Free The First Collier by Kathryn Lasky Page A

shaping it into a small container of sorts, no bigger really than a very large acorn or perhaps a tiny owl’s egg. And in that container—a cupper we called it—I had brought, in addition to the coals that were tucked into the moose horn, a bonk coal swaddled in a special moss that grew in the Beyond. The moss kept the coal glowing and hot and yet the coal did not melt the metal. The bonk coal, along with the ones in the moose horn, were the first ever brought to the N’yrthghar. And I planned to make great use of them. Not only for experiments withmetals, but for flame reading. If I must stay on that remote island in a forest, thick with trees, tending this egg and the young chick that would hatch from it, it was essential for me to know what was happening in the rest of the kingdom. The trick would be to ignite a small fire without burning down the rest of the forest.
    That wintry night, I found a place on the island where the trees grew tall and straight. Between the highest branches of an ice-sheathed tree, there were two hollows. One was the perfect size for an orphan egg and its foster father, and the larger one a perfect size for a collier and his fire. I knew I could line one hollow with soft moss, tucked in tightly around the egg, along with twigs and fir needles and scraps from the forest, besides the more traditional materials of snow and ice. It would be perfect for a nest. The other hollow—the fire hollow—I would pack only with snow and make a small pit for my coal. Then I would gather strips of birch bark for what I came to call the Telling Fire.
    I was desperate to know how Siv had fared, and as soon as I tucked the egg in I went to the other hollow and began to pack it with snow. I decided to use the bonk coal. So from my coal cupper, I withdrew the glowing ember. As the flames ignited I leaned forward. What would I see?
    At first, the images were pale and quivering. It was hard to make out any shapes at all, let alone owls. I thought I spied a ragged black smear that could have been a hagsfiend. Then I soon realized that there was more than one. They were definitely hagsfiends. How would Siv and Myrrthe survive this? Things became more distinct. I saw a glimmer, like the mist that rises at twilight in this land of the North Waters, and arced above it was a silver curving radiance—the ice scimitar of H’rath raised to attack.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Blood Snowflakes
    S iv flew with a lumpish ball of snow and ice in her talons and an ice scimitar in her beak. I could tell that the stench of hagsfiends was almost overpowering her. She staggered in flight but only briefly. The two hagsfiends were coming toward her at great speed. If they pinned her against the ice wall, she would be finished. But she had one thing in her favor: They still believed that she had the egg. With the ball of snow and ice clutched in her talons, she led them on a chase. As long as they believed that this ball was the egg, they would be careful because they wanted to snatch it from her. But now they were backing her toward an ice wall and very soon they would discover that it was not an egg that she clutched in her talons. Suddenly, the night flinched and the blackness throbbed with a glaring yellow light. The moon, the stars turned yellow. The snow “egg” began to slip from her talons. Her wings were beginning to fold. Her gizzard grew still. But she was not going yeep. It was far worse.The hypnotic yellow glare of the hagsfiends’ eyes had bathed the entire world around her. It was at this moment of the yellow glare’s greatest intensity that Siv spread her wings, dropped the ice ball, took the ice scimitar in her talons, and rushed with an unmatched speed straight for the hagsfiends.
    The harsh yellow light began to recede. The white swirling madness of the blizzard returned and in the flames of my fire I watched in horror as the snowflakes turned red with blood. I felt my gizzard tremble as I saw an entire upper wing torn