Orion and King Arthur Read Online Free PDF

shore until nearly sunset, with Arthur asking every few minutes where hissword was, like an impatient boy.
    There was a strange mixture of elements in him. He had been cautious about attacking the Saxon raiders, lacking in self-confidence. But once he saw me fighting alone against them he attacked with a wild frenzy rather than see me cut down. Then he showed the villagers the nobility of a truly great monarch. And now he was as impatient as a lad yearning to openhis Christmas presents.
    At last we had circled the lake completely. I reined my mount to a halt and stared out across the water, turned blood red by the setting sun.
    “Well?” asked Arthur impatiently.
    There was nothing I could say except, “Now we must wait, my lord.”
    We dismounted and tethered the horses loosely after removing their saddles and packs, so that they could graze for themselves.
    “Wait for what?” Arthur asked. His impatience was beginning to show an edge of doubt.
    “For the Lady of the Lake,” I replied, without knowing the words until I heard them myself.
    We ate a bit of the hard bread we had brought. No fire for cooking, although I could have eaten a rabbit raw, I was so hungry.
    Surprisingly, Arthur stretched out on the ground. “I’m sleepy,” he said, through a big yawn.
    “Sleep then, my lord. I will stand watch.”
    “Just a little nap,” he muttered. “Don’t know … why I’m … so … sleepy…” His voice faded into a gentle snore.
    The instant Arthur closed his eyes a soft silver glow began to surround me, as if I were bathed in moonlight. It was cool and glittering like the light of a million jewels twinkling all around me. And then, standing before me, beautiful Anyaappeared.
    She was in her warrior’s suit of gleaming metallic silver, fitted snugly over her supple body. Her lustrous midnight-dark hair tumbled past her strong shoulders. Her silver-gray eyes regarded me solemnly. I could not move, could hardly speak, she was so exquisite and I yearned for her so.
    “Orion,” she said softly, “you play a dangerous game here.”
    “All I want is to be with you,” Iwhispered, afraid to speak louder, afraid of breaking the spell of her appearance before me. Arthur lay soundly on the ground beside me, his eyes closed in sleep or a trance.
    “Aten is furious that you are defying his command. He wants you to return Arthur to Amesbury. There is to be a Saxon attack upon Amesbury fort and he must be there to lead the garrison.”
    “To be killed, you mean,” I replied.
    Anya said nothing.
    “Arthur needs a sword that will bring him victory,” I said.
    She smiled, a little sadly. “Do you really believe that a sword could make any difference?”
    “It will give him the confidence he needs to fight against hopeless odds. And win.”
    “Aten does not want him to win,” she said.
    “But I do. I want—”
    She silenced me with a finger upon my lips. “It’s not that easy, my love.Aten controls this timeline. I can only interfere indirectly. You must do the hard work.”
    “What does Aten want?”
    “Rome has collapsed,” she answered. “He wants to build a new empire that stretches from the steppes beyond Muscovy to these British Isles.”
    “An empire of the barbarians,” I growled.
    “An empire that he can control and manipulate,” Anya said.
    “But why? To what end?”
    She shrugged.“Who knows what plans are in his mind? He looks centuries ahead, millennia.”
    “He’s crazy. No one can control all the forces of spacetime.”
    “He believes he can.” Then she smiled again. “But he can’t control you, can he?”
    I felt an answering smile curve my lips. “He doesn’t control you, either, does he?”
    “But I have the power to work against him when I must. I can even get some of the otherCreators to help resist his demands. I’m Aten’s equal, not…” She stopped short.
    “Not a mere creature,” I finished for her.
    “He could kill you horribly,” Anya warned. “Final