Steel Magic

Steel Magic

“The enemy is never wholly defeated, neither in Avalon nor in your world.” Merlin sighed. “He wears many surcoats, marches under many different banners, but he always exists. It is our hope to keep him ever on the defensive, always to face him squarely and never allow him a full victory. Yes, if he wins here, then well may he win in your time and space also.”

“Then I choose to do as you wish,” Greg answered. “It's for Dad, in a way.” He looked questioningly at Sara and Eric.

“All right.” Eric's agreement was reluctant. He looked as scared and unhappy as Sara felt inside.

She held to the basket which was the only real thing now in this mixed-up dream. And her voice was very small and thin as she said, “Me, I'll help too.”

Merlin straightened in his chair and now he was smiling. Sara was warmer, seeing that smile, and almost happy.

“Then do you search out our talismans, wheresoever they may lie and whosoever may guard them. Remember, cold iron is your servant and your magic—call upon it when you must—and change is the pattern of your going. And the time to begin is now!”

Don't get left behind!

STARSCAPE

Let the journey begin . . .

From the Two Rivers
The Eye of the World: Part One
by Robert Jordan

Ender's Game
by Orson Scott Card

Mairelon the Magician
by Patricia C. Wrede

Ender's Shadow
by Orson Scott Card

Orvis
by H. M. Hoover

Prince Ombra
by Roderick MacLeish

Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi

Another Heaven, Another Earth
by H. M. Hoover

The Wonder Clock
by Howard Pyle

The Shadow Guests
by Joan Aiken

Song in the Silence
by Elizabeth Kerner

Putting Up Roots
by Charles Sheffield

In the Land of the Lawn Weenies
by David Lubar

To the Blight
The Eye of the World: Part Two
by Robert Jordan

The Cockatrice Boys
by Joan Aiken

The Whispering Mountain
by Joan Aiken

The Garden Behind the Moon
by Howard Pyle

The Dark Side of Nowhere
by Neal Shusterman

The Magician's Ward
by Patricia C. Wrede

Deep Secret
by Diana Wynne Jones

Hidden Talents
by David Lubar

Obernewtyn
by Isobelle Carmody

This Time of Darkness
by H. M. Hoover

Red Unicorn
by Tanith Lee

The Billion Dollar Boy
by Charles Sheffield

The Farseekers
by Isobelle Carmody

T
HE
M
AGIC
B
OOKS

ANDRE NORTON

NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

STEEL MAGIC

Copyright © 1965 by Andre Norton

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

Originally published in Cleveland, World Pub. Co. 1965

A Starscape Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

www.starscapebooks.com

ISBN 0-765-35297-4
EAN 978-0765-35297-2

First Starscape edition: June 2005

Printed in the United States of America

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For Stephen, Greg, Eric, Peter,
Donald, Alexander, and Jeffrey.
And for Kristen and Deborah,
who love stories of fairy worlds
.

THE LAKE AND THE CASTLE

BEYOND THE WALL

COLD IRON

MERLIN'S MIRROR

MOUNTAIN ROAD

SEA ROAD

WOODS ROAD

THE SWORD

THE HORN

THE RING

THE FOX GATE

T
he adventure began with the picnic basket that Sara Lowry won at the Firemen's Strawberry Festival at Tern sport Village. Because it was the first time any of the junior Lowrys had ever won anything, they could hardly believe it when Chief Loomis called out the number of the ticket Sara had knotted into one corner of her handkerchief. Both Greg and Eric had to hustle her up to the platform where Chief Loomis waited beside the loud-speaker.

The basket was super, the boys agreed as soon as they had a chance to examine it. Inside the lid, fastened in a piece of webbing, were forks, spoons, and knives of stainless steel, and there was a set of four cups—blue, yellow, green, and fire-engine red—with matching plastic plates. Sara was still so surprised at her luck that she would not have been astonished if the basket had vanished completely before she carried it back to Uncle Mac's station wagon.

