by Terry Brooks
Brin and Jair exchanged another quick glance, and this time their father saw it at once. “Would either of you like to tell me now who that old man was you sent?”
Brin stared. “What old man?”
“The old man with the message, Brin.”
Jair frowned. “What message?”
Eretria stepped forward now, a hint of displeasure in her dark eyes. “An old man came to us in the outlying villages south of Kaypra. He was from Leah. He had a message from you telling us that you had gone to the highlands and that you would be away for several weeks and not to worry. Your father and I thought it strange that so old a man would be serving as messenger for Rone’s father, but …”
“Brin!” Jair whispered, wide-eyed.
“There was something familiar about him,” Wil mused suddenly. “It seemed to me that I ought to have known him.”
“Brin, I didn’t send any …” Jair began, then cut himself short. They were all staring at him. “Wait … just wait right here, just … for a moment,” he sputtered, stumbling over the words as he edged past them. “Be right back!”
He dashed past them into the house, down the hallway, through the front room, and into the kitchen. He went at once to the stone hearth where it joined the shelving nooks and traced his way down to the third shelf. Then he moved the loose stone from its niche and reached inside.
His fingers closed over the Elfstones and their familiar leather pouch.
He stood there for a moment, stunned. Then gripping the Stones in his hand, he walked back through the house to where the others still waited on the cobbled walkway. With a grin, he produced the pouch and its contents and displayed them to an astonished Brin and Rone.
There was a long moment of silence as the five stared at one another. Then Brin took her mother with one arm and her father with the other.
“Mother. Father. I think we had better all go inside and sit down for a while.” She smiled. “Jair and I have something to tell you.”
By Terry Brooks
SHANNARA
First King of Shannara
The Sword of Shannara
The Elfstones of Shannara
The Wishsong of Shannara
THE HERITAGE OF SHANNARA
The Scions of Shannara
The Druid of Shannara
The Elf Queen of Shannara
The Talismans of Shannara
THE VOYAGE OF THE JERLE SHANNARA
Ilse Witch
Antrax
Morgawr
THE HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA
Jarka Ruus
Tanequil
Straken
THE GENESIS OF SHANNARA
Armageddon’s Children
The Elves of Cintra
The Gypsy Morph
LEGENDS OF SHANNARA
Bearers of the Black Staff
The Measure of the Magic
THE MAGIC KINGDOM OF LANDOVER
Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold!
The Black Unicorn
Wizard at Large
The Tangle Box
Witches’ Brew
A Princess of Landover
WORD AND VOID
Running with the Demon
A Knight of the Word
Angel Fire East
Sometimes the Magic Works:
Lessons from a Writing Life
TERRY BROOKS published his first novel, The Sword of Shannara, in 1977. It was a New York Times bestseller for more than five months. He has published twenty bestsellers since, including his newest novel: The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Morgawr. His novels Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word were each selected by the Rocky Mountain News as being among the best science fiction/fantasy novels of the twentieth century Brooks lives with his wife, ]udine, in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.