Read Spook’s: I Am Grimalkin for Free Online

that, she left, and I thought no more about it, but she returned the next day and came to stand before me. I was in my forge, sharpening a new blade.
    ‘Did you kick your ugly uncle again?’ I asked, unable to prevent a smile creeping across my face as I rested the completed blade on the anvil.
    The child did not reply. She stepped forward and tried to kick me again, but I was ready. I slapped her hard and threw her down into the dirt. I wasn’t angry, though I’d had enough of her foolishness and wanted to show her that I was not to be trifled with. But the girl was stubborn and – yes – she was brave. She attempted another kick. This time I snatched up my blade and pointed it at her throat.
    ‘Before the end of the day, child, this new blade will taste blood! Take care that it isn’t yours!’
    Then I threw her over my shoulder and carried her off towards the forest.
    It was late afternoon when I found the tracks of the bear; dusk when I reached its lair, a cave in a wooded hillside. There were bones outside, scattered across the loam. Some of them were human.
    I could hear the animal scuffling about inside its den. It soon caught our scent and moments later emerged on all fours. It was big, brown and fierce; blood was smeared across its snout and paws. It had been eating but still looked hungry. It glared at us for a moment, and I stared back hard and hissed at it to provoke it. It reared up on its hind legs and gave a terrible bellow of anger.
    I set the girl down on the ground at my side. ‘What’s your name?’ I demanded.
    ‘Thorne Malkin.’
    I handed her the blade I’d forged and sharpened that morning. ‘Well, Thorne, go and kill that bear for me!’ I commanded.
    She stared at the bear, which was now lumbering towards us, its mouth open, ready to charge. For the first time I saw fear in her eyes.
    ‘It’s too big,’ she said.
    ‘Nothing is too big to be killed by a witch assassin. Slay that bear for me and I will train you. Then one day you will take my place.’
    ‘What if it kills me?’
    I smiled. The bear was now getting very close. ‘In that case I will wait until the bear starts to eat you. Once it is distracted I will kill it.’
    Something happened then that was completely unexpected. By now the child was shaking with fear and looked ready to flee at any second. This was exactly what I wanted. My intention was to cure her of the folly of wishing to become a witch assassin.
    And she did run, but not in the direction I expected.
    Thorne lifted the blade, gave a yell and ran straight towards the bear.
    When I drew and hurled another blade, she was just seconds away from death. I rarely miss and my aim was perfect, the dagger burying itself up to the hilt in the bear’s left eye. It staggered and started to fall – but Thorne was still sprinting towards it. As she stabbed it in the left hind leg, the dead animal collapsed on top of her.
    She was lucky not to have been killed, or at least seriously hurt by such a weight falling on her. When I dragged her out, she was covered in bear blood but otherwise unhurt. I had been impressed by the courage displayed in one so young; she deserved to walk away unscathed.
    ‘I killed it!’ she exclaimed triumphantly. ‘Now you have to train me.’
    I lifted the head of the bear and pointed at the dagger embedded in its left eye.
    ‘ I killed it,’ I told her. ‘You merely offered it supper. But now we’ll have a supper of our own. This bear has dined on human flesh for quite a while; now we will eat its heart.’
    I was as good as my word. While Thorne collected wood, I took what I needed from the bear: its heart and two tender slices from its rump. Soon I had a fire going and was cooking the meat on a spit. Once it was done I cut the heart in two and handed half to the girl.
    ‘It’s good,’ she said. ‘I’ve never tasted bear meat before.’
    ‘There are very few bears left, but just in case you ever confront another, there are a couple of