Wolf-speaker Read Free Page B

quickly. “We’ve been searching for the culprit for two years now.”
    â€”
Why in the name of the Lady of Beasts would I know something like that
?—was the growled reply.—
I have more than enough to do in mortal realms simply with keeping an eye on her
.—
    â€œDon’t be angry,” Daine pleaded. “He thought you might know, since you know so much already.”
    â€”
You are a good kit
.—The badger rubbed his head against her knee. Touched by this sign of affection, Daine hugged him, burying her fingers in his shaggy coat. To Numair he added,—
And I am not angry with you, mortal. I cannot be angry with one who has guarded my young friend so well. Let me go, Daine. I have to return to my sett
.—
    She obeyed. He walked toward the cave’smouth, silver light enclosing him in a globe. At its brightest, the light flared, then vanished. He was gone.
    â€œWell,” said Numair. She thought he might add something, but instead he busied himself with stirring the vegetables.
    Suddenly she remembered a question she had wanted to ask. “I think he puts a magic on me,” she complained.
    â€œHow so?”
    â€œEvery time I see him, I mean to ask who my da is, and every time I forget! And he’s the only one who can tell me, too, drat him.”
    Kitten gave a trill, her slit-pupiled eyes concerned.
    â€œI’m all right, Kit,” the girl said, and sighed. “It’s not fair, though.”
    Numair chuckled. “Somehow I doubt the badger is interested in what’s fair.”
    She had to smile, even if her smile was one-sided. She knew he was right.
    â€œSpeaking of what is fair, what do you think of the advice he gave you, about becoming a magical symbiote?”
    Most of the time she was glad that he spoke to her as he would to a fellow scholar, instead of talking down to her. Just now, though, her head was reeling from Brokefang’s news and the badger’s arrival. “A magical sym—sym—whatsits?”
    â€œSymbiote,” he replied. “They are creatures that live off other creatures, but not destructively, as parasites do. An example might be the bird who rides on a bison, picking insects from the beast’s coat.”
    â€œOh. I don’t know what I think of it. I never tried it.”
    â€œNow would be a good time,” he said helpfully. “The vegetables will take a while to cook. Why not try it with Cloud?”
    Daine looked around until she saw the mare, still at the rear of the cave with Mangle and Spots. “Cloud, can I?”
    â€œCloud,
may
I,” the man corrected.
    You can or you may. I don’t know if it will help, said the mare.
    The girl went to sit near the pony, while Mangle and Spots ventured outside to graze again. Numair began to get out the ingredients for campfire bread as Kitten watched with interest.
    â€œDon’t let him stir the dough too long,” Daine ordered the dragon. “It cooks up hard when he forgets.” Kitten chirped as Numair glared across the cave at his young pupil.
    The girl closed her eyes. Breathing slowly, she reached deep inside to find the pool of copper light that was her wild magic. Calling a thread of fire from that pool, she reached for Cloud, and tried to bind their minds with it.
    Cloud whinnied, breaking the girl’s concentration.That
hurt
, the mare snapped. If it’s going to hurt, I won’t do it! Try it with less magic.
    Shutting her eyes, Daine obeyed. This time she used a drop of copper fire, thinking to glue her mind to Cloud’s. The mare broke contact the minute Daine’s fire touched hers. Daine tried it a second, and a third time, without success.
    It’s the same kind of magic, she told Cloud, frustrated. It’s not any different from what’s in you.
    It hurts, retorted the pony. If that badger knew this would hurt and told you to try it anyway, I will tell
him
a few things the next time he