Free Stolen Magic by Gail Carson Levine

the high brunka said.
    Albin said, “Suppose the Replica is found by a person who isn’t the thief. Should he bring it to you? He won’t know where it used to be kept.”
    Elodie felt a shiver of fear. Why did Albin think of this? The thief would definitely pretend not to know.
    â€œBring it to me.”
    â€œWill you believe the finder, High Brunka?” Mistress Sirka asked.
    â€œIf no one has been hurt on Zertrum, I won’t care.”
    â€œWill there be a reward?”
    â€œRobbie!” Master Uwald said.
    â€œYour farm may be destroyed. You may be poor,” he said, sounding untroubled. “I may be poor again. There should be a reward.”
    Elodie thought he was right. “Everything possible should be done to recover the Replica.”
    But High Brunka Marya tightened her lips. “Saving a mountain will be the reward.”
    â€œI’ll give a reward.” Master Tuomo stood again and surveyed the guests and bees. “A hundred silver coins, all my money in the world.”
    A fortune. The Replica was worth more, but if the thief preferred not to kill people and beasts, he or she might take the reward instead.
    Elodie’s head swam. Was Master Tuomo trying to save his sons—or turning suspicion away from himself?
    He added, “If anybody finds the Replica, bring it to High Brunka Marya, and I’ll promise you the reward. Uwald will vouch that my word is good. If you know something, tell me, and if it leads to the Replica, I’ll pay you.”
    Master Uwald said, “I’ll pay the reward, Tuomo. I can afford it better than you.”
    High Brunka Marya looked up at the ceiling as if she might see Brunka Harald’s ghost floating there. “Thank you both, but the hundred silvers will come from brunkas, and information will be delivered to me.”
    â€œWhat are we to do after we search the bees’ things? I won’t sit still.”
    â€œDear Master Tuomo, you may look where you like, so long as you do so in the pairs I named, and so long as you remain in this chamber. And a . . . er . . . personage willarrive soon to speak with each of you, a personage adept at finding lost objects.”
    â€œWho?” Master Tuomo demanded.
    White smoke wreathed the entry door.
    â€œThe one who brought me to the Oase.” Elodie let pride infuse her voice, although she shouldn’t have, since she hoped to appear dull witted. “Lahnt is lucky. Masteress Meenore is here.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    W ith the sympathy of a brunka, Brunka Arnulf brought out a meal for Count Jonty Um. The ogre devoured half a wheel of cheese, two loaves of bread, and a bunch of late carrots, and drank two pitchers of cider, dining as quickly as he could while preserving his noble manners. When he finished, although he longed to sleep in a warm place, he shape-shifted into a swift again and flew.
    Dawn had just begun.
    If His Lordship hadn’t been tired, if his mind hadn’t been sluggish with food, if he had been a bird more often, he would have remembered that dawn was the hunting hour and would have waited before shape-shifting.
    As the swift rounded the eastern slope of Zertrum, an arrow pierced his shoulder, and he fell.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

    â€œThere once was a dragon called Roarer
    who filled the people with horror.
    Their fear pleased IT mightily,
    IT flamed at them frightfully
    and caused a boisterous furor.”

    Enh enh enh.
    No one else laughed. Elodie smiled, while wishing her masteress would stop amusing ITself.
    ITs head, shoulders, and forelegs (ITs arms, as Elodie thought of them) inched gingerly into the Oase. “I will not force the matter,” IT said when ITs sides filled the opening.
    Everyone but Elodie, Albin, and High Brunka Marya rushed to the opposite wall.
    Master Robbie took a few hesitant steps forward, managing to look at once afraid, curious, and hopeful.
    High Brunka Marya said, “IT’s going to help us