Warriors of Ethandun Read Online Free PDF Page A

silence.
    â€˜Come with me, Ursula. You are well now and I can fix the bits of you that aren’t. Come with me to a place more worthy of you. Why don’t you come back and see King Macsen? I know you would find the warmest of receptions.’
    Thinking of Macsen did nothing to calm her. Long ago he had offered to marry her. She had known herself a child then, but now?
    â€˜Taliesin, please stop.’
    â€˜I am doing nothing.’ Taliesin’s expression was all outraged innocence.
    â€˜You are using magic and you are doing it on purpose to sway me.’ She could feel it crackle in the air, feel it raise the hairs on her arms and neck, taste it on the tip of her tongue, and yet she could not wield it, she could not getinside it, let it possess her, let it fill her with its intoxicating power.
    â€˜What magic am I doing?’ Taliesin asked, affronted.
    Ursula shut her eyes and saw the golden threads of power working in her, healing her, strengthening her broken bones, repairing damage more swiftly than nature intended, giving her back the incredible strength that had all but ebbed away.
    â€˜Please, Taliesin. Stop. You know exactly how it makes me feel.’ He did too. She saw that in the hint of cruelty in his smile – that look in his eyes. He was her friend, but he had something of the druid in him and his motivations were not always the purest. He had been locked out of magic in the past and Ursula knew that he was aware of exactly what he was doing to her. It made her obstinate. She did not like to be manipulated.
    â€˜Come with me, Ursula. I know how much you want to.’
    She shook her head savagely, fighting to keep control. ‘Go away!’ She was shaking and she wanted to cry. He was torturing her.
    Taliesin got to his feet and the leather of his soles squeaked against the lino as he turned to leave. ‘Dan sends his – you know …’
    She tried to smile. She did know. At least Dan was in this world too; she was not sure she would be able to survive here without him. She found her self-possession. ‘Thank you, Taliesin, for bringing me home. You saved me – you and Dan and Rhonwen. My mum would thank you too, if she understood.’ It was as well that she didn’t.Ursula’s teeth had started to chatter quite against her will. She could not stop it. It was as if her rebellious body craved the magic as much as she did.
    â€˜Dan can help you when – I mean, if – you change your mind. He has the means to raise the Veil.’
    â€˜Dan has magic?’ Ursula was startled.
    Taliesin shook his head. ‘He’ll explain. He has an artefact that should take you back to Macsen.’ He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. The magic on his lips burned her skin, as he had known it would.
    â€˜Go, Taliesin! I can’t stand it!’
    He waved his hand in a casual gesture of farewell and disappeared. The scent of power lingered in the air like gunpowder, stronger than longing. His voice echoed in the empty cubicle: ‘Your magic is through the Veil.’ And his words rang in her ears and through her mind like a kind of madness. It was hard to breathe. She reached for the tepid drinking water on the nightstand, but her hands trembled too much and she dropped it, so that water pooled under the high bed. She waved her hand to clear it away with power and for a moment the residual magic in the air almost responded. She felt that part of herself that had once wielded magic strain, try to move again like a muscle wasted from lack of use, or more like a ghost memory from an amputated limb. Nothing happened; the water remained on the floor. There was no magic any more. Not for her. She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow. She did not want her mother to find her crying.
    By the time her mother had returned with a toastedsandwich and a bunch of grapes, Ursula had pulled herself together.
    â€˜Mum – I feel fine