Free Magic Astray (The Llandra Saga) by Gregory Mahan Page B

observed ruefully. “I...inherited it from my master. I’ve had to use it more times than I’d like, I’m afraid. I don’t risk charging it more, but I think I can travel.”
    Sitting up, he looked over at where Berry still stood. “Are you here to help us, or trap us?”
    “Berry is Randall’s friend,” the imp chittered. “He has always been Randall’s friend.” He showed no sign of the arrogant demeanor that Randall had seen in Rhys’ quarters.
    “Then you can explain yourself on the way,” Randall said sharply. “If Nia says the hunters are coming, then we have to go.”
    Nia helped Randall to his feet. Though he had a slight limp, he was able to walk. The healing talisman would eventually heal him completely, even without being charged, but it would take some time. Until then, he would just have to manage as best as he could.
    “We’ll head north,” Nia explained as they made their way through the forest. “There’s a human fortification along the coast. We should be safe there, if we can make it. Rhys will likely believe that I would prefer to hide in the forest, rather than willingly go to a human settlement.”
    Randall nodded. From what little he had seen of Dyffryn, the elven population was small. Even a town the size of Geldorn would provide a measure of good defense by sheer weight of numbers.
    “I want to know why you attacked me,” Randall asked, scowling at Berry where he scampered along the ground. Randall had kept his distance from the donnan, and not allowed the imp to take its customary place on his shoulder.
    “I attacked you not,” Berry chittered. “It was another.”
    “He says it wasn’t him,” Randall relayed to Nia. He had to admit that even Berry’s use of language was different than the donnan he had encountered in Dyffryn.
    “That’s not possible,” Nia stated flatly. “There has only ever been one. Don’t you think we’d know if there was another?”
    “Once was one, now is two,” Berry interjected. “Veil is thin so I go through.”
    “He says that now that the barrier between our world and Llandra is weakened, he was able to slip through,” Randall explained. “Can that be possible?”
    Nia shrugged. “I suppose it may be. It is how Mamaeth is said to have first entered your world. But, how is it that you can understand him?” Nia asked. “Even Rhys and our other elders can only understand a little of the ancient tongue.”
    “I don’t know,” Randall shrugged. “After I broke through the aether-blindness back in Dyffryn, I could understand what everyone was saying—you, Rhys, Mamaeth. Everyone. I don’t know how it works.”
    “My gift,” Berry chittered gleefully. “When you were small, I creep into your home. Dark, all was quiet. Touch your mother’s belly, leave you a gift.” He clapped his hands and jumped up in down excitedly.
    Randall stopped in his tracks, his mouth agape. “Wait a minute. You came to my house before I was even born?” he asked in disbelief. “How long have you been here?”
    Berry shook his head in the gesture that Randall had come to know as the creature’s shrug. “Many sunrises, since the veil grew thin. Now I am here. I make you my gift, and wait for you to grow.”
    “Why?” Randall asked, softly. His mind was abuzz with questions. Had everything that had happened to him since before Erliand appeared at the job fair been Berry’s doing? Had his whole life been planned out in advance like some puppet in a play?
    “Veil must not break,” Berry chittered in serious tones. “You must stop it.”
    “Why me?” Randall cried as Nia looked back and forth between the pair, confused by the one-sided conversation. “Why can’t you fight Mamaeth? You’re a donnan, too!”
    “He is stronger, older,” Berry explained. “You are strong, too. Will grow stronger still.”
    “But I never wanted to be in the middle of a war! I never wanted any of this,” Randall cried out in frustration.
    Berry clambered