The Goblin Wood - By Hilari Bell Page 0,1

baby's croup a few months ago.

She stole a pair of Krick's britches off the drying rack and put them on. A dark shirt that belonged to his brother was only a little too big. There was a heavy cape on the hook by the door - almost a cloak for her - and she took it, too.

She was almost out of the village when she realized that she ought to steal some food as well - once she had cut the screw, she would leave. And after that? Her mind boggled over the question - she was too tired to think. After she cut the screw, she would eat and rest and plan for the future.

She chose the house of Goodwife Marra, whose apple trees her mother had cured of a blight. The back door was latched, but the shutters on the kitchen window were open. She left her sack outside and wiggled through easily in her stolen britches.

Inside the kitchen she paused a moment to let her eyes adjust. After the bright moonlight outside, the small square of silver that came from the window and the glow of the banked fire seemed very dim. Bread, hard yellow cheese, and the last of the dried apples went out the window to join the spell books and tools. She was fumbling at the back of a high shelf for the tight-sewn bags that held strips of dried meat when her elbow tapped a bowl. It fell to the floor and shattered.

Makenna froze, staring at the fragments of pottery. Her mother had dropped the scrying bowl that morning. It had begun with the chiming of the tiny copper bell on the mantle, warning them someone was passing the ward stone her mother had placed on the path to their house. They lived almost a quarter mile from the vil age. Hedgewitches needed more privacy than most, because folk didn't always want their neighbors - or the priest - to know they'd gone to a hedgewitch for aid. Ardis liked to have a bit of warning when someone was coming, but her lined face held only cheerful curiosity as she wiped the dough of her hands and poured water into the big clay bowl she used for scrying.

Makenna watched as her mother drew the runes and murmured the words that turned sight through water into Sight through water. Makenna couldn't make runes in water, though she'd often tried.

Light flickered from the bowl, casting faint upward shadows on her mother's face. Then her expression had changed, stif ened, and she leapt to her feet. The bowl fell and shattered, spil ing the water in a widening pool on the floor. The faint creak of a door hinge brought Makenna back to the present with a rush. She heard steps on the boards over her head. Someone had been wakened by the crash and was coming to investigate. Makenna spun toward the window, but the window could be seen from the stairs! No time.

She raced silently to hide in the dark corner by the hearth - not good enough, especially if someone lit a lamp. With shaking hands she raked a handful of cold ashes from the corner of the hearth, flinching as a live ember singed her fingers. Plain dust was the best essential object for this spell, but any powdery substance would do. The footsteps had almost reached the bottom of the stairs. She flung the ashes on the floor in front of her and blew to create an even layer - no time to do this spell over and over until she got it right. She traced the rune, an eye outside a circle, and whispered the last of the words as Goodwife Marra stepped into the kitchen.

Several pieces of broken bowl lay in the square of moonlight, and the goodwife went to them, hopping and muttering a curse as she stepped on a piece in her bare feet.

Then she came over to the hearth. Makenna held her breath. The look-away spell worked better if you didn't move or make any noise.

Goodwife Marra lit a candle and stood gazing around the kitchen. Aside from the broken bowl, Makenna saw nothing out of place - and evidently Marra didn't, either. She muttered something about accursed cats and went to latch the shutters.

When she returned the candle to the hearth, her eyes passed right over Makenna, and she didn't even blink. Makenna listened to her footsteps going up the stairs and waited until Marra