The Legend Begins Read Online Free

ago reappeared smelling of blood, and that was when the big gray cat had vanished.
    â€œHe will follow our scent when he has eaten,” Sly said languidly.
    â€œGoing quickly,” Crow ordered, taking to his wings.

CHAPTER 4
    The Feeding of Beasts
    It was dark in the tunnel but the troll part of Little Fur felt safe and her eyes adjusted quickly. Wet green algae coated the inside of the pipe, so that even if the dirt underfoot ran out, she would be able to keep touch with the flow of earth magic. As she walked, she bent to tweak leaves from a plant she had not seen before. But her thoughts were not on herbs so much as the road passing overhead.
    â€œWhy do humans make black roads?” she murmured.

    â€œTo summon road beasts,” Sly said, looking back over her shoulder. “They keep them as pets. I myself have seen humans bathing their shells with water.”
    â€œThe giant beast that roared past us was a human pet?” Little Fur could not believe it.
    â€œPerhaps not that one,” Sly admitted. “No doubt there are road beasts that will not be tamed, just as there are cats who will not be tamed.”
    â€œTruly, humans are strange,” Little Fur mused, still not sure whether to believe the cat.

    When they emerged from the tunnel, the moon’s eye had opened and it peered narrowly down at them. Crow said they must go back along this side of the black road in order to reach the beaked house.
    Ginger appeared and took his place at Little Fur’s side as she set off with a heavy heart, and Sly roamed ahead, as she seemed to prefer. But she returned almost at once, hissing that she could smell humans.
    â€œCan we go another way?” Little Fur asked.
    â€œNo other way,” Crow said.
    They went on until Little Fur could smell humans, too, and she trembled at the thought that she was to see them at last.
    The wooden barrier turned suddenly and ran around a square, flat field upon which stood a human dwelling spilling light out into the night from all sides. Little Fur gagged at the smell.
    â€œThat smell comes from the brew humans feed to road beasts,” Sly said. “See? There is a road beast waiting to be fed under the wings of the place.”
    She was right. A black road ran in a loop from the main road around the building. One of the great, ugly road monsters stood on it, next to the bright house. It was so silent that it must have fallen asleep. It did not look dangerous now, but Little Fur wondered what there was in such a thing for humans to love. It did not smell of kindness or softness or sweetness. It did not smell like it needed anything or loved anything. Indeed, it did not smell alive at all.
    Crow flapped down to the grass beside her. “Not standing here! Humans will seeing you!” he cawed. “Going along barrier to broken place. Going very fastly.”
    But before Little Fur could move, the sleeping road beast suddenly roared to terrifying, deafening life and its dreadful eyes shot out beams of blinding whiteness that fell on all of them. Crow gave a squawk of fright and took to the air and the cats covered themselves in cat shadow.
    Little Fur could not move. She felt as if the eyes of the road beast had a power that bound her, just as a snake holds its victims with the magic of its deadly gaze.

    â€œFly!” screeched Crow from overhead. When she did not move, he swooped down and raked her head with a claw. The pain woke Little Fur from her trance and she turned to run. The road monster shrieked in rage. Little Fur fell to her knees and waited for it to rush at her and kill her. But nothing happened except that its roar grew louder. She opened her eyes and was amazed to see that instead of coming at her, the road beast was swerving away toward the black road!
    It occurred to her that perhaps the road beasts
could not leave
the black roads.
    She would have told this astonishing thought to Sly, but three humans ran out of the shining