A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez

Author:A. Lee Martinez
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3, pdf
Tags: Cannibalism, American Science Fiction And Fantasy, Humorous, Juvenile Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction - Fantasy, Fiction, Fantasy, Modern fiction, Witches, General & Literary Fiction, General, Fantasy - Contemporary
ISBN: 9780765354587
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2008-08-26T07:00:00+00:00

15

Wyst trusted me to guide him on the right path. Or perhaps he expected to not understand a witch's guidance. Either way, questions would have been pointless. All the answers I possessed made little sense to me at the moment, and I wouldn't have given them to him in any form he might have understood.

We passed the morning in silence. Sometimes Wyst rode slightly ahead. Sometimes, a little behind. Never alongside. Occasionally, he'd glance over his shoulder, or I'd glance over mine, and we'd look briefly into each other's eyes. And I would have no idea what he was thinking.

Wyst could be thoroughly inscrutable. It was part of his trade. White Knights were paragons of unflappable heroism. Underneath that stoic nature and righteous enchantments, I knew he was very much a mortal man. Perhaps this was merely wishful thinking on my part. Perhaps years of unspoiled virtue had killed any fleshly desires. Yet, in those glances, I felt certain I saw something, but did I see something because it was there or because I wanted it to be there? And did I really want it to be there?

Of course, I did.

Which begged the actual question, were these the desires of a smitten heart or accursed appetite? I suspected a little of each. Desire was often a many-headed beast.

My thoughts on the subject were interrupted by Newt. "You do realize that we're traveling northeast?"

I tried to ignore him, but this was merely wishful thinking.

"And that the horde came from the south?"

"Quite aware."

Newt took a moment to groom his wing.

"Just making sure you knew."

He groomed the other wing.

"Because, it just seems to me, that if we were to follow the horde to its origin, south would be a better direction."

"I can see why you might think that. That's why you are the familiar and I am the witch."

Newt frowned, and Gwurm chuckled.

Newt couldn't argue, but the demon in him couldn't drop the point entirely. "So how far north is this sorcerer?"

My vision was making more sense with every passing hour. I shared what I knew, well aware it wouldn't satisfy him.

"Four trials. Trial by peril. Trial by strength. Trial by combat. And trial by magic."

"Trials? Didn't the vision mention perhaps something along the lines of miles or days?"

I merely smiled.

"I was hoping for something more practical," Newt said.

"Visions are rarely practical. Useful, sometimes. Insightful, often. Practical, hardly ever."

"It's a poor arrangement, if you ask me."

"I don't know about that," Gwurm said. "Always seems to me that knowing too much takes the fun out of it. It's the not knowing that makes life worth living. Who can forget the lesson of Doomed Bill?"

"Who?"

I was glad Newt asked because I was curious too. Asking would have gone against my witchly training. Gwurm was only too happy to share the tale.

"It happened that one day a prince was born in a small kingdom. Now a great many people are born any given day, and enough of those people are princes that Bill's arrival into this world wasn't all that special an event.

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