The Tessellation Saga. Book Two. 'The One' by D. J. Ridgway Read Free Book Online

commanded and looking once more at the body realised he was
standing in the rapidly congealing fluid, ‘that’s really
disgustin’,’ he said to himself as he lifted his foot and wiped the
sole of his boot against Bea’s lifeless form, then checking his
boot was free from blood, he walked out of the inn without a
backward glance.
     
     

Chapter
5
The Heart of the
Piece
     
     
    Gideon’s father
pulled the horses to a halt in front of his parents’ cottage,
leaned in to the carriage itself and shook his son awake.
    ‘Gid lad, we’ve
arrived,’ he said, smiling at the sleeping form. Sonal opened his
eyes and looked closely at Gideon; he had not been able to sleep
himself knowing that something seemed wrong at the very heart of
magic, at the root from where all life begins its journey and he
was worried. He had spent his own journey going over and over all
he remembered about Gideon from their very first meeting. Fumbling
in his pocket, he retrieved the small rough diamond that had become
his lucky talisman and he remembered how he had plucked it from the
air when he had first met the boy, so many years ago and how
surprised he had been when his spell had worked so well. The
strength and power of the light spinning from the stone itself was
something that he had never seen before. Gideon! He thought, all the magic and the various spells I have used over the years,
my own ability to draw repeatedly from the magic’s root, the spells
that have always appeared so much more powerful when Gideon is
around. How have I not seen it before? He asked himself as he
looked at Jed, his best friend who was leaning forward gently,
shaking his son awake and for the first time he tried to find a
resemblance. Gideon was tall and blonde with eyes so blue, that at
times they seemed piercing, whilst his father, though also tall,
had the dark brown eyes and hair that were distinctive of the
people from the Beaut Valley. Sonal mentally shook himself, ashamed
of where his thoughts were taking him. It is not my
business; he told himself and gave the sleeping boy a gentle
push with his mind to awaken him. Gideon opened his eyes, his
headache still present but more bearable.
    ‘Sleepyhead!’
laughed Mayan as she poked her head into the carriage, ‘we’ve
arrived, Gran and Gramps are ‘ere, come and say ‘ello afore yer
fall asleep again,’ she giggled merrily at her drowsy fiancé.
Gideon’s grandparents had claimed her and her twin as their own for
as long as she could remember and she loved them dearly. ‘Yer Da’s
unloading all the new wood fer Gramps and I’m gonna see iffen ‘e’s
dun anythin’ new in the barn.’ Gideon smiled at Mayan’s departing
head as he realised he had slept through most of the last day and
for him the journey had been that much shorter.
    “Ello boy, your
Da finally let yer outa yer forest an’ in ter the big wide world
eh?’ Laughed his grandfather, as Gideon climbed sleepily out of the
carriage.
    ‘Come over ‘ere
Gid and don’t yer be listening ter yer grandfather teasing the way
‘e do,’ his grandmother interrupted as she pulled him into a tight
embrace. ‘So, you an’ Mayan ‘ave finally decided ter marry,’ she
added winking at her son. ‘Yer do know Gid, that we all knew it
would ‘appen long ago,’ she laughed as she ushered the family into
her home.
    Gideon had
never visited his grandparents’ home before; his grandfather had
built it and the adjoining barn when he had first moved away from
Green Home Village. The cottage lay on the outskirts of the town of
Branton along a well-used road and close to a large wood. Small and
compact, the cottage was not unlike his own home deep within Green
Home Forest and seemed to be just as filled with the ornately hand
carved wooden furniture that both Gideon and his father
preferred.
    ‘Yer know the
wood all comes from the forest lad,’ said his grandfather as Gideon
walked around the cottage for the first time, exploring and