The Golden Enemy Read Free

foot, home was more than a day’s journey ahead, though it could be reached in an hour or so by using the air sled.
    Suddenly he drew the sled to him and motioned to Doubtful. “Get aboard. The hike’s over.”
    â€œWe flying home?”
    He nodded and snapped a safety line around Doubtful’s small white body. “But not until we’ve located that—that beast. We’ve got to find it first, and learn all we can about it.”
    Doubtful rolled his amber eyes unhappily. “I was afraid of that. Don’t I meet phantoms enough in my sleep?”
    As they rose and flew slowly across the river, he was suddenly thankful that his uncle, Andru, and the others had insisted that he take an air sled on the trip.
    The day he mentioned going to the Barrens again, Andru had looked at him curiously a moment, then turned away with a little shake of his long gray head. It was the sort of reaction that everyone had when he spoke of going to the place. A visit to the Barrens was part of one’s education, but one always went with a group, with someone like Emmon the Elder along to explain what was known of it. For most people one visit was enough. As for returning to it, alone …
    â€œI suppose it’s in your blood,” Andru told him. “Wanting to do the things you do. Just like Big Jaim. Well, this time I’d suggest you take one of the larger sleds—”
    â€œBut I planned to go on foot, sir.”
    â€œOn foot! Good heavens, why make it so hard for yourself?”
    â€œWell, you miss things by flying over them,” he explained. “I want to follow one of the old trails all the way and see what I can locate.”
    â€œBut that will take weeks. How can you carry your camping equipment and enough extra food—”
    â€œI wouldn’t bother with carrying food, except some cakes for the bears. I’d rather live off the land.”
    â€œOh,” said Andru, who would have starved in the woods, even though he was one of the leading thinkers in the Five Communities. “Tell me, what in the world do you eat? Roots and things?”
    Boy Jaim glanced across the room at his small cousin, L’Mara, who was busy at one of the looms. Suddenly uncomfortable, he said, “Well, you can find lots of wild food this time of the year. The plums and berries are getting ripe, and what with the mushrooms and asparagus—”
    â€œ Fish eater! ” said L’Mara, so distinctly that for a moment it seemed she’d spoken aloud. His ears burned. Then he realized she was merely teasing him with a thought, for her lips hadn’t moved. With her big bright eyes, her coloring and quick movements, she reminded him of a mischievous little squirrel, or maybe a chipmunk.
    â€œ You’ve eaten it too — and liked it! ” he flung back at her silently, and marveled at the fact that they were the only ones in the family who could communicate like this. Usually, if a person had the ability—and it was not uncommon in the Five Communities—everyone closely related to him would also have it to some degree. But Andru didn’t have even a touch of it, nor did Tira, his wife. His own parents hadn’t had it—a lack that probably had cost them their lives, for when they failed to return from a trip years ago, no one knew what had happened or where to search for them.
    L’Mara, intent on her weaving, said, “ I ate it only to please you, and I think it’s horrid. It made me feel almost like a cannibal. ”
    He knew she was still teasing by the impish look on her face, but before he could think of a retort, her mother, Tira, came in with a basket of new yarn for the other loom. She was a striking woman, with long, shining hair that was almost the color of gold. No one else in the Five Communities had hair that color. L’Mara’s hair was bronze.
    â€œBoy Jaim,” Tira said. “What’s this about walking to