WinterMaejic Read Online Free

Guard. Only being able to fly on Xyla had saved me. But Xyla couldn’t save the whole community of mages; there were hundreds of them living scattered all around the woods.
    Finally Yallick spoke again. “We must call a council. Anazian, how many birds have you at the ready?”
    Anazian stood straighter, calmer, as if Yallick’s assumption of responsibility removed a burden from him. “Eight, sir. Maybe ten.”
    “All right. Here is what we shall do.”
    Ten minutes later, I raced along a path toward Ranna’s cottage whilst Traz went in the other direction to Klemma’s, with word that Yallick was calling an emergency council for midday. Anazian’s birds would carry messages to the other council members, some of whom would be hard-pressed to arrive in time for the start of the meeting, even on horseback.
    When I reached Ranna’s door, I pounded on it, just as Anazian had on Yallick’s only minutes, it seemed, before. “Ranna!” I cried, “Ranna!” Where could she be? Why didn’t she answer the door? I hammered again. “Ranna!”
    “What, my child?” She appeared from around a corner of the cottage. Her hands were coated with earth and held a basket of potatoes. There was a large smudge of dirt on her forehead. “What is your panic?”
    “The king,” I said, running over to her. “He’s marching against us.”
    “The king himself?” The doubt in Ranna’s eyes was apparent, even to me.
    “I don’t know,” I snapped, and she stepped back at my vehemence, frowning. “Maybe not himself. But the Royal Guard.”
    Something in my voice or face must have convinced her that I wasn’t joking, for she looked at me closely. “How do you know this?”
    “Anazian received word from his cousin or something like that. Yallick has called a council at midday. Anazian’s birds are taking messages to the others. Oh, please, Ranna, hurry!”
    She looked deep into my eyes, and I could almost feel her rooting around in my thoughts. Then she nodded. “Tell Yallick I will be there.”
    “All right.” I fled before she could ask me any more questions I couldn’t answer.
    When I got back to Yallick’s, I found him sitting in front of the fire, staring at a book on his lap. The fingertips of one hand gently stroked the cover, almost as if the book were a living thing.
    “Ah, Donavah,” he said as I hung my cloak on its peg. “Come here, please.”
    I walked over, unable to take my eyes from the book, which seemed to glow in the firelight.
    “I had meant to wait, but now there is a new sense of urgency. Sit, girl, sit.”
    I did, wondering how he could be so calm, as if nothing were happening.
    “This book, it is a maejic treasure. It has been in my keeping since I was elected to this position. I do not know if I am right, but I deem that now is the time to bring it into the open. It concerns you, or rather, your companion yonder.” He nodded his head in the general direction of Xyla. “For now, just read it.”
    He handed it to me, and I accepted it reverently. Something about it—perhaps the musty odor given off by the vellum pages, perhaps the way the colors of the illustration on the cover seemed to leap into life—made this a solemn moment.
    “Go to your room, now. I will call you when I want you.” He gave me a small, encouraging smile, then stared into the fire.
    I carried the book to my room and set it gently on my writing desk. A beam of sunlight fell on it, and as if it had been waiting for that very thing, a red dragon practically leapt off the cover. I gasped. And sat down quickly.
    Yes, there in the whorls of gold, blue, and green flew an unmistakably red dragon. And it breathed fire! How had I not seen it right away?
    With great care, I opened the book. The hand-scribed text was in a script I couldn’t read. Yallick knew that, and yet he wanted me to study it anyway. How curious. But the pictures!
    In the first one, a copper-colored adult dragon sat gazing into the sky in which ten or so small