The stars were out, gleaming down bright against the snow-covered landscape as Thordin sat quietly on one of the old concrete benches at the end of the bridge.\u00a0 He stared out over the plaza, breath steaming in the darkness.\u00a0 The stitches in his cheek tugged, his ribs ached with each breath.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ll live to see another day, just like the rest of them.<\/i><\/p>\n
It had been a near thing with Phelan, he knew that for certain.\u00a0 Jacqueline had made them all swear they wouldn\u2019t talk about what she\u2019d done.\u00a0 The secret, he knew, would eat at the heart of him.<\/p>\n
She was so touched by Jehovah\u2019s power, by the power of the followers of the Christos<\/i>, that it was almost painful to witness when she reached out her hand to it.<\/p>\n
His eyes stung, and not from the cold.\u00a0 She could do so much with the gift she\u2019s been given.<\/i><\/p>\n
He had seen that power before, long ago in another life, before mortality became the order of his day, before the tree and that terrible day in the woods when hunters and their dogs had ripped him apart.\u00a0 That was when he\u2019d known why the gods of the world\u2019s heart had begun their inexorable retreat, why some of the Southron clans had been so desperate.<\/p>\n
His own people had been far more blas\u00e9 about the whole affair and their enemies had taken terrible advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll will be well, now,\u201d he whispered to himself.\u00a0 \u201cThe Dragon is here, Neve is here and safe, the Taliesin is whole and has an angel to love him.\u00a0 All will be well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then why does dread gnaw at my belly like a dog worrying a bone?<\/i><\/p>\n
He suppressed the urge to shudder, staring at the snow that glittered under sunlight.\u00a0 Had it only been a few months since the world had been shattered, since he\u2019d abandoned his hermitage in the Poconos to wander once more?\u00a0 That had been the right decision, as he\u2019d come across Neve and Cameron just in time to help them.\u00a0 Still, something gnawed at him, clawed at his very soul.<\/p>\n
There is something else out there we need to be doing.\u00a0 But what is it?<\/i><\/p>\n
He\u2019d have to talk to Phelan.\u00a0 Phelan would know, he\u2019d understand.<\/p>\n
He was the bloody Taliesin.\u00a0 If anyone knew\u2014if it was possible to know\u2014the puckish bastard did and would be able to tell him what it was.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd once we know,\u201d Thordin murmured to himself, \u201cwe can set ourselves on the path to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatever the cost may be.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The stars were out, gleaming down bright against the snow-covered landscape as Thordin sat quietly on one of the old concrete benches at the end of the bridge.\u00a0 He stared out over the plaza, breath steaming in the darkness.\u00a0 The … Continue reading