Free The Burning Shadow by Michelle Paver Page A

like a boy.”
    â€œOh,” said Pirra, oddly pleased.
    Hylas splashed her.
    She splashed him back. “You’re a
really
good thief,” she said enviously.
    He shrugged. “Lots of practice. You’re going to need to learn how.”
    â€œBut you did take a chance stealing from a Crow. What if he’d recognized you?”
    â€œHe wouldn’t. I’m a slave. Nobody looks at slaves.”
    The Sun was rising, and farther off, the other boys had filled their waterskins.
    â€œI’ll help you escape,” said Pirra.
    He threw her a strange, lost look. “You can’t. I tried twice. Got as far as the Neck over there. Zan tracked me—”
    â€œWho’s Zan?”
    â€œPirra,
listen
! I’m a slave, see? A pit spider. That means I go down the pit every day and don’t come out till dark. Down there it’s not just rockfalls you got to watch out for, it’s snatchers. And one’s got into Spit and he’s . . .” He could see that she had no idea what he was talking about.
    One of the warriors ambled to the pool’s edge not five paces away from them. Hylas retreated farther into the willows, and Pirra bent over the water.
    The warrior dipped in his head, then returned to the others, wringing out his long black hair.
    â€œSpit’s what?” prompted Pirra. The Crows were ready to move off, and Hekabi was beckoning.
    â€œCan a spirit get inside a person?” Hylas said abruptly.
    â€œWhat? Yes, sometimes. It sends them mad. They bring people like that to the House of the Goddess to be cured. It doesn’t always work.”
    â€œThat’s what’s happened to Spit, but the others don’t believe me.” His jaw tightened. “I watch him all the time. And I’ve learned the places where there are beams propping up the roof. They’ll be our only hope if he tries anything. Although what good will that be if the tunnel caves in and we’re trapped?”
    He was talking to himself; she couldn’t follow. “What do you mean, if he tries anything?”
    He swallowed. “He’s going to bring down the mine.”
    Pirra’s spine prickled. Hylas was scared. It took a lot to frighten him.
    Hekabi was coming to fetch her, looking annoyed.
    â€œI have to go,” she said.
    Hylas jerked his head at the warriors. “Do they know who you are?”
    â€œOf course not!”
    â€œSo where are they taking you?”
    â€œKreon.”
    â€œ
Kreon?
What’s he want with you?”
    â€œNot me, Hekabi. I’m supposed to be her slave.”
    He was struggling to take it in. “Whatever you do, keep your head down and don’t say anything! Someone might remember what you look like.”
    â€œThanks, I’d managed to think of that myself.” She gave him a wry smile, but he didn’t smile back.
    â€œI mean it, Pirra, keep your head down. It’s not just clothes that make a disguise. You still hold yourself like the daughter of a priestess. And you’re too clean. You’re poor now. Act like it.”
    Pirra scooped a handful of mud and rubbed it over her face and hair.
    â€œBetter,” said Hylas.
    â€œI will help you escape,” she said fiercely.
    Again that strange, lost look. “Don’t even try,” he warned. “You’ll only put yourself in more danger than you are already.”
    â€œThat’s my choice, not yours. We’ll find a way off this island. Then I can finally give you that amulet I’ve been carrying around since last summer.”
    Hekabi was almost within earshot.
    â€œHow will I reach you?” whispered Pirra.
    Hylas shouldered his waterskins. At the last moment he turned and breathed one word: “
Hedgehog
.”

    â€œSo who
was
that?” said Zan as they dragged their empty sacks down to the deep levels.
    â€œI told you,” said Hylas. “Just some slave I met once.”
    â€œOh