The Whispering Trees Read Online Free Page B

“Don’t do it.”
    â€œI can’t let him hurt Shadowdancer.”
    â€œListen to your brother,” added Mary. “I’ve seen what happens. Swallow that and you’ll belong to the Forest Demon forever.”
    Kara stepped forward to the very edge of the stone bridge. In the soil just beyond her boots, dozens of wormlike roots probed the air, ready to pounce the moment Kara’s foot touched earth. Sordyr’s cloak snapped at the air and strange odors overwhelmed her: a tree stumpswollen with decay, rotten flora scraped from the bottom of a swamp.
    â€œCome to me, wexari ,” said Sordyr. “I will not ask again.”
    â€œPlease,” Kara said. “Don’t hurt her.”
    Sordyr shoved the seed down Shadowdancer’s throat. The mare gagged and shuddered but ivy slithered from within the arms of Sordyr’s cloak and clamped Shadowdancer’s mouth shut. “No!” Kara shouted, trying to rush to Shadowdancer’s assistance but unable to escape the grasp of Mary and Taff, who pulled her backward onto the bridge.
    The mare became very still. Kara looked into her eyes and saw the life there flicker and extinguish like a candle flame left too close to an open window. In less than a moment Kara’s companion was gone forever.
    A new life began.
    Shadowdancer’s beautiful chestnut-brown flank disintegrated, revealing not bones but a skeleton frame composedof twisted branches. Black orchids burst forth from her eyes. The creature that was once Shadowdancer looked up at Kara without any sign of recognition, her flowered gaze now dark and malevolent, and whinnied—soft and choked, as though forced through a mouthful of dirt. The branchwolves responded in kind, not a howl of anger or hunger but something far worse: a cry of immense suffering. Kara covered Taff’s ears and he clamped his hands over hers, shaking his head from side to side.
    Sordyr waved a hand and all sound stopped.
    â€œYou could have saved her,” he said, stroking the mane of red ivy still growing into place. “You chose to save yourself instead. Perhaps we are not so different, you and I.”
    Kara wanted to be angry. She wanted to tell him he was wrong. But words and emotions would be meaningless to the Forest Demon, a dark force as implacable as the sun abandoning the world to night.
    He will win eventually. Even if I had my magic there is no wayto fight him. All I can do is run .
    â€œGood-bye, Shadowdancer,” Kara said, forcing herself to look straight into the horse’s orchid eyes.
    She took Taff by the hand and began to back away; Mary Kettle had already vanished into the darkness of the bridge. “It’s all right,” she told Taff. “He can’t cross the bridge. We’re safe.”
    But then Sordyr raised a branch hand and pointed in their direction.
    â€œBring me the girl,” he told the branchwolves gathered around him. “As alive as you can. The other two you can do with what you will.”

T he five branchwolves that spilled onto the bridge seemed slightly unsure of themselves at first, like children learning how to ice-skate. Kara took this opportunity to open some distance between them. She longed to sprint, but the bridge was narrow and there were no walls to guard against a sudden spiral into the depths. Besides, even though Taff was fast for his age, he still wouldn’t be able to keep up with her long strides, and there was no way Kara was going to leave him behind to fend for himself.
    Quickly, however, the branchwolves found their footing and began to gain ground. Over the thudding of her beating heart, Kara heard their approaching nails clicking lightly against the stone.
    â€œRun!” Kara exclaimed.
    â€œI am!”
    â€œRun faster!” She pulled Taff’s hand as hard as she dared. If he stumbled or fell over, the branchwolves would be upon them. The stone blurred beneath her feet, darkness