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eBook Category: Fantasy
eBook Description: Sometimes you cannot break a curse until you meet the mage who cast it.

eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, 1995
Fictionwise Release Date: April 2002

17 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [24 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [30 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [10 KB] , Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [52 KB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [10 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [62 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [81 KB] , hiebook (KML) [55 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [37 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [8 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [11 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [38 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [17 KB]
Words: 2931
Reading time: 8-11 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

"...a forest of dryads is dying because the descendant of the sorcerer who set the curse that chains them to their trees is leeching nutrients from the forest. The same curse also decreed that each dryad will fall in love with a human and have one daughter before being called for the rest of their lives to live in a tree. One of these dryads has a 16-year-old daughter who has not yet been tied to a tree. The dryads gift her with their communal magic to go and stop the sorcerer who is slowly killing them. His reasons, and the resolution, are a pleasant surprise.--John Everson, Tangent Online (Learn more about Tangent Online, the Internet's leading SF&F short fiction review website)

"We are dying, and I shall be the first to go." Ryl sat at her root and shivered. She grimaced with each frail movement, and the other women offered her words of comfort.

Lyra's voice rose above them. "It is Gorduin. He must be stopped."

"How? We cannot leave the forest for long enough to confront him," Ryl replied.

"One of us has yet to be linked to her tree."

There was a hushed gasp among the women.

"You mean your daughter?" Ryl finally said.

"Yes. I suggest I leave and bring Kerna here. She is the only one of us who can stand against Gorduin."

"But you will die if you leave your tree."

"If I gather all of our magic, it should sustain me long enough to return with her."

The night grew into the women's silence. Crickets and cicadas played their evening symphony and the call of a nocturnal animal accentuated the moment.

"She is but sixteen; her tree is not yet ready," Ryl said.

"Yes, she is young."

"She is our future."

"Again, correct. But, I can think of no alternative."

There was a murmur among the women. Their magic would not be easily given. But Gorduin was descended from the wizard whose curse had tied them to their trees; they would not take his threat lightly.

Finally, Ryl spoke for the grove.

"Take the magic. We will die either way."