Free The Spell of Rosette by Kim Falconer Page A

imagined this would be an amazing place to explore on horseback. How long had it been since she’d so much as seen a horse in the distance? The last she’d touched had been Assalo, right before he died. She pushed the memory away before it choked her and continued through the woods.
    By late afternoon, she had six good-size roots in her backpack. She sat on a fallen log beneath a tall grove of pines, munching on the oatcakes that Nell had packed for her. The sun had vanished behind the cloud cover, and a light snowfall floated down between the branches like puffs of dandelion looking for somewhere to land. It was already getting dark. She shivered.
    Retracing her steps, she made slow progress. Her hands and feet were cold and stiff. Her legs felt like lead weights, and she had the eerie sensation of being watched. She turned a full circle, seeing nothing but the sentinel trees and falling snow before she caught a flash of movement. A blast of adrenaline hit her solar plexus, and she sucked in her breath.
    There it was again, something slipping in and out of the shadows. She couldn’t identify it. Then a hunkered shape appeared. It seemed damaged. It wasn’t moving right. A high-pitched scream pierced the air and was immediately answered by a squawking challenge. Some creature was clearly under attack. Gripping her staff with both hands, she ran forward, her eyes wide and her heart pounding.
    As she came closer, she made out two birds on the ground, flapping dark wings. There was a tug of war going on between a crow and a buzzard twice its size. Both were intent on the quarry and neither would back down. She couldn’t make out what they’d scavenged, but it wasn’t moving or making any noise. Rosette watched with fascination as the birds bounced and flapped and hopped back and forth, the squawks cutting short as the buzzard stopped momentarily to eye her. When it dropped its grip, Rosette recognised what they were fighting over and her heart pinched.
    It was a large black cat, dead or unconscious. As she raised her staff it suddenly came to life, spitting andstruggling. Rosette didn’t wait for her next breath. She held her staff high over her head and charged at the birds, screaming, ‘Get away!’ She swung her staff, well before coming into range. ‘Let go or I’ll break your necks!’
    She struck at them, yelling at the top of her voice, swinging towards the crow first and sending it cawing to a low pine branch. The buzzard opened its wings as if to stand its ground, but hopped away quickly when Rosette’s staff whizzed by its head. With a few more swings and curses she had the birds scattered enough to turn her attention to the feline.
    Kneeling down, she saw that, for all its large size, it was only a kitten.
    ‘Where’s your mamá?’ Rosette looked around the clearing as she spoke.
    Wherever the mother was, the creature would be huge. She saw nothing nearby except the darkening woods and the buzzard swooping to a branch just above her.
    The baby cat shuddered in the snow, its nose on the ground. One leg was bent at an unnatural angle and the others were tensed underneath its body. There was blood oozing from its neck and one eye had swollen shut. It tried to leap away only to collapse into the snow, inches ahead.
    ‘I’ve got you,’ Rosette whispered. ‘You’re safe with me.’
    She scooped the kitten up into her arms, unbuttoned her coat and thick woollen sweater, tucking it into the warmth between her breasts. The touch of its cold body burned her skin and made her gasp.
    She patted the animal. ‘Don’t worry. They can’t get you now, baby cat.’
    She buttoned her sweater over it, tightening her coat as she stood. Drips of melting ice-water trickled downher belly, and something warmer too. The baby’s blood? She grabbed her staff and ran for home.
    The birds closed in, seemingly united now in their effort to reclaim the feline, or perhaps even Rosette. She swung her staff and screamed at them