Tangled Magick Read Free Page A

swallowed his mouthful and knit his brows. “It’s been a while since I’ve been north of the Wedge, but I’d say another day and a half. We should get to Larissa about noonish.” He elbowed her playfully. “Just in time for something to eat!”
    Mae giggled. Big clouds of white breath-steam floated around her head. It was going to be a cold night. “What will we be trading at the village?”
    â€œMostly supplies. Mr. Whiteknoll is looking for a nice supple leather to make hats and mittens. Cook Barley wants new recipes. Poppy Vale is looking for some new breeding-stock ponies, and Tory Longbridge, the young man who thanked you for the song—which was lovely by the way—is gathering lore of a legendary animal that used to live in the Wedge…a phooka.”
    â€œA phooka? What’s that?”
    Callum chuckled. “Only the best house cleaner a household could ever have.”
    Mae’s eyes grew wide. “Better than a hapenny?”
    â€œBetter than a hapenny.” Callum’s eyes glittered. “Well, perhaps not better than a hapenny, but better than my spells!”
    Mae shook her head. “I don’t believe it.”
    â€œThat’s why it is called a legendary creature. Few believe it is real.”
    Mae chewed on her chicken leg, thinking about the Great Expedition. “Why do they call it a Great Expedition if we’re just trading everyday things? Isn’t there something bigger we should be searching for?”
    Callum chewed his lip and then took a quick breath. “A long time ago, the Great Expedition was exactly what you think it should be—a grand adventure. It was a time when the younger hapennies would have a chance to explore the world outside of the Wedge, visit other hapenny villages, and meet the colonies of dwarves and elves and humans.”
    â€œWe used to visit humans on purpose?” Mae was shocked. Humans rarely visited the Wedge, and the ones who did were usually entertainers of some sort.
    Callum chuckled. “Yes. Hapennies and humans were once closely aligned, before the Trillium War.”
    Mae shook her head. “I haven’t heard of that war before. Was it between the hapennies and the humans?”
    â€œNo. Hapennies and humans were on the same side. It was a war between the humans and the trolls.”
    â€œAnd did the humans win?” She forked a few pieces of squash into her mouth.
    â€œNo one ever wins in a war,” Callum said in a low tone. “You know that. The trolls fled, if that’s what you mean, but they stole away with the king’s daughter.”
    â€œDidn’t the king’s men go looking for her?”
    Callum nodded slowly. His eyes glazed over for a moment before he cleared his throat. “Some still are.”
    â€œThat’s so sad.” Mae set down her empty bowl. She decided to change the subject to something a little more cheery. “So, what are you looking for on this expedition, Callum? Um, besides corley thistle to make more Bricklebear Fever remedy.”
    â€œThat’s a good question.” The wizard braced his arm against his knee and leaned forward, eyes shining in the firelight. There was a spark in them that Mae had never seen before. She waited patiently for Callum to answer and decided after a bit that he wasn’t going to.
    â€œI’m looking for a good story to tell.” Mae pulled her wand from her pocket and flicked it at the fire. Flames shot up into the sky and formed unicorns that sparred with their horns and pranced on their hind feet. “That’s what I’ll bring back to the Wedge—a good story and something for Aletta. What do you think she’d like?”
    â€œA nice emerald from the Near Mountain Miners might be nice.” Callum took a big bite of his chicken leg.
    Mae swallowed. “The Near Mountains? But those are so far away!”
    Callum nodded and wiped the grease away from