Daegan (The Age of Alandria: A Companion Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page A

saluted him with a wave, Hal with his glass of ale.
    “I am going to head back as well. I have a couple stops on the way then I will go to the camp. Do you want to join me?” Daegan placed his own coin on the table. He noticed Hal had been eyeing a tall, dark-haired Faerie that was sitting up at the bar counter. She had been flirtatiously watching Hal as well, so he did not have any notion that Hal would actually take him up on his offer.
    “Why don’t you go ahead without me, I want to finish my drink and I’ll catch up with you.” Hal gave a cheesy grin, as if Daegan didn’t know why he was staying. 
    Daegan nodded his head toward the Faerie with little flecks of twigs in her hair and her tight green swatches of material that covered her, but could barely be called clothing, indicating that he knew exactly what Hal was thinking. “Do not get into any trouble.” Daegan was serious but Hal smirked and gave him a wink, raising his glass, and Daegan went out the door.

CHAPTER THREE
     
    Daegan headed up the cobblestone path up the hill toward the castle. He turned off onto a little side street to the left. Not to far off the road was a little shop that had various breads and dried meats. A Faerie woman who was considered elderly in Alandria years owned it, but in appearance, she didn’t look much over seventy in mortal years. She was a round woman with kind eyes and she had green streaks in her white wiry hair that gave her a slight look of madness. Daegan got a kick out of her, and she was always willing to shove something at him to take to give to whoever he deemed needed it. She most likely knew who he took the items to, but for her safety he never told her.
    “Young Daegan!” she shout-whispered to him while waving him in toward her store. “It has been a while since I saw you last. Are you well?” She patted his arm adoringly as she ushered him inside the little cobblestone hut that wasn’t much bigger than one of the food storage rooms in the castle.
    “I am fair, my lady, and how are you?”
    She looked up into Daegan’s eyes, and he saw something in her eyes changing. Her brown eyes suddenly started fading into the background and a gray swirl moved through like a dust storm. He started, but she held onto his arm, whispering, “You need to listen. I have a message for you.”
    Daegan had not witnessed this kind of magic, especially from an Earth Faerie. Their magic centered around nature and things of the land—unless there was more to this lady than he had known. He stared into her eyes, not sensing any harm coming from her; in fact, it was the opposite as he felt quite at peace. Getting lost in the swirls in her eyes, he heard a voice, or perhaps it was even voices, that sounded far off. He had never heard voices like these. It sounded like chimes and the comforts of home all wrapped in the sound of a voice. A voice calling his name. Then it was gone, but the swirls in her eyes continued to circle as she spoke.
    “The darkness in Alandria is about to be set free. It begins in Feraánmar. It will use you. You must be wary. You must fight it. Leave Elnye. The further away you are, the less it will affect you. You are in danger... so are others.”
    Her eyes instantly returned to their usual flat brown as she blinked, coming out of whatever had just happened to her. Daegan had never seen anyone act like she did. He now felt on edge where moments ago he felt peace. He didn’t know what to make of what she had said. From her reaction, he wasn’t even sure if she knew everything she had just said. She looked at him expectantly, as if she knew he wanted to ask her about what had just occurred. 
    “What are you?” Daegan breathed heavily. He knew the frankness of this old Faerie; she wouldn’t be insulted by his question.
    She laughed, in fact. “I am a Faerie just as you have known me to be. Some of us just have a little more to us than you would be aware of. Because of my lineage—that I will not