The Raven Warrior Read Online Free PDF Page A

resources of the Out Islands, they would fall like ripe plums into the hands of the southern Saxon conquerors, led by Merlin.
    If no one did anything to stop these raids, the command of the seas would fall to the Saxons. And, make no mistake, whoever rules the sea here also controls the land.
    I danced the dance, stretched out my hands, and took the power offered by my seat on the Dragon Throne. Maeniel warned me the night before the dance there would be no going back, and there wasn’t. So I did as a chief should do; I took the first step forward. The rest, without further question, followed. Even Ure.
    The view of the small forest on the island didn’t improve as we drew closer. But we continued on. The crows were at them, and at first we thought we frightened the birds, because, with a cry and a rush of black wings, they flew up and away from the things in the trees.
    “I didn’t think we were close enough to startle them away from their dinner,” Ure said.
    But then we heard voices.

    Igrane felt the power fade and withdraw from her body. No longer attached to the symbol on the floor, she rolled to her side, then crawled away, whimpering with relief. He had been going to kill her; she knew it. This time he had really been going to kill her.
    She had always been sure he hated her power over him, and this time he had intended to be rid of her. To burn her away as a sacrifice to whatever earthly, demonic power resided in this strange place.
    She had been to his dwelling before, but never here to this part. Above, the sea roared and the room with its high, domed ceiling grew darker and darker as the light faded from the symbol on the floor. Fearfully, she thought about his two servants. God! She didn’t want to meet them.
    She came to her knees. Her eyes searched the room in the growing gloom. She saw what remained of them.
    Whatever powers took Merlin, it had dealt with them first. All that remained of them were bags of human hide, full of shattered, dark bone. It looked as though they had simply been crumpled as a bit of discarded paper might be by the fist of a giant hand.
    She gave a gasp. Whatever took him must have awesome power. Merlin was the strongest being she had ever met; the creature that could destroy him didn’t bear thinking about.
    The light was very dim now, the big room deeply shadowed. She found herself shivering with cold. Something, a robe of sorts, was draped over a sofa nearby. She seized it and wrapped it around her body. It was silk, heavy, raw silk.
    It must be his,
she thought. He had prepared it so that he could relax when he was finished destroying her. He would have been replete, sated with food, sex, and bloated with the staggeringly rich draft he sucked from her loins, while she lay spent, twisted, and dead on the white symbol below.
    The robe hung over her shoulders. It moved of its own volition and wrapped itself around her. Sleeves lifted over her arms and a hood covered her head, then the two halves closed in front of her.
    She staggered with fear. Clothing that dressed her, the fabric wrapping itself around her as though driven by a command, was another new and terrifying experience. But the gown was warm and caressed her skin with a thousand gentle fingers.
    She was standing near the sofa from which she had taken the robe. It seemed her knees didn’t want to hold her up any longer. They folded. She sat, then drew up her feet and slid to her side and lay down.
    Darkness rolled over her like a wave.

    “A wolf!” a voice screeched. “A wolf! They promised me a wolf!”
    Black Leg found himself lifted and gripped in the embrace of a pair of powerful arms. Almost paralyzed by terror, Black Leg gave vent to a most unwolflike screech.
    “Yiiiieee!”
It ended on a high note, and he turned human, the better to grapple with his attacker.
    When the owner of the formidable pair of arms realized he was clutching another human male, he backed away, hunched down, and began weeping.
    “No.