The Giants' Dance Read Online Free PDF

this house gets shown off these premises right quick, and that’s whoever they may be.’
    Gwydion turned to her sharply, but then seeming to bethink himself he swept out a low bow. ‘I have offended you. Please, accept my apologies. If I was rude, it was because I was upon an important errand and I did not expect to be disturbed from it.’
    Will stepped towards the door without hesitation. ‘I can’t be sure, Gwydion, but I think this is something you ought to see.’
    Once they were outside Gwydion shielded his eyes from the purple glare, then took Will’s arm. ‘You were right to summon me. Of course you were.’
    Will’s heart sank. ‘What is it?’
    â€˜Something I have feared daily these four years.’
    â€˜Hey!’ Will called, but Gwydion had already taken himself halfway down the path. ‘Hey, where are you going?’
    â€˜To the Giant’s Ring, of course!’
    â€˜Alone?’
    â€˜That,’ the wizard called over his shoulder, ‘is entirely up to you.’
    Will watched the wizard stride away into the darkness. He looked helplessly towards the cottage door. ‘But…what about Willow? What about Bethe?’
    â€˜Oh, they must not come! There is likely to be great danger on the Tops.’
    Will ran to the doorway and put his head inside. ‘Gwydion needs my help,’ he said. ‘I have to go with him.’
    Willow dandled their daughter. ‘Go? Go where?’
    â€˜Up onto the Tops.’
    Her pretty eyes quizzed him, then she sighed. ‘Oh, Will…’
    â€˜Don’t worry. I won’t be long. I promise.’ He held her for a moment, then kissed her hurriedly, unhooked his cloak and left.
    â€˜What do you think it is?’ he asked as he caught up with the wizard.
    Gwydion tasted the air. He made hissing noises and held out his arm, but no barn owl came to his call. ‘Do you see how the night creatures hereabouts have all gone to ground? No bird can fly in this glare.’
    They climbed up the stony path that no one but Gwydion could ever find. It led up through the woods of Nethershaw, yet it wound past trees and the phantasms of trees and passed through impenetrable thickets of brambles that parted to let Gwydion through but then closed behind Will. He scrambled smartly up a mossy bank after the wizard and felt the earth crumbling away under his toes. But then the trees gave out and a dark land opened before them, stark under the purple glow.
    They walked onward across tussocky grass, over pools of shadow and a maze of spirals that Will sensed patterning the earth. Soon five great standing stones loomed out ofthe night, huddled closely one upon another like a group of conspirators. They were, Will knew, vastly ancient, all that remained of the tomb of Orba, Queen of the Summer Moon, who had lived in the Age of the First Men.
    She it was who had ruled the land here long ago, and close by was the dragon-ravaged tomb of her husband, Finglas, now no more than a bump in the flow-tattooed earth. The wizard swung his staff before him, his eyes penetrating the dark like lamps. Will’s heart was hammering as the wizard paused and shaded his eyes against the sky’s sickly violet sheen. ‘It’s not coming from the Giant’s Ring after all,’ he said. ‘It’s coming from somewhere in the west!’
    The wizard drew Will to a sudden halt beside him. ‘Behold! Liarix Finglas!’
    The awesome flickerings rose up in the sky behind the King’s Stone like a monstrous lightning storm. Will saw the great, crooked fang cut out in black against the glare. Beside it stood the twisted elder tree where Gwydion had once been trapped by sorcerer’s magic. Four years ago he had crossed blackened grass; now it had regrown and was lush and dew-cool underfoot.
    A clear view to the west opened up. There the sky was smudged by cloud, and far away a great plume had risen up