Call of the Kings Read Online Free PDF Page A

death of, King Arthur until the worry of finding and training the next in line became so paramount that he had to shake himself into action before the sands of time began to run out.
    And now, here at last, hope had sprung eternal in the shape of a redheaded, green-eyed slip of a girl with freckles from Ireland. The veil of the past was beginning to lift, and the future hopes of Wessex could once again burn bright.
    And all Twilight had to do was train her properly.
    He had decided to delay the appointment of Tara’s animals. She seemed to have an affinity with all of them and would often be found sitting outside the compound festooned with all sorts of bird varieties, with fox, deer, badger, bear, stout, dog, weasel, wolf, and other very wild animals that were normally part of one another’s food chain and sworn enemies - sitting in harmonious peace at her feet. Although unlikely, Twilight hadn’t completely discounted the fact that Tara could have any number of them in liegemen to her, a fantastic situation that even extended to fish in the water. Every time they walked along a river, schools of different species would track them along the bank, fighting, jumping, and wriggling to get close to her.
    With thirty-one years left until his one hundred years were up, he had plenty of time. The seven short years he had with the long magus was not enough time to learn all that was required, and subsequent mistakes had showed it. Even though this young lady was exceptional, twenty years was around the correct time for learning.
    And as Merlin always said, qui docet discit , he who teaches, learns.
     
    ‘Now I know more about what I’m doing, can I go back to the hamlet in Ireland where I was born and put matters right?’
    Tara, Katre, and Twilight were again walking around the mighty stones of destiny at Avebury. It had been six months since their first meeting and Tara had shown herself to be a willing and receptive pupil. They stopped at the Presidium stone of the Pale Sybil, the last female venefica of Wessex to be buried here, and Tara had developed a particular bond with her venefical history.
    ‘What would you do?’ Twilight asked.
    ‘Stop them throwing anyone who doesn’t share their views off the high cliffs into the Devil’s Pit.’
    ‘As they were about to do with you,’ Katre said quietly.
    ‘I suppose,’ said Twilight, stroking his chin. ‘It would be as good a place as any to start with your first actual engagement, although it’s not exactly Wessex.’
    ‘Eventually,’ said Tara with a toss of her red curls, ‘the horizons controlling the venefical gift must be expanded so we might as well start at our former home settlement.’
    ‘As long as it remains our former home,’ said Katre. ‘I have no wish to live there again. The memories are too bitter. Besides, I like it here in Wessex.’
    ‘We stay just as long as it takes,’ Tara said. ‘Like you, Ma, I have no wish to stay there a moment longer than necessary.’
    ‘The world we live in is full of communities destroying those who hold different beliefs. Trying to put it right on a worldwide basis is an all-consuming lifetime’s work, which would have to be conducted at the expense of the one region we’re supposed to concentrate upon and protect. In this case Wessex. Whilst I agree that our venefical horizons must expand, certainly within the confines of Britain, there is danger in expanding too far afield. Let’s not forget that there are probably, nay definitely, other venefici out there who might not like us suddenly appearing on their land, waving our enchantments about in the name of righting local injustices. That’s what happened here with Elelendise, the wolf woman. She suddenly turned up with the declaration that she would be the venefica of Wessex in place of Merlin. As you know, he took great exception to her presence, and the legendary battle between them began. So, the first thing we should do is check to see if there is a