Kendra Kandlestar and the Shard From Greeve by Lee Edward Födi

fate. Come with us now—immediately—and she goes on her way.”
    For a moment, Uncle Griffinskitch didn’t say a word. He just leveled a hard and heavy glare at Burdock. Then sternly he said sternly, “Kendra, pick up your wand.”
    Kendra did as she was instructed, blindly hunting for her wand with one hand, not daring to take her eyes from Lurk. In a moment her wand was back in her hands. And so it’s a fight , she guessed inside her mind. The tiny glade at the foot of the bridge was now filled with tension; Kendra was clenching her Eenwood so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Burdock shifted uneasily, as did his legion of men; only Lurk did not move. He stood as still as a tower.
    “Very well,” Uncle Griffinskitch said finally. “I will go with you, Burdock. I will go before the council.”
    “What!” Kendra cried in surprise, but before she could utter another word, her uncle spoke again—but this time it was inside her mind.
    Kendra , came his voice. Listen now.
    Uncle Griffinskitch’s lips weren’t moving, but Kendra felt a pulse of energy through her Eenwood, and somehow she knew he was communicating with her through the magic of their wands.
    She wondered if it would work both ways, and so she said to him in her mind, What are you doing? We should fight.
    This is not the time , he responded calmly. You must not go before the council in the Elder Stone. If you do, you won’t return.
    But neither will you!
    Do as I ask. Today, go home; tomorrow, fetch Winter Woodsong.
    I’ll fetch her now , Kendra replied eagerly.
    No. They expect it. They will stop you and harm you, if need be. Give them no excuse.
    But—
    Do as I say , Uncle Griffinskitch interrupted. I need you to be free. I need you to be patient.
    There was that word again. Kendra boiled.
    Remember: You are my apprentice , came Uncle Griffinskitch’s voice. And I trust you.
    And that was all; he severed the link and said no more. The old wizard surrendered his staff to the greedy hands of Leerlin Lurk, and with a parting glance to Kendra, he raised his head high and followed Burdock down the path towards the Elder Stone.
    This is my fault , Kendra told herself. If only I could conjure some magic from my wand! Then Uncle Griffinskitch wouldn’t have yielded so easily!
    But she could not use her wand, which meant that all Kendra could do was watch Burdock’s men lead her uncle away. When they were out of sight, she turned at once, and bolted through the fading fall afternoon, her heart buzzing like a nest of wasps.



AH, TEMPTATION! It is a difficult master to defy. If you have ever had a fingernail that needed nibbling or a scab that yearned for picking, then you know this all too well. As for Ratchet—well, asking him to refrain from using magic was like telling Kendra to not tug her braids, and this was exactly why the young Een girl wrestled with a jumble of emotions as she headed home. On the one hand, she sympathized with the raccoon; on the other, she bristled with anger at his inability to just follow the rules.
    When she arrived home, it was to find Oki staring disconsolately into the fireplace. Jinx was there too, pacing back and forth with a scowl on her face that could peel paint.
    “Why are you here?” Kendra asked the grasshopper.
    “I’ve been waiting for your uncle,” Jinx said. “We need to do something before anyone else gets tossed in Burdock’s dungeons.”
    “I’m afraid it’s a little late for that,” Kendra said.
    “Eek!” Oki squeaked. “What does that mean?”
    Kendra sighed and proceeded to describe the day’s events, starting with the visit to Winter Woodsong and ending with how Uncle Griffinskitch had been arrested.
    “What I really want to know, Oki, is where that powder came from,” Kendra said.
    “We found it rummaging around in the wreckage of our old stump,” Oki explained. “It was locked up in a little box and survived the fire.”
    “You should have just left it alone,” Kendra