Warriors of the Black Shroud Read Online Free PDF

should be seated on a stone bench nearby. He was silent for a few moments as if he was trying to work out the best way to tell Walker something.
    â€œWhen I see fine young men like you,” he finally began, “I always wish that I had been blessed with children of my own, but unfortunately it was not to be. If I had a son or daughter I would have passed the mark on to them, and then this search for a Chosen One that has gone on for so long would not have been necessary, and you wouldn’t be here now.
    â€œI don’t know why you got the mark,” the king continued after a couple of minutes. “But I do know what it means. It means that if you choose to you could lead this Kingdom when I have gone. It shows that you have the strength to do so—not the physical strength, but the strength to do the right thing and to care for your people, to put their interests ahead of your own, and if necessary put your own life second to theirs. I hope I can persuade you that this is something you not only could do but that you will do.”
    â€œBut I don’t live here,” Walker protested. “I don’t even come from here. I have a family in another world. I couldn’t rule here and live there.”
    â€œIn fact,” said the king, “you could. Time here and where you come from have little relationship to each other. You could stay here for many Eons, and become an old man like me, and then return to the Outerworld and it would be as if you had been gone for two of your—what do you call them?—your seconds. You would go back to being a boy—how old are you in Outerworld time?”
    â€œEleven,” said Walker.
    â€œWell!” the king cried triumphantly. “You would be an eleven-year-old again. Now wouldn’t that be something worth having! I would love to be your age again.”
    Walker looked at the old, old man with his papery skin and ancient gnarled hands, and it was impossible to believe that he had ever been eleven. He felt sorry for him. Even his Lightkeepers didn’t want to hear his predictions of disaster. As far as Walker could see the king didn’t have anyone on his side. Walker felt the same way at school, but he could come home to his mother and his books. Then the king took the boy’s hands in his own, and looked him straight in the face as if he had come to a decision.
    â€œI’m going to take you to a place where only Chosen Ones may go,” he said. “It is called the Source, and it is where all of the energy for the Kingdom is stored. Without it we would be doomed to live forever in darkness, and our enemies would overwhelm us, for the dark is what they know the best.”
    â€œYou mean it’s like a generator?” asked Walker.
    â€œI do not know what that is,” replied the king, “but what I do know is that there is nothing like it in the Outerworld. You have seen nothing like the Source, and in fact nobody in the Kingdom apart from myself has ever seen anything like it. You and I are the only ones who can be in its presence.”
    â€œWhy?” Walker inquired.
    â€œThat I cannot tell you,” the king said. “In fact, much of what you see you will not remember, for the Source has secrets that only a ruler can know, and until you decide that you will be the future king, these secrets must remain hidden from you. Only when you truly commit to that will you be able to remember them. You will even forget how we got to the Source and how we returned, for its location is one of the greatest secrets.”
    â€œYou can do that?” asked Walker. “You can really make people forget things?”
    â€œOf course,” replied the king with a smile. “It’s one of the most useful things I know.”
    â€œAnd can Eddie—I mean Prince Edward—do that as well?”
    â€œI would hope so,” said the king, “for I taught him myself many Eons