Troll Bridge Read Online Free Page B

Troll Bridge
Book: Troll Bridge Read Online Free
Author: Jane Yolen
Pages:
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great,” she said, but he was already gone.
    Moira left the cave after him. Outside, red fur gleaming in the sun, he looked like an ordinary fox, certainly quite beautiful, but not magical at all. Glancing past him to a wall of sturdy pines where a path ran between the two tallest trees, Moira whispered, “Maybe … maybe we should just go for help. The police. The National Guard. The FBI.”
    â€œYou cannot leave Trollholm without permission,” he told her, the words buzzing inside her head.
    â€œWhat do you mean, ‘permission’ ? There’s a path.” She pointed. “It must lead to somewhere.”
    â€œIt leads to nowhere, human child. Look more closely. You must open yourself to—”
    â€œTo the world of the impossible,” she interrupted, but nevertheless she leaned forward and stared at the path and the trees beyond. She saw now what she hadn’t noticed before. The path was flat, as if badly drawn, and the trees it ran between were equally flat, unmoving, not fully realized. The whole was like a painting on canvas. Like the backdrop in a play or an opera. She’d been in the orchestra for enough stage performances to recognize them. They fooled the eye if the audience gave itself over to the sets. “But how…?” She knew before the fox told her. Magic .
    Turning, she glared down at him, knowing what to say. “Then give me permission to go.”
    He laughed that sharp barking laugh again, but this time she heard the pain underneath. “It is not mine to give, child.”
    Not his to give. That was when she understood. He needed her as much as she needed him. He was a prisoner here, too.
    â€œThen first we get the princesses,” she told him. “And then we get the permission.”
    â€œNo!” He shook his head and his silky red coat trembled with the movement. “First we get the fiddle. Once we have that, we can get the princesses, and then…”
    She didn’t believe him. How could she? Balance a fiddle against lives and lives win, every time. Though if it had been a Stradivarius or a Guarneri … she knew some violinists who would make the same choice as the fox.
    He smiled, showing his teeth. “We have time yet to rescue your friends.”
    Moira bent over and glared at him, hands on her hips, trying to intimidate him with her size. Alpha female. It worked with her dog. “It may not seem such a big deal to a fox, ” she said, “one who can have lots and lots of litters. ” The way she said litters made it sound like garbage on the ground instead of baby foxes. “But human girls are used to dating someone before making up their own minds about the boys, even before they get married. So—”
    He cut her short. “Trolls do not date. And they only marry on Frigga’s Day,” he said. “Today is Woden’s Day.”
    â€œWho is Frigga and why does she have a day?”
    The fox bristled with impatience. “What do they teach human children these days about the gods?” Showing his teeth, he snarled, but the voice in Moira’s head was clear. “Have you not heard about the old gods? Frigga was Woden’s wife. Woden’s Day is what you call Wednesday. Thor’s Day, Thursday. Frigga’s Day, Friday.”
    â€œOh.” Moira nodded slowly. They’d studied that in fifth grade. So, since she’d driven to the bridge after her regular Tuesday rehearsal and had slept overnight in the cave, this would be Wednesday, Woden’s Day by Foss’ reckoning, which meant they had till Friday. His counting made sense if you believed in talking foxes and trolls. It made sense if you didn’t have parents back in Minneapolis and St. Paul calling out the National Guard to look for them.
    â€œWe need to go now, human child.” His words were gentle in her head but she could feel the steel beneath. She recognized it at once, having
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