The Princess and the Snowbird by Mette Ivie Harrison Page A

none of his own?”
    “What I want is to show him I am a better heir than you. He will need someone to take his place eventually,” said Karl.
    Dofin shook his head. “My father does not spend time thinking of his own death, I assure you. He is far too busy planning the deaths of others for that.”
    “He hates you.”
    “And I hate him. I hate everything he stands for. You think he has a noble campaign to make humans better and stronger by taking all magic from them? He cares nothing about that. He only wants to make sure no one has a pleasure that he lacks. Do you see how he treats his animals? Kicks them and spits at them and kills them with overwork. It is the same with all those around him. He does not want humans to be higher than animals. He wants everyone to be as low as he feels himself to be, and as alone.”
    “If you despise him so much, then why do you do everything he tells you to do?” Karl sneered. “You are a coward, or you would leave him. You would let another take your place. But you are afraid. You do not know what you would do without him, who you would be. You take what he gives you because you cannot get any better and you do not care if it costs you your magic in the end.”
    Dofin gritted his teeth. “I stay because I can bestwork against my father when I am closest to him.”
    “Shall we test your theory?” Karl kicked at Dofin’s leg, right behind the kneecap.
    The boy went down hard. He did not even try to fight back.
    Jens scrambled down through the branches, intending to intervene. He had not fought against the Hunter before because there had been no hope of him winning. But here he could help Dofin, and in doing so, work against the Hunter.
    With a piercing sound like a wild hawk on the attack, Jens leaped from the tree and landed to Karl’s side. Karl was already spooked at the sound and the sudden fall. But Jens lifted his arms, covered his head in his skins, and then pushed at Karl.
    The boy stumbled and fell.
    Jens jumped on top of him while keeping his face hidden, and Karl cried out in terror.
    Then Jens heard a roar behind him. He turned to see a smallish bear with an intelligent look on its face. He stepped back from Karl, and the bear charged at him.
    Karl ran blindly into the forest, the bear behind him.
    Jens let the skins fall from his face and looked back to Dofin, who was gaping at the empty spot where the bear and Karl had been.
    “Did you call that bear?” he asked. “Did you use your aur-magic to save me?”
    “No, that was not aur-magic. I have none.”
    “But why would a bear chase one and not all of us?” asked Dofin.
    “Perhaps the bear wanted a game,” said Jens with a smile. “Or perhaps she thought Karl smelled tastier than you or I.”
    “She?” said Dofin.
    “Indeed. That was a female bear. Could you not tell the difference?”
    Dofin shook his head. “I am from Tamberg-on-the-Coast. I have never seen a bear before, male or female. You are from a village near here?”
    “I have left my village. I live alone in the forest now,” said Jens.
    Dofin stared up and down at him, apparently believing Jens’s story considering his wild and disheveled appearance. “You do not have the aur-magic, yet you live alone with the animals?”
    “I do.”
    “You tame them with the tehr-magic, then. Make them do your bidding.”
    Jens felt flushed. “No. Certainly not. I would not do it even if I had the tehr-magic, which I do not.”
    “You have neither magic?”
    “Have I not just said so?”
    “I am sorry. It is only that I have never met anyone but my father who had no magic at all. And he—he does not live among the animals. He hates them all.”
    “I am not like your father, the Hunter,” said Jens.
    “Clearly,” said Dofin, nodding. “Well, what reward can I offer you for saving me from that dangerous idiot Karl? Come back to Tamberg-on-the-Coast with me. You can work against my father with me, in secret.”
    “No,” said Jens. It was not