Revelyn: 1st Chronicles - When the last arrow falls Read Online Free PDF Page B

in excited circles The captain continued to point his sword into thin air, mumbling somewhat incoherently, trembling and white as chalk.
    Only Jolly, the simple brave dwarf of Efilon noticed that the monk had come and gone without leaving any trace. Not a single footprint or mark in the dust where he had knelt remained to testify to his passing. 
    And he wondered what it all might mean.

Chapter 3.
     
    He was falling. Falling forever. He could hear strange voices, some welcoming and enticing, others dark and compelling, but full of anger and hatred. He smelt his favorite dish, just for the briefest of moments, then a reeking awful stench, and increasingly he felt a desire to open his eyes and see things which would fill him with wonder forever. He knew he could. Time had passed, an eternity or only days; no less, far less, just a few heart beats.  The desire to see and experience this new world was overwhelming but he could hear the words of a stranger, kind and loving and clear.
    Do not open your eyes or you will die. I am here to save you.
    He held that thought. To be saved was good, but from what he could not recall. Where had he been? Had there been danger? He could not remember; all he knew was a rushing wind and strange feelings and voices in his head. Just one glimpse through half closed eyes, surely this would cause no harm, surely there could be no harm in that.
    But he obeyed the stranger. He held his eyes shut and fought the strange temptings. And so he was saved.
    A voice spoke at last which he recognised as belonging to the stranger.
    ‘You are safe now my friend, you can open your eyes. You did well; I have not always been so successful.’
    Still he held his eyes fast shut, unsure that this was some final test. Then he felt a gentle hand upon his face which caressed his brow and stopped over his eyes. And reality returned, and he remembered everything.
    He opened his eyes and looked around, half expecting that once more he would be lying in the dusty street of Efilon surrounded by angry dwarfs and soldiers. What he saw took his breath away like nothing had ever done before, not even when he first saw Sylvion and lost his heart to her.
    He was in a well lit room lying on the most comfortable bed he had ever known. The walls and ceiling were paneled in intricate carvings, and painted with colours of great intensity depicting scenes from mythology and history, truth and legend, and as he looked, they seemed to move and change as if they told a story. He felt as though he could watch for ever and learn things which no person in a hundred lifetimes would ever understand. As he looked around in captivated awe, he saw the stranger for the first time.
    In truth he had seen him once, briefly, when lying helpless in the dust before the Captain of the King’s cohort, a prisoner and ill beyond words. That first glimpse had revealed nothing. Now he saw an older man with a face full of vigour, with hair which was neither white nor brown nor any colour the man could name, and eyes which seemed to shine with a light of knowledge that matched the walls surrounding him. He was not tall, but seemed to be. He was not large, but carried an air of immense strength, and he was smiling, the most wonderful smile the man had ever seen.  They looked at each other for a moment and then the stranger burst out in a laugh which seemed to shake the very foundations of the room and all the depictions around seemed to shimmer in complete harmony.
    ‘Welcome to my simple home my friend I am glad that you made it. I think I said that I have not always been so successful.’ The voice was so warm and mysterious and so very welcoming.
    The man could only think to say… but the stranger said it for him, ‘Who am I?’ The man nodded.
    ‘And next you will be asking how you got here and where is it that you are?’ The stranger chuckled at himself for knowing just what the man would ask. And the man just nodded in awe, and realised that he