Hawkmoon (The Hawkmoon Chronicles) by Unknown Read Free Book Online

gaze upon  the  Worms of the Great Sandsea… Such an odd name for something so mysterious…After time with the Elves she would travel to the Court of the Great Khan..
    Growing up in the palace there was  a line tapestries  decorated the corridor outside her room   She passed it each evening  on her way to bed... All her dreams were there and most of her nightmares. The world laid waste after the Dragon’s Breath. The Elf, Shaleen  standing on the highest peak of the White Mountains as he sang the Song of Healing. The dwarves overcome at Silverlode . Behind a curtain was another set of panels. When no one was watching she would draw the cover to look upon a scene that terrified her
    It was night. A castle in the Icelands; winged creatures circling the battlements. In the foreground a man tied to a rock as ravens fed on him. Close by three figures, two women and a male; the women thin to the point of emaciation, yet with an eldritch beauty. Their eyes were large and might have been beautiful were it not they were   crimson. Each held the arm of the male who towered over them.  He had the look of a soldier. He looked deep into her eyes, compelling her, forbidding her to look away….
    At the end, to the left of her door was her favourite; sad more than frightening. It told of an attack in the desert. On the first panel a caravan was trapped  Forest and mountain could be seen far away….. A group huddled together on a rock. They clung to each other. Clouds of dust on the horizon .
    The next panel showed an eruption of sand, a gigantic  form bursting  to the surface, scooping  sand, camels and people into its  gigantic maw..  A boy stood  on a slab of rock as a  shape arrowed to a small girl standing alone on the sand.  In a desperate attempt to  bring the monster  towards him he  was pounding the sand with the haft of a spear In the final scene worms circled the rock island, waiting  for those who huddled above. Of the girl and boy there was no sign. On her tenth naming day the chamberlain ordered the panels moved to the Hall of Audience.
    The year was turning. Rabbits scampered around the hooves of the horses.  Crossing a stone bridge she gazed on a long valley lined with heavy oak. Closer to the stream was a mixed grove of fruit trees. She would make it her first stopping place. She began to set up camp; a routine that would become familiar in the months  to come. No one lit fires in the  Forest. She could eat of any tree. She was not permitted to hunt.
    Munching  on nuts and fruit she tended to her little troop. Along with Posy she had two for riding. Gazing resentfully at the idlers a mule carried the kit and provisions. Leading the troop to a stream  she tethered them with  feeding bags on each . Kerris had wrapped potato cakes, cold chicken and a bottle of white wine.. It turned cool as the light faded. Making a circle with rocks  she placed a heat stone in the centre Heat and light poured from the circle. She spoke a second time and the light extinguished. She would have heat without light to attract attention.  Gathering a heap of dry grass she spread a horse blanket and covered herself with her travel cloak The branches looming  thick above her, she was asleep in minutes. Darkness came to the Forest. As the sphere of night turned the first moon rose casting   silver on the sleeping world.
    If anything, the following day was more beautiful than the one before.  Striking camp at first light she  finished the last of the prepared food on the move, indulging  herself  in the knowledge that hard times  lay ahead. The stream was a pointer for her journey. When the trail split she chose the path that followed the watercourse. On the sixth night the Brother disappeared. The Sister careened across the sky, alone. . She would disappear in a few days to search for him in the Underworld. As Mira slept a shadow blocked the stars. The quiet was shattered by a wailing screech that was answered