Stones of Ravenglass by Jenny Nimmo & Jenny Nimmo

Author:Jenny Nimmo & Jenny Nimmo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

You!” said Timoken.

“Thorkil,” snapped the boy. “Rightful Earl of Holfingel.”

They stared at each other, both frowning, and Thorkil’s sister, Elfrieda, emerged from the trees behind her brother. She was followed by several of the children Timoken had seen before.

“Why are you here?” asked Timoken.

“Why shouldn’t we be?” Thorkil retorted. “This isn’t your forest.”

“But your homes are in the trees,” said Timoken. “Have you left them for good? They were so well hidden.”

“The leaves will fall soon,” said Elfrieda in her hard, disdainful voice. “We always abandon the tree houses in autumn.”

“We can be seen in naked trees,” added Thorkil. “You hadn’t thought of that, I suppose.”

Timoken noticed the dagger in the boy’s belt. Thorkil’s hand rested on the hilt.

The sight of it made Timoken’s fingers itch. “There were many more of you,” he said. “Are you all here, somewhere in this forest?”

“The others were caught,” Thorkil said bitterly. “Edwin’s brother was taken.”

“My twin,” said a boy with a long, narrow face. He had small, dark eyes and his thin hair was cut in a crooked line just below his ears. “Conquerors!” He spat the word.

“They were looking for you.” Elfrieda stared accusingly at Timoken. “They saw us in the trees.”

“When they began to throw their spears, we had to come down. Some of us didn’t stand a chance.” This was said by a boy with long, dun-colored hair. He wore a cap made of straw and feathers that looked very like a bird’s nest.

“But you stood a chance, for you are here,” Timoken said bluntly.

“Wyngate is speaking of the younger ones,” said Elfrieda. “We have longer legs and we can run. The soldiers didn’t bother to follow us.”

“They caught enough children to work for them,” Thorkil added bitterly. “My friends were too badly wounded to move. I had to leave them.” It was clear that this distressed Thorkil, although he tried hard not to show it.

Timoken didn’t know what to say. He wondered what had made Thorkil come to this particular forest when there were so many other directions he could have taken.

“We followed the coast,” Thorkil said, almost as if he’d read Timoken’s thoughts. “Now and again we saw the camel’s footprints. Wyngate is an excellent tracker.” He nodded at the boy with the bird’s nest cap. “I had heard about the Deadly Sands and we avoided them. At the edge of this forest we heard laughter —”

“And singing,” said Elfrieda. “I thought I recognized the tune. We followed the sound. It came from this very spot.”

“But there was no one here.” This was said in a quiet voice by a girl who peeped over Elfrieda’s shoulder.

“Except you,” said the boy beside her, grinning at Timoken.

They looked very alike, with their thick, dark hair and wide-set, hazelnut eyes.

Timoken judged them to be about twelve and thirteen.

“I’m Esga,” said the girl with a smile. “He’s Ilgar.” She gave the boy a friendly poke.

“I’m called Timoken.” He was about to introduce his camel when someone laughed, very close to his ear. He stared at the others.

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.