Moonshine by Susan Dexter

Author:Susan Dexter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, wizards, cats, magic, young adult
ISBN: 9781479408511
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2014-10-09T04:00:00+00:00

Circles

With the swarm clustered inside it, the skep felt heavy. Tristan opened the linen bag wide and carefully set the skep upon it.

He used the bag’s drawstrings to gently close the top over the straw cone. Best to carry the bees so. The bag would shield the swarm from sun and rain. The darkness inside it would keep the bees calm. He could feel the workers within shifting into their places about their queen. Their buzzing was a purr, louder than a cat’s. There were more lives in the bag than Tristan could ever count, even if they were all small lives.

He set off, retracing his path. At least, Tristan supposed he did. It was hard to be sure. So far out in the bog, he couldn’t see any edge of woodland—tall grass got in the way. Tristan put the bee-tree at his back. After all, he had certainly walked straight toward it, coming in.

As if one could walk straight, in the water-maze of the bog. Tristan was turned this way and that as he sought sound footing. He wasn’t troubled for his own comfort—bees would appreciate a dunking even less than Thomas had.

He did not expect familiar sights. The bog paths weren’t full of landmarks. He wouldn’t come upon any of his own tracks. The sucking mud swallowed footprints the instant his boots left them.

Tristan didn’t reckon to be sure of his way—not every single step of it. He held a general course. He didn’t know where he’d emerge from the bog, but he had no doubt that he would emerge.

So, being lost came as a total surprise.

After half an hour of stepping from one grass tussock to another, Tristan glanced back over his shoulder. He couldn’t see the bee-tree. The light was failing, running out of the sky as night seeped in.

No doubt that was why he couldn’t see the forest ahead of him. The gory light of sunset glinted orange and apricot on the water of the bog. The bog plants, the iris and the reeds and the sedges, were all black as coal dust, spikes that were differenced only by their heights.

We won’t be out of this by dark, Thomas said helpfully. His paws were wet, and the cat hated that. Playing in the water was one thing. Being trapped by it was quite another matter.

“Sky’s clear enough.” Not even a rag of cloud overhead. “There ought to be a moon, later. It’s only a couple of days off full. Plenty of light then.”

If he aimed himself straight at the moonglow on the horizon, he could keep a steady course, Tristan decided. He wasn’t certain where that course might take him, but at least he wouldn’t wander in a circle. The need to watch the ground just in front of his feet made it hard to keep from straying. If he walked in a broad arc, he’d wind up where he’d begun. Tristan was on his guard against that, but still it could happen. The bog had few landmarks, even by day.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.