Mallara and Burn: On the Road Read Online Free

Order's list of things to never ever do?" He sailed once about
the King."If he is -- or was -- an elemental, why is he still
here?"
    "The people who raised him grew afraid and
sealed the Round," said Mallara. She could almost hear the
whispered voices, from so long ago -- he walks beyond the Ring,
they said. He comes and goes and who knows where?
    "So he's not really the Winter King," said
Burn."Begging your pardon, Your Pumpkiness," he added, quickly.
    "Belief shapes form," said Mallara."He is as
real as you or I. He can't remember anything else. Even if I can
free him, he'll always be the Winter King."
    Burn buzzed."Which leaves us with a difficult
choice."
    Mallara nodded, once."I'm afraid so."
    The brighter stars were flickering now, and
faint in the mirrored planes of the stones Mallara began to see
reflections of the carved, candlelit pumpkins that ringed the other
Round.
    Burn hummed in contemplation."Pity," he
said."I really can't picture him as a threat. To anyone. He can't
help the bone motif, which after all he didn't choose."
    Mallara balled her fists and mouthed a
swear-word and seethed inside. They raised him up, gave him shape,
made him kind and merry. And then they bound him to a dark place
with twelve old stones for company, knowing that elementals cut off
from the land grow weaker and smaller with time.
    The sky above grew darker still, and the
pumpkins peeking out of the glassy stones grew brighter. If he is
truly bound to this awful place, Mallara thought, then dispelling
the Round will almost certainly unmake the King.
    Dispelling the Round. No sooner had Mallara
thought it, than a deeper darkness began to gather between the
stones. She could hear, at the edge of her perception, an angry
round of dry whispers pass to and fro amid the stones. Who comes
among us?, it said. And, Who dares dispel us?
    "Oh, Mistress," sang Burn."Our tall stiff
friends are awake. I do not believe they're planning you a welcome
brunch."
    Mallara straightened. She pushed aside her
anger, bottled it up within her, forced herself to smile and meet
the Winter King's flickering eyes.
    "You do not belong here," she said."You've
been tricked. These stones bind you to this place, keep others out.
Do you understand that?"
    *No one comes now,* said the King, and the
light in his eyes dimmed. *No one comes but you.*
    Mallara sang a Word, and her staff -- her
black iron shod staff, not her smaller wooden traveling staff --
fell from the air and into her hand.
    "Mistress," said Burn."Whatever you're doing
is best done quickly."
    "I am leaving," said Mallara. She let go of
the Winter King's hand."And now you must decide. Stay, and dance
alone until you are diminished. Or go with me, and risk
unmaking."
    The pumpkin-head was still. Again, the
Piper's piping rose up, and Mallara stilled it with another stern
Word.
    Mallara felt a prickling run up her neck.
See, hear! came the whispers. Hear what she speaks! See what she
does!
    "Mistress," said Burn, from close behind
her."Hurry. They're up to something."
    Mallara gripped her staff, which grew warm in
her hand."I can try to free you from this place," she said, to the
King."But you must know that if I fail, you will be no more. You
will die. Do you understand that?"
    *I . . . understand,* said the King. He shook
his head, as if to clear it, and Meralda hoped the absence of the
Piper's playing would allow the King to think clearly once
again.
    "Then you need to also understand that the
stones are awake, sir," said Burn."It's a simple choice," he
added."Stay and dance until you dwindle away, or take a chance that
the Sorceress can free you from the binding. Wait much longer and
the rocks will decide for you." Burn buzzed down close to the
Winter King's bony face."Look, Your Vegetableness, just ask her to
free you and let's all go home."
    The Winter King considered. Mallara gripped
her staff, and ignored the powerful sensation that something -- a
tall old stone, for instance -- was creeping up slowly