mirror of
https://gitlab.silvrtree.co.uk/martind2000/booksnew.git
synced 2025-01-11 23:45:08 +00:00
78 lines
8.4 KiB
HTML
78 lines
8.4 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
|
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>Mythlands - Chapter </title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type= "application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href= "page-template.xpgt"/>
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<div id="text">
|
|
<div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
|
|
<p class="centered noindent"><strong>Preview of </strong></p>
|
|
<p class="centered noindent enhance"><strong>SPELLBINDER</strong></p>
|
|
<p class="centered noindent"><strong>The next in the <em>Book of Ways</em> mythic trilogy</strong></p>
|
|
|
|
<h1>1</h1><p>Corriwen Redthorn had vanished into another world.</p>
|
|
<p>She had tumbled, <em>was thrown</em>, through the space between the standing stones and she was gone. Disappeared.</p>
|
|
<p>Jack Flint lurched from the far side of the ring of stones. Kerry Malone had his arm around him, bracing him up. But for that, both of them would have sunk to the ground.</p>
|
|
<p>They were hurt. They were bruised and bloodied and Jack felt as if every inch of his body had been beaten. Blood was matted on Kerry's shoulder where the thing had hit him, slammed him into the air.</p>
|
|
<p>The thing. The <em>Morrigan</em>. </p>
|
|
<p>As old as time, as foul as sin, she had harried them across the dead lands, rending the very rocks with her fury. They had made it to the ring of stones where they had started and she had come sweeping after them, a shade within a shadow; screeching for vengeance.</p>
|
|
<p>They had fought her and she had almost killed them both. But they had survived and she was gone, still screeching, all the way down into the infinity of dark under the capstone.</p>
|
|
<p>But before it had sucked her down she had reached out and caught him by the leg, claws digging into his bones, her rage as cold as death, dragging him down with her into the eternal black.</p>
|
|
<p>Then Corriwen Redthorn was in front on him again and both knives were out, flashing red in the hideous moonlight. She dived headlong and slashed at the claw gripping Jack's leg. The second knife flickered past him and pierced a monstrous red eye. Something burst wetly and the demon-thing's sudden agony blasted out of her and the standing stones shuddered in their foundations.</p>
|
|
<p>And then the Morrigan was gone, screaming as she fell. Screaming so long that it seemed to take forever before the hideous cry faded to nothing.</p>
|
|
<p>But in the instant before the grip broke on Jack's leg, her last desperate act had been to reach out, fast as a snake, and hit Corriwen a tremendous blow which slammed her into the air.</p>
|
|
<p>And now, in the aftermath, Corriwen had vanished.</p>
|
|
<p>Kerry groaned aloud. Jack could see the bruise swelling across his cheek. He had taken a hard blow, but his eyes were still bright and somehow fierce.</p>
|
|
<p>"We beat the bitch," he said. </p>
|
|
<p>"We did. And I think I got us back to <em>before.</em> I mean, before it all went crazy."</p>
|
|
<p>He paused in mid sentence.</p>
|
|
<p>"Where is she?"</p>
|
|
<p>"I told you. She's gone."</p>
|
|
<p>"No," Jack said. "Where's Corriwen?"</p>
|
|
<p>They both turned round quickly.</p>
|
|
<p>"She was…" Kerry started, then stopped. "I think she was here. I was running with that thing coming on like a train. Then I threw the heartstone to you and she hit me such a wallop I went ass for elbow."</p>
|
|
<p>"Corriwen was hit too," Jack said. His heart lurched. "She was hit. I saw it." He started to walk, ignoring the pain and they helped each other to their feet.</p>
|
|
<p>"She was hit really hard and she went flying." He took a slow step and then another in the direction Corriwen had tumbled when the Morrigan had flipped her away, all the time expecting to find her broken body against one of the standing stones. The final blow from the Morrigan must have been devastating.</p>
|
|
