Melting Stones - By Tamora Pierce Page 0,19

I had known in the old days, before Briar had found me. They had that wary expression, the same as feral cats.

"Dedicates Rosethorn and Myrrhtide need to see the pond, Nory," Jayat said. "We don't have to wake Oswin to do it."

Nory scowled at all of us. "There are plenty of dead spots all around here. Why don't you go poke your noses into them?"

"Because we're here. We won't be any trouble." Jayat was almost pleading with Nory. I wondered how long he'd been sweet on her. Quietly he said, "Come on. You'll wake Oswin before we do, with your growling."

The older girl took Meryem inside the house. Jayat looked at us and shrugged. "Oswin says she's getting softer, looking after the kids. You just have to know her, I guess. This way." He led us around the house, down a rock-lined path into the trees.

I drew up even with Jayat. "I don't get it. Why are you showing us around, if you and your master are the only mages for this whole area? Won't you be needed someplace, sooner or later? Couldn't someone else play guide for us, if Oswin isn't available?"

Jayat shook his head, making his curls bounce. "It isn't just that the plants and water are getting poisoned." He looked older this morning. Maybe he just didn't like what he was saying, or thinking. "Too many of the dead patches are on places where this island's lines of power lie." He pointed to a rough granite post beside the path. It was as tall as my hip. Carved in the top of it was the Earth symbol, the circle that enclosed a cross.

I had seen them the day before, but had been too busy looking for new rocks to care. I studied the post. "It's tilted. And there's a crack in the middle of the granite. A bad shock and it will split right down the middle. You haven't been taking care of it."

Jayat scowled at me. "Then we'll replace it. We have one of those every ten yards to mark where the lines of the earth's power are hereabouts—"

"Are they all stone?" At least this was something I could take an interest in. "Are they all granite?"

"How would I know?" Jayat seemed grumpy. "They're just rocks that tell us where we may draw on the force of the earth, to give us strength for our spells. That's how lesser mages like Tahar and me can be of use to our kindred…"

I felt for the line of power that was supposed to be under the cracked granite post. I didn't sense anything. I let my magic sink through the stones beneath it. There was some power in them that fizzed, but nothing big. There had been strength beyond the normal in those dull bits of stone. The quartz there clinked with an echo of it, but it was just an echo.

I let my magic run deeper and deeper. I sensed a hum, way down. It reminded me of how my own magic had once felt. It called to me. It was like a kid, wanting me to come and play. I kept reaching out, trying to grab that fizzing sense of being alive…

Then I fell off my horse.

It's not as if it never happened before. I start to chase some fire or crackle in my magical senses, and my body forgets to hold the reins, or to keep my feet in the stirrups.

My horse doesn't know what's going on because I'm not telling it anything, so it does what the other horses do. This time, the other horses had stopped in a clearing of dead trees around a dead pond. My horse did, too, only suddenly, because it almost walked into Fusspot's horse. Fusspot's horse objected to mine coming so close. It turned its head and snapped. My horse backed up and stamped—that's what Jayat said, when he stopped laughing. The stamp jarred me enough that I slid down my horse's side.

At least my body knew what to do, even if my attention was somewhere else. I tucked and rolled like a Yanjing acrobat.

Rosethorn grabbed me before I landed in the pond. This time my collar ripped. I was about to argue when she pointed at the water.

Dead fish floated there. Dead animals lay at the water's edge. The skin of the fishes was eaten away.

"Acid." Fusspot looked absolutely miserable. "This water has turned to acid."

"These plants and trees have been poisoned by it." Rosethorn dragged me