Free The Dragons of Noor by Janet Lee Carey Page A

Tymm had helped him mend the fence with his small, clever hands. They’d laughed together, drinking from the water pouch, spitting arcs of silver water at the sheep on the far side of the fence. He clenched his jaw at the memory. “I’ve never seen nor heard of any black trees like you described in your dream.”
    “I hadn’t, either. But before I left Enness, I searched through the Falconer’s book and found something about a tree like that.”
    “Where’s the book now?”
    Hanna pointed to the trunk. Miles bent down and pulled it out.
    “Let me,” said Hanna. Opening the lid, she set theheavy tome on the bunk and leafed through it until she reached a page about Kwen-Arnun.
    “Listen.” She traced her finger along the text and read the description: “ ‘In the beginning when eOwey sang everything into being, Kwen-Arnun, the World Tree, held the world of NoorOth together. Kwen, white-barked and strong, embraced his tree-wife, Arnun, her branches black and shining. Male and female under the NoorOth sun, trunks and branches intertwining, together they were one.’ ”
    She read the rest of the passage describing the great quake that shook NoorOth in the second age, breaking the worlds, splitting the World Tree in two, Kwen tumbling into Noor, Arnun crashing in the otherworld of Oth.
    “ ‘Storms blew over Oth, where Kwen’s tree-wife, Arnun, was shattered on the ground. Her shining black trunk lay in pieces. Tempests swept through Noor, where Kwen fell, his branches twisted, his broken heart turning slowly to stone.’ ”
    She looked up from the page. “Do you see?”
    “Wait, look at this part.” Miles read aloud the passage on the next page, part of the tale he’d never seen before: “ ‘Some say that Kwen and Arnun died when they parted long ago, and Kwen’s remains are buried in theeastern lands of Noor. But the great Mishtar, who fought alongside the dragons to protect the Waytrees, held that one day the heart of the World Tree might still be awakened, and Kwen and Arnun be rejoined.’ ”
    Miles ran his hands along the script. In all the books he’d read at school, he didn’t remember anything about the World Tree rejoining again someday.
    Taunier said. “What does it have to do with the tree you saw in your dreamwalk?” Miles wasn’t sure, either.
    Hanna glared at them both. “Don’t you understand?” she asked. “Tymm was in an enormous tree. It grew from the earth like a towering fortress, larger than any tree you can imagine. It was black and shining, too, and it says right here”—she jabbed the page with her finger—“that Kwen’s tree-wife, Arnun, had black and shining branches.”
    Miles drew back. “But the female half of the World Tree is good, isn’t she? She wouldn’t take young children. Arnun wouldn’t call an evil wind to steal our Tymm!”
    “I’m not saying the World Tree is evil,” Hanna argued. “Only that the tree is like the one I saw in my dream. It’s the only mention of a black tree that size that I found in the book!”
    “There must be other massive black-barked trees like that!”
    “Nowhere in Noor that I know of.”
    “In Oth, then!”
    Taunier put out his hand. “Stop it, both of you. Arguing like this won’t help us at all.”
    Miles stood. “What do you say then, Taunier? Is there any sense in what she’s saying?” He was sure Taunier would side with him.
    Instead, Taunier looked from one to the other. “I say you’re both missing something. There’s a clue here that neither one of you seems to see.”
    “Aye? And what’s that?” Miles asked, not even trying to hide his irritation.
    Taunier read aloud: “ ‘As NoorOth loosened into the seen and unseen worlds of Noor and Oth, the rift tore a black hole in the heart of the Old Magic, and a Wild Wind awakened with the breaking of the worlds.’ ”
    “Wild Wind,” Miles whispered. The boat creaked, and the acrid scent of burning lamp oil filled his nostrils.
    “It’s