Outcasts of the Wildwood by Rachel Atwood

Author:Rachel Atwood [Atwood, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2022-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Will Scarlett jumped and startled. He pushed out red feathers before he landed.

Nick scuttled out of the way before Will’s wings could flap and scratch his face.

What was that? Elena demanded. Her voice in the back of Nick’s head was strident with alarm.

Then Will settled and resumed his mannish form.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Nick grumbled.

Something that shouldn’t have entered the forest.

“How can you tell?” Nick asked. He looked around the familiar path for signs of movement, or something out of place, as Little John and Robin Goodfellow had taught him.

“How can you not sense it?” Will asked.

“Because I am not magic,” Nick replied, more than a little annoyed at the birdman’s lack of understanding.

“Oh.”

Oh.

“We should enter camp from a different direction. In case we are being followed.” Will stepped off the well-worn track and disappeared behind a giant tree.

“No!” Nick called. “I’ve been led astray within Sherwood Forest before. I’m not straying from the paths I know.” Memories of the twisted tree that wanted to engulf him and feed off his life energy, and the trap Mamoch had dug below the tree sent shudders up and down his spine. Since that adventure, Henry, his best friend at the abbey, had refused to set foot outside the grounds of their home.

Scatter some salt across the path behind us, then, Elena advised. Salt will stop anything with the essence of evil. Or at least distract a natural beast of prey.

“I don’t have a lot of salt with me. Hilde needs it. I can’t waste it,” Nick protested.

“I brought extra,” Will said, retrieving a small pouch of the precious stuff from his pack. What couldn’t he conjure from that pack that seemed much, much, larger inside than it looked from the outside? He grabbed a small handful and dribbled it through his fingers in a fat line across the path and extending a full foot on either side. He still had a handful to dump back into the pouch.

That should do it.

Nick shook his head. “I still don’t see why you two are so upset.”

“Someone who should not enter Sherwood Forest has come inside the barrier,” Will said, striding ahead, a whistle on his lips.

“What barrier?” Nick grabbed him by the shoulder, exasperated by the half-knowledge he had gleaned.

“The one the Green Man set in place when he exiled his son.” Will shook free of Nick’s restraint and continued forward.

“Why didn’t I know that?” Nick asked the air.

Because you had no need to know, Elena explained. Until now.

“Why do I need to know now?” He paused while the logic of the illogic of magic spun thought circles he had trouble deciphering. Sort of like trying to read Greek when he had no references to grab hold of.

“If Little John set up the magical barrier when he exiled Derwyn, to keep his son out, and no one else, then the alarm you two felt must mean that Derwyn has found a way to penetrate the barrier. No one would notice if I, or Hilde, or even the sheriff crossed the barrier we don’t even know is there.

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.