The Dawn Stag: Book Two of the Dalriada Trilogy by Jules Watson Read Free Book Online Page B

shocked her eyes open, and abruptly the harsh daylight of that awful day was gone.
    It was night again, and Rhiann was sprawled in the middle of the birch clearing, wet grass soaking through her dress. Above her, Linnet hovered on her knees, trying desperately to take Rhiann in her arms.
    ‘I am sorry, child … I am sorry but I heard you scream and I ran, and you wouldn’t answer …’ Linnet’s face swam over Rhiann in a confused blur of silver and shadow stripes, as Rhiann, still fighting the terror, clawed her hands away. Something still felt tight around her neck; she gagged and coughed and fought for breath.
    ‘I had to shake you to bring you back,’ Linnet whispered. ‘I had to. You were strangling yourself.’
    Suddenly Rhiann became aware of the bruised ache around her throat, and she coughed again, blinking her eyes to clear her sight. Linnet’s arms closed again, seeking to rock her. ‘You were speaking what you saw … what you felt …’ Linnet’s voice broke, and hot tears fell on Rhiann’s cheeks. ‘Oh, Mother … my child …’
    Dazed, Rhiann fought her way free of the enveloping folds of Linnet’s priestess cloak. Blood roared in her ears, and she had to fight to draw in enough breath. Then her eye fell on the stones of the pool, the scent of the blooms sweet in her nose, and she suddenly realized what had happened – and what had not.
    ‘ No .’ Rhiann staggered to her feet, glancing wildly around the clearing, which now echoed with the evil memories she had conjured, violating the sacred space. The moon’s grinning face mocked her from above. ‘No,’ she whispered in anguish, and then she sank slowly to her knees. It had not worked. There had been no Goddess, only her own poisoned mind. I cannot bear it .
    ‘Rhiann.’ Linnet’s hand was gripping her shoulder. ‘It was a memory of the raid, that is all. It cannot hurt you now, my child. I will hold you through it as I did before—’
    ‘It’s not that,’ Rhiann choked out. ‘I thought in the circle that She had forgiven me, that I was Hers again.’ Rhiann’s shoulders shook, and she curled tighter around her heart. ‘All this time … since those men … She has turned her back on me and I cannot feel Her any more!’
    Linnet was grasping Rhiann as if she could press her within her own body. ‘Child, you are a Goddess daughter, that can never change.’
    ‘No!’ Rhiann wrenched herself back and fell on her haunches, turning her face away with shame. ‘I thought … in the Stones … it was over .’
    She was barely conscious of Linnet’s touch on her back. ‘I don’t understand.’ Linnet’s voice trembled. ‘I have stood by you at the rites. You hold the Mother’s energy and let it flow for the people. I felt it touch them.’
    ‘For the people, for the people ,’ Rhiann whispered harshly. ‘She comes to speak to them , to touch and love them , but not to me alone, when I call Her. Never me .’
    Once, she could feel the Goddess like a light spilling into her from above. Once, she could hear Her like a real voice in her mind. Once she was sent visions of what was, and would be – the brightest, the best among the Sisters. But no more. The thread of light that joined her to earth and heavens was severed, and had not been mended at all. How could she have thought any different?
    ‘It’s not over,’ Rhiann found herself murmuring brokenly. ‘Because of what I did. It has not been repaid.’
    ‘Did, daughter?’ Linnet was breathing in her ear. ‘Of what do you speak?’
    Rhiann’s whole body was trembling, her teeth chattering in shock as she bowed her head. ‘I … I was so proud of my gifts, my powers … and … I should have seen the raiders coming, and found a way to stop it happening.’ Her words were a whisper on the night air. ‘But I did not … and they … they died … and because I failed them the Goddess turned Her face from me.’
    Rhiann’s words were swallowed by the silence that fell,