Free Nature's Servant by Duncan Pile Page A

you check before doing something like this?”
    He felt guilty when he saw how concerned she was. “Sorry Emmy,” he said. “I really didn’t think it would be this hard. To be honest I scared myself a bit towards the end. I think I used up just about everything I’ve got.” He held up a trembling hand to demonstrate.
    Emmy took his hands. “Will you promise me that you’ll ask a teacher next time you want to do something brand new, in case it turns out to be too much for you?”
    He couldn ’t resist the sincerity of her plea. “I promise.”
    Emmy ’s face relaxed, and she kissed him. As her lips touched his, a surge of warmth flooded him, tingling behind his navel and spreading throughout his body. He pulled back and looked down at himself. His hands had stopped shaking. “What was that?” he asked in amazement.
    “ Just a bit of energy,” Emmy said. “Not enough to replenish what you’ve spent, but enough so you can get through the day.”
    “ Oh! Thanks,” Gaspi said, flexing his fingers experimentally. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
    “ It’s one of my tricks,” Emmy said, borrowing Taurnil’s turn of speech. She looked up at the koshta tree. “That’s amazing,” she said appreciatively. She stood up, reaching out a hand and helping him to his feet.
    “ It is, isn’t it!” he said, walking over to the tree and placing a hand on its smooth, dark bark. It felt just like the trees at home. Its dark green needles were bunched just as thickly as a native tree, and the seeds dangling from each branch were perfectly formed.
    “ How’s it going to help?” Emea asked quizzically.
    “ What do you mean?” he asked.
    “ Well even if you cut a branch off to make whackers, you still have to pay a carpenter to have them made, and a cobbler to make the boots,” Emmy said.
    “ I’m going to cheat,” he said. “Tomorrow, when I’ve recovered a bit, I’m going to grow some whackers right off the tree.”
    “ You can do that?” Emmy asked, fascinated.
    “ I can’t see why not,” he answered, “and there’s obviously no problem with seeds,” he said, indicating the heavy, polished-looking object hanging from the end of the lowest branch. “I’m gonna enchant something to cover the quad in ice too, so anyone can do it when I’m not here. I dunno about the boots though. Maybe the college will pay for it.”
    “ Sounds like you’ve got it all sorted,” Emmy said with a smile, and kissed him on the cheek. She tugged on his arm. “Come on. Let’s get some breakfast,” she said, leading him reluctantly away from his tree, standing proudly in the dawn light.
     
    …
     
    The day before he was due to leave, Gaspi had Taurnil, Owein and Everand meet him in the quad. The boys found him in the corner of the quad by the tree, leaning on a waist high pillar of wood that was exactly the same colour as the tree itself, finished so smoothly it glowed as if finely polished. An unmarked wooden crate lay at his feet.
    “What’s this all about Gasp?” Owein asked genially. Gaspi had pulled him and Everand away from a game of cards in the Warren, but they were both clearly curious and didn’t seem to mind the interruption.
    “I think I’ve got it all sorted so you can play koshta while I’m away.”               “Awesome!” Everand said, grinning. “I knew you could do it.”
    “I needed a bit of pushing, but anyway, here’s your enchanted device,” he said, slapping the top of the pillar next to him.
    “How does it work?” Everand asked, eyeing it curiously.
    “All you have to do is thread a little bit of power into it, and it does the rest for you.”
    “Amazing,” Owein said, looking at the glowing pillar in awe.
    “Let’s have a go,” Everand said, elbowing Owein out of the way as he stepped forwards.
    “Sure,” Gaspi said, stepping away from the pillar. Everand lifted a hand and held it suspended over the enchanted pillar before lowering it down