When Uncle Mac slowed down for the sharp turn into the
Tern Manor private road, Sara clutched the basket handles tighter. Greg's sharp elbow dug into her ribs, but she did not try to wriggle away. This place was spooky at night, and she did not wonder that Greg moved back from the window when ragged branches reached out as if they were trying to drag the car off the narrow road into all those shadows. At night you had to keep thinking about how this was still New York State, with the Hudson River only two hills and three fields away—and not a scary country out of a fairy tale.

Now they were passing the dark place where the big house had once stood. Twenty years ago it had burned down, long before Uncle Mac had bought the old carriage house and the ground with the gardens for what he called his hideaway. Uncle Mac wrote books and wanted peace and quiet when he was working—lots of it. But the old cellar holes still marked where the house had stood, and the Lowrys had been strictly warned not to explore there. Since Uncle Mac was perfectly reasonable about letting them go everywhere else through the overgrown gardens and the little piece of woodland, the Lowrys were content.

They drove into the old stable yard. When the big house had been built fifty years ago, there had been horses here, and people had actually ridden in the funny carriage the children had found crowded into part of an old barn. But now the station wagon occupied the main part of the barn and there were no horses.

Mrs. Steiner, the housekeeper, was waiting on the doorstep of the carriage house and she waved an air mail—special delivery letter at Uncle Mac the minute he got out of the car. She
was also wearing one of her own special “past-your-bedtime-and-hurry-in-before-I-miss-my-favorite-TV-program,” looks for the Lowrys. Mrs. Steiner spoke with authority, whereas Uncle Mac, especially while writing, would sometimes absentmindedly agree to interesting changes of rules and regulations. Uncle Mac was not used to children. Mrs. Steiner was, and an opponent to be respected in any tug of wills.

On the whole the Lowry children had been looking forward to a good summer. In spite of Mrs. Steiner there were advantages to staying at Tern Manor. Since Dad had been ordered to Japan on special service and had taken Mother with him for two months, Uncle Mac's was far better than just second best.

When one was used to towns and not the country, though, what was left of the old estate could be frightening at times. Greg had gone to scout camp, and Eric had taken overnight hikes in the state park when Dad was stationed at the big air base in Colorado. But this was Sara's first visit to a piece of the outdoors that had been allowed to run wild, just as it pleased. She was still afraid of so many big, shaggy bushes and tall trees, and managed to have one of the boys with her whenever she went too far from the stable yard or the road.

Mrs. Steiner spoke darkly of snakes, but they did not frighten Sara. Pictures of snakes in library books were interesting, and to watch one going about its business might be fun. But poison ivy and “those nasty bugs,” which Mrs. Steiner also mentioned at length, were another matter. Sara did not like to think about bugs, especially the kind that had a large number of legs and might investigate humans. Spiders were
far more unpleasant than snakes, she had long ago decided. She was really afraid of them, though she knew that was silly. But to see one scurrying along on all those legs—ugh! As they climbed the stairs to the small bedrooms in the top story of the carriage house, Eric joggled the basket Sara still carried.

“Let's fill this up tomorrow and really go exploring—for the whole day!”

“Might be a good time to hunt for the lake,” Greg agreed. “We'll ask Uncle Mac at breakfast—after he's had his third cup of coffee.”

“Mrs. Steiner say there's liable to be snakes there,” Sara offered. Please, she added to herself, just no
big
spiders, little ones were bad enough. Greg snorted and Eric stamped hard on the next step. “Mrs. Steiner sees snakes everywhere, when she isn't seeing something else as bad. Water snakes, maybe, and I'd like to get me one of those for a pet. Anyway, we've wanted to find the lake ever since Uncle Mac told us there was one.”

This was perfectly true. The legend of the lost lake as Uncle Mac had told it was enough to excite all three Lowrys. The gardens were now a matted jungle, but they had been planned to encircle an ornamental lake. Mr. Brosius had bought the land more than fifty years ago, throwing three riverside farms together and spending a great deal of time and money developing the estate. He was a legend, too, was Mr. Brosius, a stranger with a long beard, who had paid for all the costs of the manor's building in gold coins. Then he had gone and the house had burned.