Stones of Power 02 - Last Sword of Power Read Online Free PDF

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    All was quiet and the boy was truly, splendidly, perfectly alone. Here in the glory of the hunter's moonlight there was no alienation, no sullen stares, no harsh words. The night breeze ruffled his hair as he gazed up at the cliffs above the woods and thought of his father, the nameless warrior who had fought so well. Grysstha said he had killed six men.
    But why had he left the infant Cormac alone in the cave? And where was the woman who bore him? Who would leave a child? Was the man - so brave in battle - so cruel in life?
    And what mother could leave her babe to die in a lonely cave?
    As always there were no answers, but the questions chained Cormac to this hostile village. He could not leave and make a future for himself, not while the past was such a mystery.
    When he was younger he had believed that his father would one day come to claim him, striding to the long Hall with a sword at his side, a burnished helm upon his brow. But no longer could the dreams of childhood sustain him. In four days he would be a man . . . and then what? Begging for work at the smithy, or the mill, or the bakery, or the slaughterhouse?
    Back in his hut he slept fitfully beneath his threadbare blanket, rising before the dawn and taking his sling to the hills. Here he killed three rabbits, skinning them expertly with the small knife Grysstha had given him the year before. He lit a fire in a sheltered hollow and roasted the meat, enjoying the rare sensation of a full belly. But there was little goodness in rabbit meat and Grysstha had once told him a man could starve to death while feasting on such fare. Cormac licked his fingers and then wiped them on the long grass, remembering the Thunder Feast the previous Autumn where he had tasted beef at the open banquet, when King Wulfhere had visited his former steward, Calder. Cormac had been forced to stay back from the throng around the Saxon King, but had heard his speech. Meaningless platitudes mostly, coming from a weak man. He looked the part, with his mail-shirt of iron and his axe-bearing guards, but his face was soft and womanly and his eyes focused on a point above the crowd.
    But the beef had been magnificent. Grysstha had brought him three cuts, succulent and rich with the blood of the bull.
    'Once,' the old man said, between mouthfuls, 'we ate like this every day! When we were reavers, and our swords were feared. Calder once promised we would do so again. He said we would be revenged on the Blood King, but look at him now - fat and content beside the puppet king.'
    'The King looks like a woman,' said Cormac.
    'He lives like one,' snapped Grysstha. 'And to think his grandfather was Hengist! Would you like more meat?'
    And they feasted that night like emperors.
    Now Cormac doused his fire and wandered high into the hills, along the cliff-tops overlooking the calm sea. The breeze was strong here, and cool despite the morning sun, clear in a cloudless sky.
    Cormac stopped beneath a spreading oak and leapt to hang from a thick branch. One hundred times he hauled himself up to touch his chin to the wood, feeling the muscles in his arms and shoulders swell and burn. Then he dropped lightly to the ground, sweat gleaming on his face.
    'How strong you are, Cormac,' said a mocking voice and he swung round to see Calder's daughter.
    Alftruda, sitting in the grass with a basket of berries beside her. Cormac blushed and said nothing. He should have walked away, but the sight of her sitting there cross-legged, her woollen skirt pulled up to reveal the milky whiteness of her legs . . . 'Are you so shy?' she asked.
    'Your brothers will not be best pleased with you for speaking to me.'

    'And you are frightened of them?'
    Cormac considered the question. Calder's sons had tormented him for years, but mostly he could outrun them to his hiding places in the woods. Agwaine was the worst, for he enjoyed inflicting pain. Lennox and Barta were less overtly cruel, but they followed Agwaine's lead in