Avelynn by Marissa Campbell Read Free Book Online

my spine and pooled within my armpits and beneath my breasts. I winced. If the smell of the fire didn’t reveal me, then the smell of my fear would.
    The boar pawed at the ground and snorted as it sensed another presence in the clearing. It turned its beady eyes in my direction. I swallowed the bile rising in my throat.
    The raven reappeared, careening out of the sky. With its claws exposed, it took a daring swipe at the pig. Distracted from me and infuriated with the raven, the boar gave chase, vaulting back into the woods in pursuit of the great black bird.
    Seeing the angry twitching tail disappear into the undergrowth, I wasted no time and scrambled to my feet. I grabbed my sword and knife, stomped on the few remaining embers of the fire, and threw all my paraphernalia back into my bag, pausing only long enough to register a droplet of blood on the center bone.
    I paced back and forth for what seemed like an eternity before Bertram appeared as if refreshed from a lovely afternoon stroll. He looked at me and at the marks around the clearing, where the boar’s tracks were still fresh in the newly turned-up earth, and back as he surveyed the drops of dried blood clinging to my face.
    â€œIt’s time to go,” I said, grabbing his arm.
    â€œAre you going to tell me what happened?”
    I explained the events summarily, my feet keeping their brisk press forward.
    He looked around at the blur of passing reeds and rushes. “You can let go of me now. I think we’re safe.”
    With one final glance back over my shoulder, I released him and slowed my pace. “What do you think?”
    His bushy white eyebrows meshed together in the center of his forehead. “What direction did the bird come from?”
    â€œEast.”
    â€œAnd the boar?”
    â€œWest; it came out of the woods in front of me.”
    We walked in pregnant silence for several more yards. Bertram’s eyes focused on something in the distance. His voice startled me when he continued. “War is coming.”
    Sweat slicked my palms. “Why was I marked with blood?”
    â€œThat could be a very bad omen.”
    War, blood, death, and destruction—these were not things to look forward to in my future. I grasped for something—anything else—to take away from the day’s events. Was it possible the vision meant something else? I was, after all, fine. The raven had saved me.
    A familiar of the fourfold Goddess, the raven was a divine messenger. But why had the raven itself challenged the boar, an animal associated with Danu, Earth Mother and governess of fertility and marriage?
    â€œI had also asked about Demas and love. Perhaps the vignette was to signify that if I give Demas one more chance, he may prove worthy of my heart and offer me security and protection … a way to avoid calamity—the boar—in my future?”
    Bertram rubbed his snowy beard between his fingers. “It is possible, but we must proceed cautiously.”
    I nodded. A vision could have several meanings, but it was ultimately up to a priestess to decipher the signs and omens. I was far too eager to view the vision in a positive light rather than a negative one. Love, safety, protection. These messages were infinitely better than interpreting the situation as an imminent sign of bloodshed.

 
    FIVE
    D ECEMBER 869
    As Ealhswith’s friend, I was expected to attend the Christmas festivities, but Edward was too young to accompany Father and his thegns. With every muscle in my body protesting, I envied him his youth and freedom. The Nativity called for three masses—one at midnight, one in the morning, and still another again late in the afternoon. It was just after dawn, and I had endured one mass already.
    I had been to Winchester several times, but the church itself never ceased to impress me. The building was made of hewn stone recycled from old Roman buildings and stood two stories high, the second story