The Falcon's Bride by Dawn Thompson Read Free Book Online Page A

out here to watch dawn light the chamber in such weather.”
    Thea didn’t reply. James reined the horses in before the entrance, which bore a design of three large concentric circles. Beyond, the gaping mouth of the tomb loomed black against the lightening sky. James climbed out of the sleigh and lifted Thea down.
    Suddenly, a soaring falcon swooped low and perched upon one of the menhirs. Thea’s quick intake of breath caught her brother’s attention, and he turned.
    “Bloody hell!” he seethed, searching the ground for something to hurl at the bird, but the snow had covered any rocks that might have sufficed.
    Thea grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare!” she cried when he unhooked the sleigh lantern and started to heft it. “I told you not to hurt it. It looks half frozen, poor creature. Put that down, James! If you harm that falcon, I shall never forgive you!”
    James set the lantern back in its bracket and heaved a sigh. “There, first light,” he said, pointing. “Let’s have this done and return to the castle before we’re missed.”
    “Come on, then,” she agreed, holding out her hand.
    “Oh no, little sister,” he said. “This is your adventure, none of mine.” He scowled at the perched bird. “I will wait with the sleigh.”
    Thea frowned. She didn’t want to leave him anywhere near the falcon while he was in this humor, but there was nothing for it; light was filtering through the roof box, and so she stepped inside the tomb’s inky mouth and waited.
    Slowly, it began to lighten inside, revealing a passageway not quite sixty feet long that led into a chamber with three side recesses roofed by a corbelled vault. Standing stones were strategically placed as supports. The recess to the right was the largest, and most ornately decorated withneolithic art. On the floor stood two large stone basins, one nesting inside the other. They were deeply stained with something that resembled rust. Could they have once been used for sacrifice? Thea shuddered to wonder.
    As the sun rose higher, the narrow beam of light filtering down through the roof box grew wider, slowly reaching the rear of the passageway until the whole chamber was illuminated with a ghostly shaft of light beaming to the very place where she stood. In awe of the phenomenon, Thea gasped, examining the carved artwork that had suddenly become clear on the roof, the walls and the standing stone supports.
    She lost all track of time. The seventeen minutes of the experience seemed nearly up before they’d begun. Though it was cold inside the tomb, Thea didn’t feel the chill. Her footsteps sounded back hollow in her ears, and she spoke her name aloud and listened to the echo of her voice, like ripples in a pond, spread out all around her.
    All too soon the light began to fade, and she stepped into the other recesses, trying to catch it there, but it dimmed inside those also. Then there came another sound that ran her through like a knife blade; the screech of a falcon close by. Her heart leapt. Could James have gone back on his word? Had he lobbed something at the creature in spite of her pleas?
    All at once the light failed, and as she ran back to the entrance the falcon screeched again. Thank the stars he hasn’t killed it ! she thought. Reaching the opening just as darkness overtook her, she stepped out into the frosty morning glare only to pull up short, her eyes flitting in all directions.
    “James?” she called. “James! Where are you? This is no time for having me on. James!”
    But there was no answer. Her brother was gone. Where was the sleigh? Where were the marks in the snow left by the runners, and by the horses’ plodding hooves? A blanketof snow stretched out before her, pure white and unblemished. But how could that be, when no fresh snow had fallen?
    She whipped around and looked toward the mound behind her, but that was all it was—a solid white mound of snow ringed by menhirs crowned with caps of white. Where was the