The Whispering Trees Read Online Free Page A

her.
    â€œThank you, little gentleman,” she said.
    Before them a stone bridge stretched into the darkness. Kara cautiously peered out over the expanse and saw nothing below, the light through the canopy squeezed to the faintest trickle in this part of the Thickety.
    â€œIt’ll be dark on the bridge,” said Mary, handing Kara Shadowdancer’s reins. “You’ll have to lead her.”
    Thunder crashed and the treetops flashed green once more, revealing their pursuers. Their appearance was vaguely wolflike, but with features exhumed from the ground: hollow, branch-boned bodies, ruby-leaved mouths and bright, flowering eyes. At their head was Sordyr, his face concealed beneath the folds of a pumpkin-orange cloak that stretched into the distance as far as the eye could see, flowing through the trees like mist.
    Kara stepped backward onto the bridge. The monstrosities edged closer. Though Sordyr’s eyes remained hidden Kara could feel them trained on her every move.
    Shadowdancer’s reins pulled taut in her hands.
    â€œShadowdancer,” Kara whispered to the unmoving horse. She yanked the reins harder. “Shadowdancer, come on.”
    At first Kara thought that the mare was reluctant to step upon the bridge, this man-made thing that spanned impossible spaces in the air. That wasn’t the case, however. Shadowdancer was trying to move with all her might, her sinewy muscles straining with effort. Trying, but unable.
    Looking down, Kara saw the reason. Four thick roots coiled tightly around Shadowdancer’s legs, shackling her to the earth.
    â€œHold on, girl,” Kara said, unclasping her penknife.
    Before she could step forward and make the first cut, however, a strong hand grasped her arm. “Don’t step off the bridge!” Mary exclaimed. “The Forest Demon mustremain rooted to the earth at all times—he cannot cross stone. You are safe here.”
    â€œI have to help her!”
    â€œNo! If you place a single foot on the earth he will take you as well.”
    Shadowdancer watched Kara with trusting eyes, waiting for her to do something. To save her.
    â€œShe is lost,” Mary said. “I’m sorry.”
    And then Sordyr was before them, no more than an arm’s length away. He craned his neck forward so that Kara caught a glimpse of his eyes, moss-green wells that held bottomless depths of pain and cruelty.
    Sordyr ran a branch hand over Shadowdancer’s flank. His surprisingly nimble fingers were as long as broom bristles and segmented into dozens of barely perceptible joints.
    â€œKara,” he said. “You have returned to me. As I knew you would.”
    â€œI had no choice.”
    â€œYes. They would have killed you otherwise, no? The same gutless sheep whose lives you saved.”
    Kara said nothing.
    â€œCome to me,” Sordyr said, inching forward until his cloak danced along the edge of the stone. “Just one step. That’s all it takes. Close your eyes if it will make it easier. I have such things to teach you. You think you know magic. You think you’ve learned the extent of your power. You know nothing.”
    â€œLet Shadowdancer go.”
    Sordyr paused, confused for a moment, before following Kara’s eyes to the mare. Something in his throat clicked with amusement.
    â€œYou’ve named the beast that carries you on its back? How very human of you.”
    â€œShe’s my friend.”
    â€œI see.”
    Reaching beneath the folds of his cloak, Sordyr pried apart the bark-like plate of his chest. His hand dug deep,loosening a waterfall of soil and black mud, then deeper still, searching for something.
    Finally he produced a single black seed and offered it to Kara.
    â€œYou can save her,” he said. “Your friend . Simply swallow this and I will set her free.”
    The seed vibrated eagerly between his branched fingertips.
    Taff pulled on Kara’s hand.
    â€œNo,” he said.