Talking to Dragons Read Online Free Page A

again. Suz might be able to get through, but I never would. I stood up and tapped lightly on the outside of the bushes.
    â€œExcuse me, please, but would you mind letting me through?” I asked as politely as I could.
    The bushes rustled and pulled apart. I stared at them for a minute. I hadn’t really thought it would work. The bushes rustled again. Somehow they managed to sound impatient.
    â€œAh, thank you very much,” I said, and stepped through.
    The hedge closed behind me with a prim
swish,
and I looked around. Inside the hedge was a circular clearing full of sunlight and the feel of magic. A red-haired girl in a brown tunic was lying at one side of the clearing. She sat up as I came in; her face was tearstained.
    â€œWho are you?” she demanded fiercely, as soon as she saw me. “And what do you want?” She looked about my age, but I never have been very good at guessing how old people are, especially people who aren’t in disguise or enchanted.
    â€œMy name is Daystar,” I said. “I heard you, um, crying, and I wanted to see if I could do anything.”
    She looked at me suspiciously. “You just walked through that hedge? Ha! I’ve been trying to get out of here all day. It’s not that easy. I bet you’re a wizard.” I noticed some scratches on her arms and some fuzzy places in the tunic where it might have caught on branches or trees.
    â€œI’m not a wizard. Maybe it’s easier to get in than it is to get out,” I offered.
    The red-haired girl sat back. “That could be true,” she said a little less belligerently. She eyed me skeptically, and I tried to look trustworthy. “Well, you don’t
look
like a wizard,” she said at last. “Can you get out again?”
    â€œI don’t know,” I said.
    â€œWell, try!” she said. “No, wait. I’ll stand next to you so I can get out, too. Then we’ll both be rescued.” She jumped to her feet. “What are you waiting for?”
    â€œI’m sorry, but I don’t really think I need to be rescued,” I said. “I was looking for a place to spend the night and this seems pretty safe. I’m not sure I want to leave just yet. Besides, I don’t know anything about you. Maybe I don’t want to rescue you.”
    â€œOh, rats.” The redhead sat down again. “I thought you might be a hero. You can talk them into anything. Stupid creatures.”
    â€œWho are you?” I asked. “And why are you worried about wizards?”
    â€œI suppose it won’t matter if I tell you,” she said after thinking for a minute. “They’re chasing me. My name’s Shiara,” she added.
    â€œWizards are chasing you? More than one?” I was impressed. Wizards usually don’t cooperate much, even the ones who belong to the Society of Wizards. At least, that’s what Mother always told me. “What did you do?”
    Shiara hesitated, then threw her hair back over her shoulder with a toss of her head. “I,” she said defiantly, “am a fire-witch.”
    â€œYou’re a fire-witch?” Well, she had the red hair for it, but that doesn’t always mean someone is a fire-witch.
    She must have heard the doubt in my voice, because she scowled at me. “I
am
a fire-witch! I am!”
    â€œI didn’t say you weren’t,” I said hastily. That only seemed to make it worse.
    â€œYou don’t believe me! But I am
so
a fire-witch! I am! I am!” By the time she finished, she was shouting. She glared at me, and her hair burst into flame.
    That settled it. “I believe you, I believe you,” I said. “Uh, shouldn’t you do something about your hair?”
    Shiara burst into tears and her hair went out.
    I stood there feeling silly and useless. Finally I remembered my handkerchief. Mother made me carry one all the time, even to chop wood, so I actually had it with me. I