Blat Magic: Part 4

By MICHAEL STEPHENS, Illustrator MICHAEL BUCHANAN

When she reached a hollow in a tree trunk, nearly three yards from the ground, she laid the bundle down, and stroked it. Then she unsheathed the sword and pushed the sword-tip into a knot in the blanket. Standing on her toes, she carefully raised the bundle to a wide fork just above. That high, it might just be safe from wolves.

Up here the bark became too smooth for her to climb. Gently, she patted the bundle with the sword-tip.'Farewell, my darling,' she called out, and in a second she was off, among the tree roots, running faster now that she no longer had to worry about keeping whatever she had been carrying safe.

Two trees away, she called out:'Wolves! Wolves! Why are you so stupid? Don't you have noses? Here I am!

And she raced over roots and rocks which, to someone of her size, were ramparts and hills.

Publisher: HarperCollins

Price: $16.95

Age group: 9-12 years