A Hero's Throne (An Ancient Earth) Read Online Free PDF

Your friend, Daniel.”
    “Yes?”
    “Is he alright? I mean, is he well?”
    “Well?”
    “Aye, well. I only ask because he wanders around at nights, talking to himself.”
    “He does?”
    “Aye. Now, I only need four hours of sleep a night—one of the few benefits of being as old as I am—but I’d guess that your friend there has had less than that—much less. If any at all, in fact.”
    “Really?”
    “Really. You wouldn’t know anything about that?”
    “No. Honestly. I’ve been sleeping like crazy. I wouldn’t have noticed if the building fell down around me.”
    “What happened to him? Was it really Elfland?”
    “I suppose so—he says it was. I really don’t know.”
    “Keep a sharp eye,” Vivienne said, and then she shouted, “Are we nearly there yet?” in a jovial bellow.
    “Almost, Aunt Viv,” Alex said, calling over his shoulder. “Look, you can see it there.”

    Alex made a gesture, and Freya saw a fenced-off area to her right that seemed well looked after. It was tidy and neatly mown. Through gaps in the bordering hedge, she could see a curved line of grey stones.
    They approached the stone circle, which Freya judged to be thirty meters in diameter and made of dark limestone. They entered at the small wooden gate, which bore a wooden sign that informed them, beneath the English Heritage symbol, these were the Rollright Stones. They began to walk the circumference, passing the stones inside, on the right. The smallest markers of the circle came up to about their knees while the largest were a couple feet taller than Ecgbryt.
    Ecgbryt was counting stones, and this was apparently not as easy as it sounded. Alex and Daniel were doing a control count. Every five stones, Ecgbryt would turn and compare his number with Daniel and Alex.
    “I count twenty, thus far,” Ecgbryt called over his shoulder.
    “Twenty also,” Alex reported.
    “Twenty,” Vivienne said.
    “What are you looking for?” Freya asked.
    “The stone that does not fit,” Vivienne told her. “It is said that no two countings of the stones in this ring are the same. The stones come and go. We are looking for one of the ones that is going.”
    Freya nodded her head as if to say that made perfect sense. She dismally fell into step behind them, contemplating the dark days ahead of her. She took one last, long look at the aboveground scenery.
    It was then that she noticed the four of them were not alone. A man, large, and shouldering something bulky, was standing between two of the stones on the other side of the ring. At first Freya thought it was another hiker or a tourist, but he was wearing a dark, shaggy coat that hung from his shoulders and came tojust above his knees. His legs and feet were bare and stocky, hairy. His face was black with bristles around the mouth, his head as shaggy as his coat, to the extent that the hair from one entwined with the other.
    He was just standing, staring at them, and something in his aspect seemed menacing to Freya. The twilight shone into his eyes, making them large and bright, like cat’s eyes in a dim room, giving him an added animalism.
    “Come away, Freya,” Vivienne said, coming alongside her and pulling her gently by the shoulders. “We see them. Keep to the task. Quickly now.”
    “Let us speed on,” Ecgbryt said, continuing the circle, brushing the tips of his fingers against the dark stones. “Thirty-five. What have you?”
    “Thirty-five.”
    Ecgbryt grumbled.
    “There’s another one,” Daniel said to Alex in a low voice as a man, almost identical to the first, stepped out from behind the standing stone by the wooden gate.
    Freya hurried to catch up to the others, Fear gaining on her. “I’m still not—ah!” She reeled as a third man stepped out just in front of her. Up close she could see the matted hair of his massive cloak quite clearly, as well as the features of his face, which were broad and rough, his mouth and nostrils protruding snout-like. She could