Reckless (Free Preview) by Cornelia Funke

Author:Cornelia Funke [Baldacci, David & Funke, Cornelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Espionage, Suspense, Thrillers
ISBN: 9780316180191
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2010-09-13T23:00:00+00:00

31

Dark Glass

Without the horses, it took them hours to reach a road that led from the valley up into the mountains, and Jacob had to carry Valiant on his back so the Dwarf wouldn't slow them down even more. Finally a farmer gave them a lift on his cart to the next village, where Jacob bought two new horses, and a donkey for the Dwarf. The horses weren't fast, but at least they were used to the steep mountain paths, and Jacob only stopped when the darkness made them lost their way.

He found a spot beneath a rocky outcrop that gave some protection from the cold wind. Soon Valiant was snoring as loudly as if her were in one of the soft beds for which Dwarf inns were famous. Fox scampered off to hunt, and Jacob advised Clara to bed down next to the horses so that they would keep her warm. Then he lit a fire with some dry wood he'd found among the rocks, and tried to regain some of the calm he had felt on the island. Again and again, he caught himself touching the dried blood on his shirt, but all he remembered was Will's accusing stare after he'd been pricked by the rose, and then a relieved Fox nudging his face with her muzzle. In between there was nothing, just an echo of pain and darkness.

And his brother was gone.

"When you wake up, all this will be over. I promise."

How, Jacob? Even if the Dwarf didn't double-cross him again. Even if he managed to find the Dark Fairy in the fortress. How was he going to get close enough to touch her, let alone utter what he'd learned from her sister, before she could kill him? Don't think, Jacob. Just go.

He felt a searing impatience, as if death had only increased his old restlessness.

Ride, Jacob. Onward, just as you've done for years. The wind drove into the flames, and he buttoned his coat over his bloody shirt.

"Jacob?"

Clara was standing behind him. She had wrapped a horse blanket around her shoulders, and he noticed that her hair had grown longer.

"How are you feeling?" In her voice Jacob still heard the disbelief that he was actually alive.

"Fine," he answered. "Would you like to check my pulse? Just to make sure?"

She had to smile, but the concern in her eyes remained.

An owl was screaming above them. In this world, owls were regarded as the souls of dead Witches. Clara knelt next to him on the cold earth and held her hands above the warming flames.

"Do you still think we can help Will?"

She looked terribly tired.

"Yes," he said. "And trust me, you don't want to know more than that. It would just scare you."

When she looked at him, her eyes were as blue as Will's. Before they had been drowned in gold.

"Is that the reason you didn't tell Will why he had to pick that rose?" The wind blew sparks into her hair. "I think your brother knows more about fear than you do.

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