Swift by R. J. Anderson
He couldn’t bear this. If she was still here when the Blackwings came, it would be a disaster. They’d never let her go with her memories intact – she’d be lucky to escape with her life. ‘Go ’way,’ he gasped. ‘Leave me ’lone.’
‘Not likely,’ said the girl. ‘I’ve been wanting to meet a faery my whole life. You need help, and I’m going to give it to you.’ She leaped up and seized the horse’s reins, pulling the animal closer. ‘Let’s get you onto Dodger, and I’ll take you somewhere you can rest.’
‘Little fool,’ he moaned. ‘Don’t…’ But she’d already slid her arm behind his back, heaving him upright with a strength that surprised him. He’d always been lean and not over-tall, but had he really lost that much weight?
‘Stop arguing,’ she told him sternly, half-carrying and half-dragging him over the grass to the horse. It snorted disapproval and danced sideways, but she spoke a sharp ‘Dodger!’ and it lowered its head, meek again.
He had a vague thought of trying to change shape one last time, if only to get away. But when the girl grabbed his left foot and shoved it into the stirrup, he couldn’t find the will to resist her. A mortifying few seconds followed as he tried and mostly failed to pull himself into the saddle, and she ended up behind him shoving mightily with both hands – but at last she’d draped him across the horse’s back to her satisfaction, and the three of them set off.
‘My mum’d have a fit if she found out about this,’ said the girl cheerfully. ‘Especially if she knew I thought you were a faery. So I’m going to put you in the barn with Dodger and Duchess – is that all right?’
He was too dazed to answer. Part of him was convinced that both the girl and the horse were nothing more than a dying hallucination, or some cruel trick of the Empress’s. That he should be found, so quickly, by a human he’d never met before but who knew at a glance what he was – and more, that she’d be both willing and able to help him – was a piece of good luck too extraordinary for even his powers to orchestrate.
Though that assumed that it really was good luck, which was by no means certain yet…
He spent the next few minutes drifting in and out of consciousness, his body limp and his chin bumping the horse’s side. Then the thud of hooves on grass became the clop of hooves on cobbles, and he heard the thin creak of a door opening. The barn? He lifted his head weakly to see what lay ahead, but all he glimpsed was a hazy shimmering.
For a horrible moment he thought he’d gone blind. But he could still see the girl clearly enough, even as she led him forward into the fog. Then he felt reality shift and ripple around him, and realised they’d just crossed the boundary of some kind of protective spell. Magic, in a human place? He made a feeble noise of shock, but the sound had scarcely left his lips when his vision cleared and the world solidified again. The air stilled, the sunlight faded, and a soothing coolness surrounded him as they entered the barn.
‘Here we are,’ said the girl, pulling the horse to a stop. She fastened the reins to a post, then came around to tug him out of the saddle. ‘Just a few steps, and then you can rest.’
Did she know about the spell they’d just crossed? She couldn’t have put it there herself, surely; he couldn’t sense any magic in her at all. ‘Ward on the door,’ he mumbled. ‘Protection. Who…?’
‘Shush now,’ the girl told him, slinging his arm around her shoulders. ‘I’ve got you.’ His legs buckled as his feet touched the floor and he felt her stagger under his weight, but she hung onto him gamely until they reached the end of the corridor. ‘There’s a bit of straw here,’ she said as she lowered him down. ‘I can get more, and some old blankets to make it more comfortable. Are you hungry? What can you eat?’
‘Anything,’ he gasped as he sagged against the wall. ‘Everything. Just – not insects. Or mice.’
That made her giggle, though she clapped a hand to her mouth to hide it. ‘OK then,’ she said. ‘I’ll be right back.’
‘Wait,’ he called after her. ‘Who are you? How did—?’
But she was already gone.
Left alone in the gentle darkness, he let out a long breath and allowed himself, finally, to relax. He still didn’t understand how the girl had recognised him as a faery, or what had inspired her to bring him here. He doubted she even realised what a perfect refuge she’d found for him. But he could sense the ancient charm against magical intrusion that surrounded the place, even if he didn’t know who had put it there, and knew that for the moment at least, he was safe.
He fell back onto his bed of straw, and in minutes was deeply and dreamlessly asleep.
www.orchardbooks.co.uk
www.orchardbooks.co.uk
www.discoverthetruth.co.uk
www.orchardbooks.co.uk
www.orchardbooks.co.uk
www.orchardbooks.co.uk
Table of Contents
prologue
epilogue
R. J. Anderson, Swift