A Crown Of War (Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

lost his words as over the hill came Abram and himself from long ago.
    “ Yes,” said Abram, “last year on our way to Fendale for the Winter’s End Celebration, just before the wolves attacked us. Our last journey before the world went mad.”
    He turned to Whill and laid a hand upon his shoulder. “You have learned much this last year. You have had to do things, had to make hard choices. You have endured pains I cannot imagine, and you are a bigger man than I. Now you face the toughest opponent, the most worthy adversary, and one who has laid many men low. Now, you face thyself.”
    Whill turned away from Abram to hide his wet eyes as the image of himself and Abram topped the hill. Whill remembered clearly now the boy he had been, quick to laugh and always filling people’s ears with stories of elves, dwarves, knights and monsters. His years with Abram and Teera had given him every advantage, considering the destiny he would have to one day face, and he felt as though he had squandered it all.
    The images of he and Abram stopped with the raising of memory-Abram’s hand. Standing in the middle of the road, Whill thought for a moment they had been seen by his memory-self. But he soon remembered the moment.
    “ Ride, boy, ride!” memory-Abram hollered in the night, and both horses surged forward as a pack of wolves sprang from the cover of the dark, snow-laden forest. Whill found himself and Abram caught in between their charging selves and the attacking wolves. Arrows flew by to strike true, felling two of the beasts. Whill closed his eyes instinctively and flinched as the horses sped by, and a host of wolves followed. Before them, the entire battle played out until the two men emerged victorious. “Come on!” memory-Whill bellowed into the night, and the defeated wolves retreated.
    “ I knew then you were ready,” Abram recalled in reverie.
    Whill turned from the scene to Abram and studied him. “How can this be real?”
    Abram smiled his same smile. “Does it matter? The fact remains you are in mortal danger of losing yourself to your inner demons. Eadon has fractured your mind and created the Other so you might bend to his will. You must face your demons once and for all, else become a slave to them eternally.”
    The memory of himself tending to Abram’s wounds played out before them, and tears streamed down his face. “I wish none of this had ever happened. What have I ever done to deserve this…this hell?”
    Abr am gave Whill a sympathetic smile. “What have any of Eadon’s victims done to deserve his cruelty? How many of them wish all of this had never happened? You are not alone in this. The essence of life is struggle; you either get back up, or you lie down and die. This is the choice we all must face every day.”
    Whill knew Abram’s words to be true. He had a choice to make: hide from the pains of the world, curl up in a ball, and cower from the cruelty of life, or accept what was, and fight for survival.
    Around him the world of snow and ice began to fade as a whirlwind of white circled them.
    “ My time has passed. I must go,” said Abram, as the whirlwind of snow began to swallow him up.
    “ Wait!” yelled Whill, reaching out as Abram became like the snow.
    “ Acceptance, my friend…that is the way to peace,” said Abram, and his voice faded with the world of memory.
    Whill opened his eyes, and, below him, a desert unfolded. He found himself flying through the air at high speeds and did not know where he was. He realized the Other had been in control, even as he felt the struggle within him. The Other ripped himself out of Whill and turned to choke him. Whill’s concentration wavered, and they fell through the sky, grappling.
    “ Clever of you to find a way out, but I tire of these games,” said the Other in Whill’s ear, as he choked him and caused them to fall like a rock. Whill struggled against the apparition of his ego and attempted to slow their descent. They hit the