The Witch’s Blood. Katharine Corr

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      ‘He cut out her heart.’

      Merry shivered and took another sip of mead. It sounded as if Ronan was working blood magic, of the darkest kind.

      ‘My father,’ Jack continued, ‘my blood father, I mean – the queen’s death broke him, I think.’ He nudged a stray brand back into the fire with his foot.

      ‘Has he given up?’

      ‘No. But his mind … King Aidan was not, from what I’ve been told, an intolerant man. But now …’ He glanced up at her. ‘He believes magic was responsible for his wife’s death. He blames your kind: witches and wizards. He’s outlawed them, ordered them to be hunted down and executed. And Ronan, he has been searching them out too, offering wealth and position in return for their aid, taking by force those who refuse. Some have joined him willingly, eager for gain, although there are many more who have gone into hiding. It is not a good time to have magical power.’

      Now, Merry understood Jack’s earlier caution. If both Ronan’s forces and the king’s servants were searching for witches and wizards, then neither she nor Finn were safe. ‘What about the harpies? Did Ronan create them, or bring them from somewhere?’

      Jack looked confused by her question.

      ‘Harpies? No. They’ve always been here. They’re far more dangerous since Ronan arrived, of course. They thrive in the dark magic he has unleashed across the land, and have grown bolder and more numerous. Do you not have such creatures where you dwell?’

      ‘No. Only in stories.’ Merry felt a current of panic snake through her guts. ‘What about, um, unicorns?’

      ‘Yes. Not in the forest we journeyed through today, but further south.’

      Oh. ‘Mermaids?’

      Jack nodded, frowning at her, as if the existence of mermaids was so obvious that only an idiot would even ask.

      ‘Dragons?’

      ‘No, no dragons. They were mostly killed by the elves.’ Jack’s eyes narrowed. ‘Where exactly are you from, Merry?’

      ‘I’m from …’ Merry hesitated, trying to picture a map of England and remember which counties had been around in Anglo-Saxon times, ‘Northumberland.’ It came out sounding more like a question, but Jack seemed satisfied: he grunted, though, in a tone that suggested he didn’t have a high opinion of people from Northumberland.

      Did that mean they were in fact in England, just in a different time? Merry wasn’t convinced. Given what Jack had just told her, she wasn’t sure this was a real place at all. It sounded more like she and Finn had fallen into a story book …

      A huge yawn overtook her, and she wondered what the time was; she didn’t have a watch, and her phone was dead. Past midnight, probably. Definitely time to sleep. But she had one further question. ‘Have you ever heard of a wizard named Gwydion?’

      Jack face darkened. ‘I have. He was a monster. But no one has seen him for years.’

      ‘Oh. So, Jack, how old are you?’

      ‘Nearly nineteen, I believe.’

      Nineteen? Her Jack had been snatched by Gwydion just after his eighteenth birthday. Had Ronan’s arrival just messed up the sequence of events, or had Ronan put a permanent stop to Gwydion’s plans? Or was Gwydion still alive and plotting?

      Jack stood up. ‘I must check on Sorrel. Then I’ll take the first watch. You should get some sleep.’ He hesitated, turning the short knife he’d been using on the food over and over in his fingers. ‘Thank you. For saving me from the harpy earlier, instead of leaving me.’ He nodded at her. ‘I am in your debt.’

      ‘You’re welcome. But I would never have left you. I …’ Merry paused. Because what could she really say?

       I thought I’d lost you …

       I used to love you …

       At least, I loved someone almost exactly like you …

      Jack tilted his head, quizzical.

      ‘What?’

      Merry pressed her hands to her cheeks.

      ‘The fire’s hot. I should check on Finn. Then I’ll sleep.’

      ‘Good.’

      Jack grabbed the sword and the belt he’d discarded earlier. Merry waited until he’d left and then tipped the remaining nuts back into a leather pouch and took the empty bowl over to the spring. There was one other thing she had to do before she could rest. Filling the bowl with water she took off her silver bracelet and murmured the incantation.

       Show me my brother.

      The water went black. And then … And then, she saw Leo. He was alive. Her heart quickened and she squinted at the little picture, taking in every detail. He was alive, and sitting at a table, and he was concentrating – she could tell, because of the way he was biting on the side of his lower lip, the same way he always used to when he was studying. There was something in his hand – a pen? Or maybe a brush? She smiled a little; his hair was much longer now, falling in loose waves on to his shoulders. It suited him. He obviously wasn’t tied up. And he looked so much like himself – so different to the way he’d appeared back at the lake, when the King of Hearts had controlled him.

       Leo, please be OK …

      Leo shivered and straightened up quickly, looking around as if he had heard her. Merry hurriedly waved her hand, causing the vision to vanish. Surely, he hadn’t really sensed her presence? She’d said the charm properly, in full, and Leo was no wizard.

      But perhaps, if there was something from the shadow realm still inside him …

      Merry poured the water away into the ground. Rest, that was what she needed now. She needed to be at the top of her game, so she could rescue Leo and make Ronan pay. Taking the second blanket from her bag she went to lie next to Finn.

      ‘Finn?’

      There was no answer. Hopefully, he was asleep. Merry touched him lightly on the shoulder, by way of goodnight, wrapped the blanket round her body and lay down.

      

      EO SHIVERED AND reached for a blanket lying nearby, pulling it tightly round his shoulders.

       Someone just walked over my grave.

      That’s what Gran would have said.

      But there was more to it than that, he was sure. The sensation of his sister being nearby had felt impossibly real: СКАЧАТЬ