Free Reckless (Free Preview) by Cornelia Funke Page A

getting old — that was the
trouble.   The sunlight had clouded his
eyes, and his hearing had been so damaged by all the battle noise that Nesser
had to raise her voice whenever she addressed him.   Kami’en acted as if he didn't notice.   But the Dark Fairy would make sure everybody
else knew — as soon as she found out that a bunch of plunderers had made him
lose the Jade Goyl.
    Hentzau could
still picture him standing there.   The
face, half Goyl, half human, the skin suffused with their holiest of
stones.   He wasn't the Jade Goyl.   He couldn't be.   He was as fake as
one of those wooden fetishes, covered with gold leaf and sold to old women as
solid gold.   "Behold, the Jade Goyl has come to make our King invincible.   But don't cut too deep, or you will find
human flesh."   Yes, that's what
it was.   Nothing but
another attempt by the Fairy to make herself indispensable.
    Hentzau
squinted into the gathering night.   Even
the darkness turned to   jade .
    What if you're wrong, Hentzau?   What if he is the real thing?   What if your King's destiny depends on him?   And he had let him get away.
    When the scout
finally returned, even Hentzau's dimmed eyes could see from his face that he
had lost the trail.   Once he would have
killed the scout on the spot, but he'd learned to control the rage that lurked
in all of them, although not half as well as his King.
    That meant all
he had to go on was what Threefingers had said about the Red Fairy.   He would have to swallow his pride once more
and send a messenger to the Dark Fairy to ask her for directions.   The prospect pained him more than the cold
night air.
    "You will
find me their tracks!" he barked at the scout.   "As soon as it gets
light.   Three
horses and a fox.   Can't be that hard!"
    He was just
asking himself whom he should send to the Dark Fairy, when Nesser approached
him.   She was just thirteen years
old.   At that age Goyl were fully grown,
but most of them didn't join the army until they were at least fourteen.   Nesser was not very good with the saber, nor
was she a particularly good shot, but her courage more than made up for those
shortcomings.   At her age, fear was an
unfamiliar concept; you felt immortal, even without the blood of a Fairy
coursing through your veins.   Hentzau
remembered the feeling all too well.
    "Commander?"
    He loved the
reverence in her young voice.   It was
still the best antidote for the doubts the Dark Fairy had sown in him.
    "What?"
    "I know
how to get to the Fairies.   Not the island... but to the valley from where it can be
reached."
    "Is that
so?"   Hentzau did not show his
relief.   He was fond of the girl, and
that made him even more strict with her.   Like his own skin, Nesser's resembled brown
jasper, thought, as in all Goyl females, hers was suffused with amethyst.
    "I was
part of the escort the King sends with the Fairy when she goes traveling.   I accompanied her on her last visit to her
sisters.   She left us to wait for her at
the entrance to the valley, but..."
    This was too
good to be true.   He would not have to
beg for help.   And nobody would need to
know that the Jade Goyl had eluded him.   Hentzau clenched his fist, but Nesser saw only his impassive face.
    "All
right," he said, his tone studiously
uninterested.   "Tell the scout
you'll be leading the way from now on.   But you'd better not get us lost."
    "I won't,
Commander!"   Nesser's golden eyes
glistened with confidence as she quickly walked away.
    Hentzau just
stared down the unpaved road in the direction the Jade Goyl had escaped.   One of the looters had claimed that the
brother was injured, and they would have to stop somewhere to sleep.   Hentzau could go for days without sleep.   He would be waiting for them.

     

16
    Not Ever

     
    It was still
dark when Jacob made them break camp.   He
desperately needed sleep, but not even Fox could convince him to rest longer,
and Clara had to admit that she was glad