caewen and Fleat both bundled themselves up in bedrolls the moment dinner was done, he found himself still quite awake. He pottered around, cleaned up the cook pots and plates as best he could. Evening sank into the hollows and crevices. The rift grew to be…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #64
In a deep, narrow rift between two hills, Fleat had kindled a small smokeless fire, and made something of a camp. He was curled up beside the fire when they arrived, not asleep, but blinking wearily at the flames. He stirred and moved a hand to his brow to clear his unruly hair out the…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #63
As they rode, Caewen spoke, raising her voice over the on-rush of air. “We were gone for three days? I was joking about it. I thought perhaps we’d been absent a few hours at most. Not days.” “Do not make light of such things,” said Dapplegrim with a huff of noise. “Hurm. Do not ever….
A Charm for the Nameless Child #62
They explored the little woodland, thinking perhaps that the others were sheltering within. The air was cold here. Their breath curled in the slants of sunlight. Suddenly, Caewen reached out a hand and stopped the boy from moving any farther. She lifted her sword and light seemed to fall from it and play upon the…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #61
Caewen had been the first to squeeze herself out of the crevice. Now–standing in the sun–she rubbed her forehead in an absent sort of way, and managed to rub the red-stained soil from her fingertips into the sweat on her brow. Darkish red streaks of dirt appeared on her face. As she stood, looking around,…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #60
He stared at the pages. Leaf after leaf was crammed with the black lines he knew to be writing, but there were splendid illuminations too–beautifully inked and water-hued illustrations of ancient heroes and battles, enchanted forests, snowy mountains guarded by strange giants, and dragons with scales that were violently red and gold and black. As…
A Charm for the Nameless Child #59
They did. Caewen left the room first and the boy followed. It was only on the mention of light that the boy realised that the air itself was suffused with a glow, as if the stone that made the walls were faintly aflame. He realised then also that he was not casting a shadow, and…