The Secrets of the Pied Piper 1 by Matthew Cody

Author:Matthew Cody
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2015-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

Despite the little kobold’s inflated sense of self, Lukas was grateful for Tussleroot’s help. He guided them out of the forest, and they reached the riverbank by midafternoon. The Great River split the Summer Isle into halves, and the river’s arms were called the Forks. The Western Fork was sluggish, muddy and deep, while the Eastern Fork was shallow and fast and clear as ice water.

After bidding goodbye to his majesty King Tussleroot the First, Lukas and his companions followed the Western Fork south. Paul and Carter skipped rocks along the water’s edge while Emilie lectured Max on the dangers of overexerting oneself. Poor Max, thought Lukas, but at least it kept Emilie too busy to lecture him on any number of other things.

As they hiked along the riverbank, Lukas absently fingered the map case in his belt, thinking of the little dotted line they were following and where it went. The Peddler’s Road cut across both forks, winding all the way past the Deep Forest and onward to the sea. They’d need to leave the road before then, and march the rest of the way north across the moors to find the Black Tower. And there were doubtless many dangers between here and there. The isle only got wilder the farther east one traveled.

And yet, Lukas’s heart felt lighter than it had in a long, long time, since before he’d inherited the title of Eldest Boy, since he had become responsible for defending a village of over a hundred children. The backpack strapped to his shoulders wasn’t nearly as heavy as the Iron Sword, not when weighed in duty. He’d even found the time to join Paul and Carter in a game of skipping stones. Lukas hadn’t lost his knack for finding the best-shaped rocks. They needed to be flat, of course, but not so thin that they didn’t have any momentum, because a good skipping stone also needed to be heavy enough to go far.

Lukas probably should’ve been more worried, especially with the rats nearby, but it was hard not to get caught up in the freedom of the adventure. Of course he’d honor his promise to Max by keeping her brother safe, and together he truly believed they would reach the Black Tower and, hopefully, find the way home. And if not, if the prophecy turned out to be false, well, then Lukas had a secret plan for that, too. Because he wasn’t going back to New Hamelin, at least not as Eldest Boy. If he returned at all, he’d refuse to take back the sword from Finn. Lukas was done with it.

After less than an hour’s walk, they spotted what they were looking for—the oddly shaped stone arch known as the troll bridge. It spanned the Western Fork from one bank of the river to the other, and the Peddler’s Road, which emerged from the trees a few leagues to the south, went right up to the bridge’s foot. The road continued again on the far bank.

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.