The Low Road by Daniel Kirk

Author:Daniel Kirk
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amulet Books
Published: 2011-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

ROM THE OUTSIDE the cage looked empty. When the owl came out at night to inspect the dead mice that the Humans had left on the stump, the other birds thrashed around in their cages and screamed. They knew instinctively that something was wrong. But in the daylight hours, the owl hid in the box, its back turned to the light. Tim opened the cage door and stepped inside. There was a round hole in the wall of the box. Tim could just make out the tail feathers of the owl, so he knew she was still inside. But the bird obviously didn’t want to be seen. Tim shook his head and sighed, certain it was only a matter of time until he went to look in the box and found her lifeless body.

It was true; the owl didn’t want to be seen. But not for the reasons the Humans believed. At the ends of its feathered wings the owl was growing hands and delicate, Elfin fingers. Its beak was separating into a nose and mouth, and teeth were forming where the beak dissolved into skin. Even the talons were softening and turning into feet and toes. The horned owl was once again becoming the Mage of Alfheim. And it wouldn’t be wise to allow the Humans to see that. The Mage concentrated on the Human, and tried to gain control over his mind. All she needed was a few seconds, when the Human left her cage — the moment when the door was pulled shut and the rusty metal lock snapped in place. If she could create a kind of blur, a slip of the mind, just a few seconds of forgetting, the Mage was sure she could get the Human to leave the cage unlocked. And if she could get out of the cage, she had a chance of getting home.

For many days and nights the Mage had cast her awareness through the forest, for miles in every direction, looking for a familiar place. Over and over she had tried to find a Soul she knew, some consciousness that saw something, anything that she knew, too. Finally her prayers had been answered. At first she had seen only a ring of lights. Could it be stars, or the lights of some distant Human home? Then the vision grew clearer, and the Mage had recognized that the lights were flickering candles, surrounding an altar. The picture had become clearer still. It was the altar of her own study, high in the branches of the sacred tree. As joy leapt in her heart, the Mage knew that she had located Tuava-Li. Then she’d projected her own senses, her own memories outward across the miles, giving clues to help her Apprentice find this place, and come to her rescue. But it was exhausting work, casting a psychic net into space. Exertion like this was more than she could endure for long.

The Mage needed rest. When next she found the strength to look for Tuava-Li, she sent images and feelings into the area where she had found her before.

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