Destiny's Path by Frewin Jones Page A

unnoticed.”
    â€œAnd your new friend?” asked Branwen. “Have you looked closely into her eyes, Rhodri? Govannon may have given her a human shape, but there are no whites to her eyes. She will be spotted immediately.” She shook her head. “And even if I agreed with your plan, where are we to find these clothes? We have nothing to trade for them, even if we dared show ourselves.”
    Rhodri stared pensively into the flames but did not reply.
    Branwen sighed. “I am not even convinced that Iwan would…”
    Her words were broken by the sudden sound of choking and gagging. A slender figure came stumbling out into the firelight. It was Blodwedd, but her face was a deep red and her strange eyes were bulging. She took a few staggering steps forward and then fell to her knees, her hands clutching at her throat.

8
    B LODWEDD TUMBLED TO the ground and rolled onto her side, her knees up to her chest, her hands clawing at her neck. Hideous strangling noises came from her throat. It sounded as if she were choking to death.
    Rhodri sprang up and ran to her side.
    â€œWhat is it?” gasped Branwen, scrambling up in Rhodri’s wake. “What’s happening to her?”
    â€œI don’t know!”
    Rhodri dropped to his knees, leaning close over the stricken owl-girl, trying to hold her steady as her bare feet kicked in the dirt.
    â€œDoes she need water?” cried Branwen.
    â€œWait!” he said. “I think I have it!”
    Branwen saw his hand move to Blodwedd’s mouth, but his shoulder covered what he did next. After amoment or two, Rhodri pulled his hand away and Branwen saw him throw something small and dark into the grass.
    Blodwedd let out a scream then sat up, coughing and gasping for breath.
    â€œIt’s all right,” Rhodri said gently, holding her shaking shoulders between his hands. “You’re safe now.”
    Blodwedd looked up at him, her face still ruddy, her eyes streaming tears.
    â€œI could not…swallow…,” she panted. “Could not…breathe….”
    â€œWhat did you do?” Branwen asked Rhodri. “What was that thing you took out of her mouth?”
    â€œI’m not sure,” Rhodri responded. “A small animal of some kind. A vole, maybe.”
    Branwen stared at him in disgust. “ What ?”
    Rhodri looked up at her. “She was trying to swallow it whole,” he said. “Her throat wasn’t wide enough. It got stuck. She’s fine now.”
    â€œSwallow it whole?” she asked, revolted.
    â€œUp until today she was an owl!” he snapped. “Owls swallow their food whole, then later cough up the parts they don’t want, as pellets. Skin and fur and bones. She doesn’t know how else to eat.”
    Blodwedd began to breathe more easily, her cheeks returning to their usual color, her brittle body relaxing a little.
    â€œI shall starve!” she gasped, pulling away fromRhodri. She turned her face to the sky, her voice rising to a howl. “Lord Govannon! Release me from this bondage! I cannot eat! I cannot fly! It is too cruel!”
    She began to sob and put her hands over her eyes, her shoulders jerking. Rhodri put an arm around her and held her against him.
    â€œIt will be all right,” he said to her. “I will teach you to eat as humans do. You won’t starve. I won’t let you starve.”
    There was a rustle in the leaves. Fain came swooping down on slate gray wings. He snatched up the small, dead animal from the grass and went winging back into the trees with it dangling from his claws. Blodwedd would not benefit from her kill, but the morsel would not be wasted.
    Branwen turned away and walked back to the fire. She was torn between being sickened by Blodwedd and feeling the first inklings of pity for the poor creature. If only she had remained an owl, she would not be so difficult to come to terms with. Branwen knew that at this very