The Ninth Talisman Read Online Free

would have a quarter of an hour to work his will upon their women. He could easily pick a few and carry them off in that time.
    And the women—well, they could put up a fine resistance, she was sure, but how many would be hurt by wind or fire or other magic? How much damage would be done to houses and crops?
    As for the native spirits, what could they do? The wizard could obviously fly above any attack they might make.
    Fighting him was not the solution.
    But what was? She could hardly let him rape and enslave any of her fellow villagers. Even Felri, who had teased Tala mercilessly when theywere children until the
ler
began tripping her repeatedly, did not deserve that.
    She had to do
something.
Protecting the village was her job, her role, the task she had been born to. It was a burden she did not always enjoy, but she had never failed to bear it. Even when she had been so sick of the constant demands of the
ler
that she had dreamed of leaving the village and going somewhere she would be just an ordinary young woman, she had never considered doing so until another priest or priestess was born.
    But now she could see no way to carry out her duty.
    No way but one.
    She said, “I’ll go. Take me.”
    A sudden stillness fell over everything; Tala knew she had the undivided attention of the spirits around them.
    The wizard’s grin vanished. “What?”
    â€œTake me,” Tala repeated. “Get me out of this village.”
    He cocked his head to one side, and one hand closed on a wooden talisman carved into a shape like a candle flame. “Why? I’m not looking for a wife or an apprentice, woman, just a whore, to warm my bed and scrub my floors.”
    â€œA slave, of course. And what am I here?” Tala replied. “I spend my days being ordered about by the
ler,
running their errands so that they’ll allow the rest of the village to live unmolested. I have no husband—you think that’s by choice? The
ler
forbid me to bed a man! No man, no children, no land of my own, no time to do anything but run hither and yon at the spirits’ bidding! I spent the last three nights sleeping in the forest, rather than my own bed, at the whim of these spirits! Better to scrub your floors, wizard.”
    The stillness shattered.
You lie,
a hundred voices said in unison.
You lie!
    Tala turned and shouted at the bare ground, “What do you know about it? What do you know of the human heart? Better a human wizard than a lifetime of you!”
    â€œBut, Priestess . . .” Tanner began, and Tala whirled to face her.
    â€œDon’t start, Aunt!” she said. “You don’t know what it’s like anymore than the
ler
themselves do!” Then she turned back to the wizard. “Take me with you. I’m so
tired
of this! Let Priest fend off the disease!”
    Once again a sudden hush fell, though Tala could feel the earth, the stones and grass and the air itself, listening intently.
    â€œDisease?” the wizard said. Tala could feel the
ler
echoing the question, and hoped the wizard could not sense it as well.
    â€œDon’t worry about that!” she said desperately. “
I
don’t have it, I promise! I swear, by the spirits around us, I do not have the plague!”
    The wizard’s gaze flashed from one woman to the next, Tanner to Greeneye to Chitchat. “What about them?” he asked.
    â€œDon’t worry about them,” Tala said. “The
ler
protect them from its ravages as long as they’re here.”
    â€œAnd elsewhere?”
    â€œThey don’t go anywhere else. No one leaves here. No traders come here. You know that. Isn’t that why you chose us?”
    â€œDo they
all
have it?”
    â€œJust take me with you!” She stretched out her arms and took a step toward him.
    The wizard drifted back, bumping against the shrine and knocking his hat askew. His face had gone pale.
    Then he straightened up and