Free The Circle of Stone (Darkest Age) by A. J. Lake Page B

ravening wildfire, destroying all it touched; their fire was a kindly thing, casting a small circle of warmth and light against the darkness.
    ‘This is good food,’ said Eolande, and Elspeth was startled by the sound of the Fay woman’s voice. Cluaran offered his mother more of the stew, while Wulf beamed with pride.Edmund, wrapped in his own cloak once again, raised his water flask to the boy like a cup, in friendly salute. The ring of firelight was a haven, Elspeth thought, if only for one night. While the circle lasted, nothing would harm them.
    Cluaran banked the fire at last, and they lay down to sleep in its mild glow. Wulf lay between Elspeth and Edmund, wrapped in the blanket from Eikstofn, and smiled as he slept.
    Elspeth woke suddenly in the night. For a moment she remembered other midnight alarms and her skin prickled, but there was no sound or movement. The fire’s embers still warmed her feet, and all around her was soft breathing. She relaxed, trying to recover the fragments of her dream. She had been Ioneth again, the child of the ice caves; not running or frightened this time but sitting at home with her mother and sisters, singing and learning to weave a mat, the melody winding in and out with the to-and-fro of the shuttle. A good dream – though Elspeth had never known her own mother, nor learned to weave.
Were you skilled at it, Ioneth?
she asked inside her head, and wondered if there had been a whispered reply, too faint to catch. The song continued to wind around her thoughts, and she hummed a snatch of it, thinking she would sing it to Wulf in the morning.
    Wulf! With a shock, Elspeth felt the empty ground beside her. Edmund was a gently snoring mound a little further away, but between them was only a crumpled blanket. The boy had gone.
    Elspeth pulled herself up, looking about in panic. A bright quarter-moon showed the empty road stretching away to both sides. She caught a glimpse of bright hair.
    ‘Wulf!’ she hissed, angry and weak with relief at the same time. ‘Come back here!’ But the boy had already skipped back behind one of the trees.
    ‘Wulf!’ she called, louder now. The only answer was a distant rustling as Wulf made his way deeper into the forest. With a sigh, she wrapped her cloak more closely around her and followed him, still calling.
    There was no clear track through the trees, and the moonlight that filtered through the branches turned the undergrowth into a mesh of shifting gleams and shadows. Elspeth pushed on in the direction Wulf had taken, blundering into thickets and cursing under her breath as she barked her shin on a hidden stump. There was no sign of the boy up ahead, and after a few more paces she stopped and listened for him. There it was, a soft footfall over to her right. She turned to follow the sound, hoping that she would be able to find her way back. At the same moment she heard something else behind her.
    There were bears in the forest, the pedlar Menobert had told them, and great hoofed beasts, elk and aurochs, that could outrun a man and trample him to death. She had not even thought to pick up the new sword. ‘Wulf!’ she cried desperately. Prickly branches pulled at her as she forced her way on.
    A bush just ahead of her shook with laughter. A small hand pulled aside the branches and Wulf’s face poked out, pale with moonlight and glowing with mischief.
    ‘I found something, Elsbet!’ he crowed. ‘I’ll show you – come.’
    ‘No, Wulf!’ Elspeth tried to sound stern. ‘We must go back right now!’ She wondered if she could tell what direction to take. She tugged at Wulf’s hand, and the boy scrambled out of the bushes.
    ‘Let me show you, Elsbet!’ he pleaded, pulling at her hand. ‘It’s so funny!’
    There was a sudden movement in the trees behind them. Elspeth wheeled to find Cluaran striding towards her, his face thunderous.
    ‘Back now – both of you!’ was all he said.
    Wulf seemed to know when he was beaten. He shrugged and