Read Shadows on the Stars for Free Online

as she turned to Elli. “What he’s really saying is that he didn’t like what he saw. Especially those eaglefolk battling each other, which offended his precious sense of honor.”
    Scree’s brows lifted over his large, yellow-rimmed eyes. “At least when we have to fight, we use our own talons and wings—not some clumsy old weaponry that breaks if you step on it.”
    Brionna’s hand, which had been fingering her braid, moved to touch her longbow. “The elves have a curse for creatures as warlike as you.”
    “And we’re not going to hear it now,” declared Elli, cutting her off. “We have more important things to discuss.”
    “Wait now, watching them argue is fun!”
    Everyone turned to Henni, who had called out from his perch atop a tall, angular rock. He wasn’t exactly on top, however. The hoolah’s toes were stuck into a jagged crack so that he could hang upside down. His grinning face dangled just above several knifelike quartz crystals.
    “Eehee, hoohoo, heeheehahaha,” he laughed raucously, waving a hand at the others. “You people are almost as entertaining as clumsy old Tamwyn!”
    He laughed again, clearly enjoying himself. The only question was whether his good mood came mainly from watching Scree and Brionna, or from the simple delight of risking a broken neck.
    But Elli was not about to be deterred. She looked grimly at Nuic. “What did that vision really mean? Those dark shapes, whatever they were, pouring out of the spot where the stars had been. And those images of gobsken and water dragons.”
    “Along with eaglefolk,” muttered Scree unhappily, shaking his shoulders as if ruffling his wings.
    “And then,” continued Elli, “there were those words spoken by—”
    “Rhita Gawr,” finished Nuic, his color darkening to deepest black. “ When the great horse dies. We need to know what that means. But even more, we need a plan.”
    “Which I have.” Tamwyn stepped out from under the overhang.
    Elli started in surprise, but like Nuic, she just stared at Tamwyn, saving nothing.
    Scree’s eagle eyes widened. “Do I sense a quest coming on, little brother?”
    “Yes. But I’m not your little brother. We’re the same age, and you know it. Just because you look ten years older—”
    “And act ten years wiser,” added Scree with a smirk. Ignoring Tamwyn’s glare, he asked, “So tell us, then. What is this plan of yours?”
    Tamwyn stepped toward them on the snow. He moved slowly but deliberately, his bare feet crunching on the hardened crust. Just short of the Stargazing Stone, he stopped and drew a deep breath.
    “Well,” he began, trying not to look at Elli, “I think there’s just one thing to do.”
    “Which is?” probed Nuic, his liquid purple eyes locked on Tamwyn.
    “Go up there. All the way to the stars—before those dark shapes, whatever they are, really start to appear.”
    “And just what,” demanded the sprite, “would you do if you ever actually reached the stars?”
    “Relight them. Restore them somehow. That could be the only way to stop Rhita Gawr.”
    “But,” objected Elli, “that’s crazy! No one can do that.”
    “Lighting stars is no simple matter,” stressed Nuic.
    Still unwilling to look directly at Elli, Tamwyn spoke instead to the sprite. “Look, when those same seven stars went dark, way back at the end of the Age of Storms, Merlin said it was essential to relight them. And he found some way to do it, didn’t he?”
    “Sure, but he was—”
    “A wizard,” said Tamwyn bitterly. “And I’m not, as all of you know. I’m just a stupid fool, with a wizard’s staff.”
    His throat, suddenly dry, grew hoarse. “But maybe I could still find a way. Still figure it out.” He glanced, ever so briefly, at Elli. “Before it’s too late.”
    Elli, blinking the mist from her eyes, watched him in silence. Brionna, as observant as ever, caught the softer look on her face, but also said nothing.
    Shim, who had ambled over, shook his white