The Daughter of Odren Read Online Free Page B

what I need to know. And I know it. I can set Father free.”
    â€œThe gift?”
    He nodded.
    She stared at him, as disbelieving as he had been of her marriage. “Wizardry?”
    â€œI have the gift and I have the skill. I earned it, Lily! I cared nothing for all the teaching but what led to what I must do. I know what I must know. And I can do it.”
    She stood, her hands still in his hands. She said slowly, “If you did . . . if could you set him free . . . what then?”
    â€œHe’d know his enemy. As he didn’t when he came home.”
    She gazed at him as if trying to see her way. “And—?”
    â€œAnd he would destroy her,” the young man said with fierce certainty.
    Her bewildered look did not change.
    â€œHer?”
    â€œThe witch who destroyed him.” He drew in his breath. “His wife. Our mother.” He spoke the word with all the strength of hate.
    She took this in. “And . . . the man . . . Ash?”
    â€œAsh is nothing. A sorcerer who fell into the power of a witch. Without her he has no power.”
    â€œBut I—”
    â€œThe wizard of O-tokne saw it all clearly. It was she who betrayed Father, she who destroyed him. She used Ash to do it. But facing Father and me, now we know what she is, Ash will be powerless.”
    She stood gazing at him, her face almost blank.
    At last she said, “I only thought of killing
him
.”
    â€œYou couldn’t see it clear. He’s nothing without her.”
    She drew her hands from his and looked away. “I saw him make the spell, Clay. It was Ash who made it. I saw him.”
    â€œHe did as she made him do. I remember all you told us. He does her bidding. He does her will.”
    â€œI thought she did his will,” Weed said, not in denial or argument, but stating it as a fact.
    â€œNo,” the young man said. He put his arm protectively around her shoulders. “She’s besotted with him because he’s her creature. He was nothing till she took him up. A common sorcerer, a boat-builder, a dog. It wasn’t in Ash that the power lay, but in
him
—in Father. My gift is from him, no doubt of it. She could take Father’s power from him and use it against him because he trusted her. But now he knows her! And when I free him from the spell his power will be his own again, and we’ll destroy her. And her dog with her. This is how it will be, Lily. It was at a high cost I learned what I needed to know.”
    She listened with her heavy, pondering look. After a while she said only, “That’s her name. Not mine.”
    He did not understand.
    â€œI’m Weed,” she said.
    â€œWeed, then,” he said, soothing and gentling her, cradling her against him. “Whatever you like! My sister, my only friend.”
    They clung together. So they were standing when there were voices at the door, and the farmer entered his house.
    He stopped and stood, the short, gnarled, bent-shouldered man. He ducked his head to the young man, muttering, “Master Garnet.”
    The young man nodded.
    â€œHovy’s there outside,” the farmer said in a quiet, dull voice, speaking to the space between the brother and the sister.
    His wife went to the door. “Come in, Hovy. Forgive my discourtesy. I was mad with joy to see my brother, and never spoke to you who kept him all these years and brought him back safe to me. Come in!”
    And after seating the men at the table she called in her stepdaughter, and with her set out supper for them all: thick chunks of stale bread soaked in milk with green onion chopped in it, and a bowl of little, late, sour plums.
    The young man did not sit down with them. “Meet me outside, sister,” he said, and stepped out, restless. The dogs barked, and Bay spoke to quiet them.
    They ate quickly and in silence.
    Brother and sister met in the house yard by the kitchen