The Amber Legacy Read Free Page B

you will carry is more than any mortal should bear. But bear it you must.’
    His cold gaze made her extremely uncomfortable. ‘Well?’ she blurted.
    ‘The crystal knows you,’ he told her. ‘It sings to you.’
    ‘What does that mean?’
    ‘Ask old Emma for more,’ he replied. ‘I’ve told all I dare. I didn’t expect you to come here.’ His bony hand closed over the amber and its thin gold chain, and he thrust it into the threadbare folds of his ragged green robe. Fixing her with a fierce expression, he said, ‘Go!’
    ‘But—’
    ‘Go!’ he screamed, thrusting his arms wildly forward. ‘Go!’ The cigarette and rat cartwheeled to the floor, the rat scurrying for cover.
    Meg was glad to escape the dank, stinking cave. Samuel was a lunatic. She emerged in a dappled glade, breathing the fresh midmorning air, and peered into the brook by the old man’s cave. It was an enigma. Italways had water, even in the harshest days of Fuar. If magic was real, it could explain the brook’s persistence, but she also knew how underground springs worked and this had to come from one.
    Her mother was waiting where the water trickled over smooth brown rocks, catching flashes of the morning sunlight. In her yellow smock and dark green apron, her dark blonde hair loose about her shoulders, Meg decided that her mother was still beautiful, despite the ravages of working hard on a farm and the struggle of giving birth to four children. Little blond-haired Peter squatted on the ground, fascinated by a hopping insect-chasing blue bird. Sunfire watched her expectantly. White butterflies danced erratically above a patch of emerald moss. ‘Well?’ Dawn asked.
    ‘I can’t believe you made me walk all the way out here just to listen to this crazy old man,’ she complained. ‘Do you seriously believe in all this stuff?’ She beckoned to Sunfire whose jaw dropped open to unfurl a pink tongue as he trotted to her side.
    ‘But what did he tell you?’ Dawn asked. ‘Was it exciting? Will you travel? Will you find true love?’
    ‘Oh, Mother !’ Meg gasped in exasperation. She slumped to sit on the soft grass on the bank of the brook and Sunfire dropped beside her. ‘He didn’t say anything about who I’m going to marry.’
    Dawn sat and took Meg’s hand. ‘So what did he say? Tell me.’
    Meg paused, partly to catch her breath, partly to tease her mother, before she said, ‘He didn’t say anything I wouldn’t expect to hear. He said I’m going to meet people. Some people are going to be nice to me, some aren’t.’
    ‘Is that all?’
    ‘I’m supposed to see old Emma. He said something really weird about the crystal singing for me, but hewouldn’t explain. Only that I had to see old Emma if I wanted to know more. It didn’t make any sense. He tried to impress me by scaring me.’
    ‘I don’t understand.’
    ‘It doesn’t matter. Can we go?’
    ‘Are you telling me everything he said?’
    Meg glared at her mother. ‘If there was something really good, I’d tell you,’ she replied, annoyance bristling.
    Dawn sighed and stroked her daughter’s long red tresses. ‘I was hoping…’ she began and trailed off.
    ‘You were hoping he’d say I had the Blessing, weren’t you? Or that I was going to marry a famous or rich man and have lots of wonderful babies? But I don’t have the Blessing, and I’m not marrying anyone famous or rich. That’s what all those stupid ballads and stories say. You know the ones I mean. Poor little pigherd boy becomes great sword-wielding hero and the new king. Village girl is swept away by lovestruck prince. Well, that doesn’t really happen, and it’s definitely not me. I’m sorry I disappoint you, all right? But this is who I am.’
    Dawn looked crestfallen. ‘Do you really think I’m so desperate to have a daughter who is going to be whatever you said then?’
    ‘You keep taking me to the soothsayer.’
    ‘I just want my daughter to be happy. Is that too much for a mother