The Fire Ascending by D'Lacey Chris

Author:D'Lacey, Chris [D'Lacey, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult, Childrens, Adventure, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781408316597
Amazon: 1408316595
Goodreads: 23017539
Publisher: Not Avail
Published: 2012-05-01T07:00:00+00:00

Part Six

Grella

I began at the tragic chapter with Yolen. I asked the Is to show me Grella building his cairn. Several fire stars sparkled in front of me. I touched the nearest star and materialised behind her like a breath of wind, barely rippling the strands of her hair. Taking Joseph’s advice, I quickly entered the body of a mouse that was tugging at the shawl around the baby, Gwilanna. The mouse squeaked but wasn’t harmed in any way. The sound, however, made Grella turn.

“Hey, cheeky. Leave that alone.”

She batted a hand. The mouse scuttled away. I hid myself amid a cluster of stones. When I looked again, Grella had picked up the child and was cradling it in the crook of her arm. It was twilight, almost dark. There was rain in the air, but the ground was dry and tightening with frost. The cold had left its marks on Grella’s face, but she was still as slim and beautiful as ever. The same could not be said of Gwilanna. Her ugly wrinkles were hard on the eye, but Grella seemed neither to care nor to notice. She sang a sweet lullaby over the child. The one that Guinevere had sung to me. Gwilanna made soft-happy gurgling noises. Grella touched the baby’s nose, put the bundle down and picked up another stone for the cairn.

I was in the process of blessing the stones, to pay my respects to my beloved seer, when I heard a stealthy movement nearby. A twig breaking. A rustle of leaves. The auma of another animal was approaching. Something far bigger and more threatening than a mouse. I could smell the hostility in its sweat, right down to the dirt between the pads of its feet. I looked at Grella. She had her back to the baby and was still singing. The mouse popped through a skittish circle. It squeaked again, much louder than before. It wanted to follow its instincts to run. But my overwhelming need to see what would happen kept it quaking by the rocks.

Remember, you must not interfere.

The primary law of Travel. Joseph’s voice was in my head, reminding me of it. I was desperate to materialise and shout a warning, but all I could do was watch the timeline develop – and wait for the creature to pounce.

A wild dog, a villhund, slipped through the undergrowth. Its hot breath blew across my quivering whiskers. On any other night my host might well have been staked with a claw and instantly ripped to pieces. But apart from slanting a bloodshot eye, the hound walked by me and stalked towards the baby. In a silent, almost tender act of thievery, it hooked its teeth into the folds of the shawl, picked Gwilanna up and trotted away. Grella sang on and knew nothing of it.

It was the bark of another hound that alerted her.

Like the skogkatts, the villhund roamed in packs. As the scent of Gwilanna travelled, another dog rushed forward from a copse of trees.

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