The Fifth Dawn Read Free Page A

clicked.
    “Slobad, wait up! I think I know what’s happening!”
    The goblin skidded to a halt when he saw Glissa had lost their pursuers. “Yeah?” he asked as Glissa bounced off aspringy tree spike, somersaulted, and landed in a crouch on a small, flat terrace. “Slobad thinks it’s all that elf-magic floating around back there.”
    “It’s all the magic floating around after the—” Glissa stopped. “What did you just say?”
    “Elf-magic. So thick back there Slobad could smell it, huh?” the goblin continued. “Was going to tell you, but didn’t want to slow down.”
    “Right,” Glissa nodded, casting her eyes about the forest canopy lest a giant beetle or wall of spiky thorns pop up out of nowhere and take them by surprise. “You can, uh, smell magic, Slobad? I didn’t think you and magic got along.”
    “Know how elf magic smells, huh?” Slobad said, wrinkling his nose with distaste.
    “How does it smell?” Glissa asked.
    “Like rotten moss mixed with rat dung,” he said. “Sorry, but true.”
    “Huh,” Glissa said. “Never noticed that. Do you know anything about mana? The elemental forces that give magic its energy?”
    “Like blast powder and a fire tube?” Slobad asked, arching a spiky eyebrow.
    “Sort of. Mana’s more like the ingredients for a good stew. You can make a stew out of almost anything, but to make something good, you’ve got to use the right vegetables and meat.”
    “So different magic needs different meat, huh?” Slobad said. He began to turn his foot on one toe like a nervous student.
    “And I’m attuned to Tangle magic because this is my home. And that moon, it’s made of pure green mana.”
    “So why don’t all the monsters go there?” Slobad asked, jerking a thumb upward in the general direction of the dazzling emerald orb.
    “The lacuna,” Glissa said. “The moon had to burn right through the surface to get out.” She gazed back down through the thick trees and saw the slow-moving wasps and the shambling rat buzzing around below them, unable to resist their instincts but equally unable to actually reach their prey.
    “So the magic burned into the ground, huh?” Slobad said.
    “To put it simply. That much energy floating loose, it’s trying to coalesce. To take shape before it dissipates.” Glissa began pacing, and took two steps up the side of the tree, deep in thought. “But there’s no intelligence behind it, so the spells aren’t entirely taking sha—oooOOF!” Glissa’s feet slipped as though on ice, and she dropped three feet back to the terrace, landing on her rear. She shook her head to clear the ringing.
    “See what I mean?” Glissa muttered. She hung her head between her knees and rubbed either side of her temple. “Its centered on that big hole in the ground.”
    No one answered.
    “Slobad?” Glissa asked, head still between her knees. “What do you think? Does that make sense?”
    “Oh yes,” a gruff voice said calmly, “That makes perfect sense. You’ll have to tell us all about it.”
    That wasn’t Slobad.
    Glissa placed one hand on her sword hilt and drew her blade as she leaped to her feet, ready to strike in the direction of the voice. At least, that was the plan, but her attack was over before it started. Glissa only made it into a crouch, and her sword never cleared its sheath. The elf girl was eye-to-blade-tip with three swords, all pointed at her throat. Glissa followed one silver blade up its three-foot length, where it ended in a familiar golden-filigreed hilt. The hilt was in the hand of a tall elf. Slobad was scooting backward, apparently hoping the warriors had not yet seen him, which the elf girl could already tellwas pointless. Glissa couldn’t hold back a smile as she raised her hands.
    “Where have you been?” Glissa asked.

    “Thought these guys on our si—ow!” Slobad whispered, then yelped as a the point of a sword poked him between the shoulder blades. The goblin risked a look back over one