Child of the Phoenix Read Online Free PDF Page B

arms around her, restraining her, and she pulled away violently. Her nose and mouth were full of smoke, her eyes streaming. ‘Help them. We have to help them!’
    ‘Eleyne, listen to me!’
    She was aware that Rhonwen was shaking her by the shoulders.
    ‘Eleyne! There is no fire!’ Rhonwen slapped her face hard.
    The shock pulled Eleyne up short. Trembling violently, she stared round. The fire had gone. The spring evening was as it had been; the robin still sat on a pile of earth near the bed of knitbone, and as she stared at the bird it began to sing its thin sweet trill into the clear air.
    ‘What happened?’ Eleyne swallowed hard. She was shaking uncontrollably as she stared round her. ‘There was fire everywhere – ’
    ‘You had a nightmare.’ Briskly Rhonwen pulled off her cloak and wrapped it around Eleyne’s shoulders. ‘You dozed off for a moment and you had some sort of a bad dream, that’s all. It is all over now. There is nothing to be afraid of.’
    ‘But I wasn’t asleep – ’
    ‘You were asleep, cariad !’ In her agitation Rhonwen spoke harshly. She put her arms around the child again. ‘You were so tired you fell asleep where you stood. It is what I told you before. Too much running around the castle at night and not enough rest. You come now, to bed. Do you understand? Then I shall find you some broth in the kitchens and I’ll put some valerian in it to make you sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning and tomorrow I’ll speak to the Lady Gwladus again about going home.’
    She gave Eleyne no time to argue. Hustling her inside, she propelled her up the winding stair to the high bedchamber. There she pulled off the girl’s shoes and pushed her, fully dressed, into the bed. Pulling the covers over her, she sat down for a moment beside her, chafing Eleyne’s hands in her own. ‘Don’t think about your nightmare, child. Think about something nice. Think about the horse. He’s well and safe and nothing will happen to him. Perhaps tomorrow you can ride him again.’
    Eleyne looked up at her with frightened eyes. The concession alarmed her. ‘You are sure the dream won’t come back?’
    ‘Quite sure!’ Rhonwen spoke emphatically. At last it had happened, the thing she had dreaded for so many years. A cold breath of icy wind had reached out and touched the child she thought of as her daughter: the kiss of Bride’s fingers. She closed her eyes, holding Eleyne’s hand. When Einion found out she would lose her to him and what would she do then?
    ‘Rhonwen?’ Eleyne’s voice was still hoarse from her screams. ‘I’m cold.’
    Rhonwen pulled another coverlet over her. ‘Wait. I’ll build up the fire, then I’ll go down and get you something hot to drink.’
    Reaching into the basket, she threw a couple of logs on to the fire, then with a glance over her shoulder towards the bed, let herself out of the room.
    Eleyne lay still for a moment, then she sat up and, pulling the coverlet around her shoulders, she crept out of the bed. She stopped several feet from the fire and stood staring down at it. The damp bark threw off a thick aromatic smoke. She could smell the different woods – the sweetness of apple, the spiciness of oak, the sharp resin of pine; see the red and blue flames licking over the fissures in the bark, just as they had licked up the walls of the tower. She shivered violently. Whatever Rhonwen said, she had not had a dream. She had been awake and she knew what had happened. At last the strange other world, which before she had only glimpsed, had broken through the fragile barrier of her mind.

CHAPTER TWO
    I
ABER, GWYNEDD September 1228
    ‘Y ou cannot prevent me from seeing my father!’
    Gruffydd ap Llywelyn smashed his fist down on to the table. ‘Where is he?’
    ‘He is not here!’ His half-brother Dafydd looked at him coldly. ‘Here’ was the ty hir , the long stone-built house which formed the royal family’s private living quarters in the palace or llys