The Falcon and the Flower

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Book: The Falcon and the Flower Read Online Free PDF
Author: Virginia Henley
up the corners of her lips as a wicked idea came to her.
    “You drink the mead, Meg. I know you’re going off to Stonehenge in a little while and it will fortify you on the long walk.” Meg needed little urging for mead was not often on the servant’s menu.
    Jasmine poked up the fire and watched in silence as first Meg yawned, then her eyelids drooped, and finally she slumped on the stool as Morpheus claimed her. Jasmine quickly changed into the servant girl’s clothes, covering her hair with the rough linen coif, then she lay Meg in the bed and pulled the covers high to conceal her identity from a casual glance if someone opened the chamber door. With her heart beating wildly she donned Meg’sshabby, dark cloak, pulled up the hood to doubly conceal her pale hair, and slipped from her chamber.
    She walked briskly, lest her nerve fail her at the last moment, and hummed a happy tune to ward off the darklings. She took a black pony from the paddock beside the stables so that even the young grooms could not know of her departure. The moon seemed to keep her company as it sailed above her, disappearing beneath a cloud, then when the darkness made her heart thump, it glided from behind the cloud so serenely she chided herself for being a coward. She knew it was close on midnight and hoped she had not come too late for the revels.
    Her excitement built as she neared Stonehenge. She realized there would be men there as well as women, but she intended to be very careful and observe only from a distance.
    The great fire inside the circle of stones crackled noisily and lit up the sky. The revelers were making a great din, filling the air with wild laughter, shrieks, and screams. As she crouched behind a large boulder to watch the human forms dancing, she was shocked to her soul to see that the men and women cavorted naked! Mesmerized, she watched the naked bodies silhouetted against the flames and realized with horror that most of them were not dancing, they were coupling! She averted her eyes to stare across at the stark outline of the Druid stones. Her attention was drawn to a small group wearing hooded robes and became riveted upon a female figure that seemed to be carrying a baby. They walked toward a stone that formed an altar and the woman raised the child up to the sky, its white swaddling blanket clearly visible in the darkness, then she lay it down upon the altar. A man drew forth a long dagger and plunged it down into the baby.
    Jasmine stood up and screamed, “No!” As fast as she could, she began running toward the stone altar.

    Falcon de Burgh had made the journey of thirty miles from Berkley to Castle Combe in one day, and he hoped to better that distance on the journey from Castle Combe to Salisbury. He had not counted on the Cotswold Hills, some of which seemed more like mountains. He had had no word about King Richard and pressed his men as hard as he could so they would reach Salisbury without delay. If Richard died, the Earl of Salisbury would go to Normandy immediately.
    When darkness overtook them, Falcon estimated they were still a good ten miles from their destination. They set up their tents on Salisbury Plain. As they did so, he noticed that some of the men were gathering in groups with worried faces. Ordinarily he would have consulted with his most trusted knight and friend Gervase, but he had not yet caught up from his journey to Mountain Ash.
    Falcon went to the men who were tethering the horses for the night and asked bluntly, “Montgomery, what’s amiss? Speak up, man!”
    The knight glanced at his companion Fitzgerald and back to de Burgh. “Some of the men are afraid to make camp near Stonehenge.”
    Fitzgerald nodded, “Aye, my lord, ’t is a most unsettling place, haunted by ancient spirits.”
    De Burgh threw back his head in laughter. “God’s bones, since when were Norman knights crippled by superstition?”
    Montgomery offered quick denial. “’T is not the knights, my lord, but
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