Power of Three Read Free Page B

then up at the white disk of the Moon, and then moved on to point to the Sun, high in the South. “Three Powers present. You were meant to tell, don’t you see? But if you’re too scared, it doesn’t matter. I know it must have been your brother Orban who killed my brother and stole his collar.”
    â€œOh, all right then,” Adara said drearily. “Stones, it was my brother. I tried to stop him but he pushed me over.”
    â€œDidn’t my brother say anything else?” prompted the Dorig boy.
    â€œYes, he put a curse on his collar,” said Adara. “Stones.”
    â€œAh!” said the Dorig boy. “I thought he must have done something . He wasn’t much of a fighter, but he was very clever. What was the curse?”
    â€œStones,” said Adara, and hesitated. She dared not repeat the words of the curse, well though she remembered them, for fear of bringing it on herself. She had to pick her way, telling it haltingly in her own words, through the pattern of the collar and the pattern of disaster woven into it, until she reached the owls’ heads at either end. “Then he said the birds’ faces were to—er—watch and make sure the one who has the collar will—not be able to let it go even though—er—it costs him the—everything he’s got. Stones,” she concluded, thankful to have got it over.
    The small Dorig beside her frowned. “But didn’t he name any Powers? I thought—”
    â€œOh yes. Stones,” said Adara. “But not ones I know, and not until Orban tried to take the collar off him.”
    â€œWhat Powers? Sun, Moon—?”
    â€œNo, no. Stones,” said Adara. There seemed to be no way of mentioning the Powers without naming them. Adara dropped her voice and crossed the fingers of both hands, with her thumbs under that for added protection. “The Old Power, the Middle and the New,” she whispered.
    â€œOh.” The Dorig boy looked very awed and also very satisfied. “That’s all right then. Nothing will stop the curse working now.”
    â€œUnless the Powers are appeased,” Adara said. “Can’t I try and appease them? It was my fault.”
    â€œI don’t think so. Not all Three.”
    â€œWell, I swear to try,” said Adara.
    The Dorig boy seemed a little troubled by her decision. “But I don’t want you to.” He thought a moment. “What’s your name?” he asked.
    Adara simply looked at him. She knew well enough that you did not trust strangers with your name. And the worst of it was that she had already made him a present of Orban’s.
    â€œIt’s all right,” he said irritably. “I quite like you. And I only asked so that I shouldn’t swear to kill you by mistake. Mine’s Hathil—truly. Now what’s yours?”
    Adara looked into his yellow-brown eyes and thought he was telling the truth. Having glanced at his hands, in case his fingers were crossed, and found them straight, she said, “Adara.”
    â€œThanks,” said Hathil. “Now I can swear. You can swear to lift the curse if you want. I swear to revenge my brother by helping the curse in every way I can. I shall spill every drop of Orban’s blood, except Adara’s, and dedicate it to the Powers. I call on them not to be placated until none of Orban’s people are left alive on the Moor. May the hidden stones bear witness, and the Sun, Moon and Earth.”
    Adara listened dejectedly. She did not deny Hathil had the right to swear, but it did not seem fair on all the other people who had done him no harm. When he finished, she said, “Don’t you think you’re rather young to swear all that?”
    â€œBlame your brother,” Hathil said stiffly. “He’s a murdering brute.” Adara sighed. “And I liked H—my brother,” Hathil explained. “He was clever, and he told me