Stones: Theory (Stones #4) by Jacob Whaler Read Free Book Online Page B

.”
    “Go back in time? Go back to just being Matt Newmark, the guy with a super-hot wife who likes to ski and climb? Not a care in the world?”
    “Exactly,” Matt says. “Just a normal guy with a normal life. Is that too much to ask?”
    “There’s no use wasting time hoping for what’s never going to happen.” Jessica pushes her palms into Matt’s back. His muscles go soft under her touch. “Embrace your destiny.”
    “You believe in destiny, in fate?”
    “I believe in you.”



CHAPTER 10
    M att waits until the familiar exhale of air that means Jessica is asleep. Turning over, he watches the peaceful rise and fall of her chest with each breath.
    But there’s no sleep for him. It’s been the same pattern ever since they arrived here.
    He quietly sits up and moves to the ledge overlooking the valley. Pulling his knees up to his chin, he drinks in the beauty of a full moon and its glow that lights up the valley extending out below. Successive mountain ranges, one behind another, flow horizontally across his line of sight, like giant wrinkles in a lush carpet of trees. The crying of cicadas floats up, reaching a crescendo and slowly dying down to begin a new cycle. A great horned owl calls out somewhere down the slope.
    Where is the Woman? Does she expect me to fight Ryzaard alone?
    Matt lets his head drop between his knees. In his mind’s eye, he sees the Woman, one of the Allehonen. Bronze skin illuminated from within. Eyes like orange flames. The white robe hanging loose on a strong frame. Broad nose, generous lips, prominent cheekbones. Bare feet and delicate hands. All of it chiseled to perfection, as if from polished marble.
    Where are you?
    Images, familiar from prior dreams, begin to pass through his mind.
    The Woman stands on a brown plain watching the warriors on black horses charge over a ridge. They lean forward in their saddles, swords hanging low to the ground. She turns back and catches a glimpse of her husband and child, standing with the other villagers behind her. As the lead warrior approaches, the Woman holds up the Stone in her hand. Lips moving in silent supplication, her eyes go skyward.
    Matt’s seen the ending of this scene many times. He wants to cry out to her, tell her to run. Anything to help her avoid the inevitable conclusion.
    The blade swings down in a slow arc and separates the Woman’s head from her neck and shoulders in the middle of its trajectory. Dropping silently to the dust, the Stone rolls and comes to a stop.
    The warrior dismounts from his horse. With a half grin, he bends down and picks up the Stone.
    Why didn’t she fight back?
    The scene fades to black, rewinds and opens up again.
    The Woman stands alone facing the galloping horde. With the Stone in hand, she stretches out her arm and raises it to the sky.
    Matt senses the change in the air. A phase-shift.
    As the lead warrior draws close, he bends forward and down to prepare his blade for contact.
    Time slows.
    Five meters away, the Woman’s eyes shoot open. A thin disk of brilliant light explodes out of her Stone. Its leading edge engulfs the army, a laser cutting through warriors, severing torsos, taking off limbs and heads, decapitating horses. The invaders fall in bloody heaps to the dirt.
    The Woman lowers the Stone and walks forward. Mangled corpses of warrior and beast lie strewn about her. She finds the chieftain of the army dressed in black armor of hardened leather, lying on the ground, an arm and leg missing, struggling to breathe as his lifeblood pools in the dirt. His blackened sword is visible a short distance away, still grasped by the hand of the severed arm.
    Bending down, the Woman pulls the sword from the dead hand, grabs it by the hilt and raises it up as she turns to face the villagers. A war whoop bursts from her lips, and she turns and thrusts the sword down through the warrior’s chest and into the sand. The warrior shudders as if shocked by a jolt of electricity. Blood dribbles out