Trials of the Hierophant: Vol. II of epic fantasy The Sundered Kingdoms Trilogy by Ethan Risso Read Free Book Online Page B

flowed like water, ready to swallow him whole.
    “Yet another child from Dweömer enters our realm?”
    Connor turned to see a woman before him. Seated on a small stool, moonlight framed her. Her nimble fingers worked effortlessly as she spun silver thread on a spindle in front of her.
    “But you do not seem like the other,” she said. “You are different. You be Humechild, and yet you have crept behind the veil which separates this world from yours.”
    “This world, my lady?” Connor asked, feeling at ease despite the strange aura which surrounded the woman.
    Her fingers continued to turn and twist the thread as it wrapped tighter and tighter around the spindle. She only seemed to partially notice him, focusing more on her work. Deft at her craft, the thread remained even throughout, without a hint of a break.
    She ignored his question. “Tell me, do you hail from the temple in the forest?”
    “Yes, lady, Arlais.”
    “I thought as much.”
    “You know of it?”
    “Certainly, boy. I am Blodeuyn, founder of your fair temple.”
    Connor choked back a gasp, and yet somehow it all seemed so commonplace, as though he belonged in such a world.
    “Come.” Blodeuyn stood, and the spindle disappeared. She motioned behind her to two paths Connor had not noticed before. “Would you walk with me?”
    “Where do you wish me to go?”
    “That path leads back to Arlais,” she said. “And the other, further into the world beyond the veil. Would you not like to see more?”
    He looked down the path which led to Arlais before he turned his attention to the other. He nodded.
    “How did you find yourself here, Humechild?”
    “A ceremony‌—‌I was at my initiation.” He thought for a moment. He wished he could have sounded somehow more regal, more knowing, but he could not find words to hide his ignorance. “I was soaring, far above Dweömer. I saw things‌—‌the war and people I love. Are you one of the spirits of the forest I was meant to commune with? I waited so long in seclusion, but I heard naught.”
    She let out a small laugh and shook her head.
    Connor realized he prattled on like an excited child. “My apologies, Lady Blodeuyn.”
    As she led him down the path to uncertainty, Connor felt hundreds of eyes upon him from all directions. A chill ran up his spine as the wind carried whispers amongst the trees.
    “They approach!”
    It seemed to Connor Blodeuyn vanished before the sound of her words fell upon his ears. The sky fell dark and a soft, constant rumble surrounded him in the forest. He felt his entire body go rigid as stone and he clenched his bare toes in the grass as though, somehow, he could hold himself onto the path.
    “Blodeuyn?” he called out, managing to keep his voice still despite the tremble in his belly. He found the sound of his words fell short, as though he spoke through a thick fog.
    A sharp, clamoring chorus of bells sang out around him, and Connor fell to his knees. He slapped his hands over his ears, trying to muffle the noise, but it reverberated within his skull.
    Then, all went black.

Chapter VI

    he heavy blizzard which began some time during the night had mellowed into a light snowfall by dawn. The morning’s first light broke through the forest trees as Gawain plodded along behind Brân and Aeronwy, cozily wrapped in a heavy wool cloak with a fur-trimmed hood. Since his old cloak, caked with mud and dried blood from his fall, was no longer of use, he was grateful that Brân had an extra one. In the frigid temperature, it proved to be a necessity.
    “We will arrive soon,” said Brân, glancing over his shoulder. “How do you feel?”
    “I will be fine,” Gawain lied, not wanting to complain since Brân did not seem to have the slightest problem with the cold. Raised in the northern mountains of Gweliwch, Gawain was accustomed to cold climates, but his injuries had left him feeling vulnerable.
    While rest cleared his head, his leg reminded him he had not been so