<p>He searched around, moving from one stone to the other before he saw it. There on the soft earth, was a small depression where she had landed and rolled, scuff marks in the thin grass.</p>
|
|
<p>They continued onwards, towards the space between two standing stones.</p>
|
|
<p>Then they vanished.</p>
|
|
<p>Jack looked at Kerry.</p>
|
|
<p>"She must have been thrown through," Kerry said. Regret and relief were struggling in his expression. "Back home to Temair."</p>
|
|
<p>Jack reached for his friend's arm. It was all coming back to him through a haze of hurt and numbness.</p>
|
|
<p>He shook his head. "No," he said. "That's not the gate to Temair. The <em>Farward Gate. </em>She was thrown through the <em>wrong</em> one. They were all open at the same time. I saw different places out there."</p>
|
|
<p>They locked eyes. "Kerry. I don't know <em>where</em> she's gone."</p>
|
|
<p>"Oh Jack," Kerry whispered.</p>
|
|
<p>Jack picked up the amberhorn bow and hefted his backpack. His jacket was in rags. One shoe was torn from sole to heel. He was hurting from head to toe. The standing stones towered above them.</p>
|
|
<p>Beyond them, Cromwath Blackwood's trees crowded close, now back to its thick, twisting glades. Beyond them, some distance away was the tall wall that was built to keep people out. Now he and Kerry knew the astonishing secret of the wall and the stones. The <em>gates.</em></p>
|
|
<p>Beyond the wall was a world back to normal, he knew for sure. No creeping darkness, no whispering shade. No madness in the night.</p>
|
|
<p>Beyond the wall the Major's telescope would still be focused on the woods. The major would be up in the turret with his charts<em>.</em></p>
|
|
<p>Jack had so much to tell him, so much to ask him. All the answers he needed to know about who he was and where he came from, all the things he needed to know, lay beyond the wall.</p>
|
|
<p>He paused, heart aching with the need for that knowledge. He walked across the ring, to the space between the stones through which they had run, panicked, on that first night.</p>
|
|
<p>Jack leaned against the stone, utterly worn. </p>
|
|
<p>He <em>had</em> to get home. Had to speak with the Major and find out all he knew.</p>
|
|
<p>He took one step beyond the ring, aching with the need to find the truth about his father.</p>
|
|
<p>But Corriwen Redthorn had saved his life. She had helped both of them survive all the odds in a strange world and she had helped them get home again after all they had been through.</p>
|
|
<p>The memory of their travels, their battles; her bravery. They all came back in a rush, and with them came the knowledge that he would have to act like the old heroes he had always admired.</p>
|
|
<p>They made sacrifices. Their word was more than their bond. It was their <em>life.</em></p>
|
|
<p><em> </em></p>
|
|
<p>And Jack Flint owed a debt of life to Corriwen Redthorn. A debt he would repay come what may, no matter the cost; no matter the sacrifice.</p>
|
|
<p>He turned back and faced across the capstone to the gateway through which Corriwen had disappeared.</p>
|
|
<p>Kerry's eyes followed him, sensing the battle going on inside Jack's mind.</p>
|
|
<p>"What do you want to do?"</p>
|
|
<p>Jack slammed both fists against the great stone, venting his frustration and despair.</p>
|
|
<p>Unsteadily, but very deliberately he limped across the ring of stones to the far side. He hurt all over and he felt he could sleep for a week.</p>
|
|
<p>"She's lost somewhere. Lost and alone. I don't know where, but I've got the key to open the gate."</p>
|
|
<p>He turned to face Kerry, looked him straight in the eye. He held up the black heart stone on its silver chain.</p>
|
|
<p>"I'm going to find her," he said.</p>
|
|
<p>Kerry nodded. Understanding was clear on his face. He clapped Jack on the back. They both winced.</p>
|
|
<p>"Not on your own, you're not."</p>
|
|
<p>"I can't ask you…" Jack began.</p>
|
|
<p>Kerry held up a hand. "You're not asking. And you don't have to. We're not going to let a girl come between us, are we?"</p>
|
|
<p>"Cross my heart," Jack said.</p>
|
|
<p>"And hope to die."</p>
|
|
<p>And together they walked forward into the unknown.</p>
|
|
<p> </p>
|
|
</div> </div> </body> </html> |