A Sky of Spells by Morgan Rice

Author:Morgan Rice [Rice, Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Morgan Rice
Published: 2013-11-01T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Thor held his torch high and walked beside Gwendolyn in the dark, a procession of thousands of torches winding its way through the summer night. The day’s long festivities had finally morphed into night, and Gwendolyn led the huge procession out through the rear gate of King’s Court, and onto the wide path leading up King’s Hill.

Thor was excited as he realized it was time for the annual Lighting of the Night, the mystical ceremony that occurred on every Summer Solstice. It was a time where the revelries could continue in a more subdued form, lasting throughout the warm summer night. It was a demarcation, a time that changed the nature of the holiday from revelry to a sacred time.

Gwendolyn marched slowly, somberly, as MacGil rulers had done for centuries on this night, lute players following far behind, playing a slow, mournful tune. It was their job to both entice and scare away the spirits that were rumored to dance on this night.

“I am hoping Argon will be there,” Gwen said to Thor.

“I haven’t seen him in moons,” Thor said.

“Nor have I,” Gwen said. “He has the strangest way of disappearing. You don’t think he’s left us forever, do you?”

Thor shrugged. With Argon, one never knew.

Thor took Gwen’s hand as they walked, and he felt the energy coursing through her—not just hers, but also the baby’s. Thor was so on-edge these days, waiting for the baby to come any day, preparing and getting nervous for the huge wedding, finally just days away. He was anxious for everything to go smoothly—the wedding, the birth. He wanted all of the endless waiting to be over already.

Gwen squeezed his hand, and he looked over at her.

“Tonight,” she whispered, smiling. “When the last of this is done, we shall have more time together.”

Thor smiled back. “There is nothing I wish for more.”

High up, in the distance, there came two screeches—Mycoples and Ralibar—circling, letting their presence be known before they soared up and into the night. Thor took solace from their presence. They often flew off in the night, yet they always returned in the morning.

“When I see them,” Gwen remarked, “I feel as if nothing bad can ever come to the Ring.”

“As do I,” Thor said. “With two dragons, the Shield restored, the Ring is finally impregnable.”

They marched, thousands of people filing in behind them, all of them chanting a slow, somber tune designed to bring in the night. As they slowly ascended, the path taking them in broad circles, looping again and again, Thor looked up and saw the hill, rising gradually, hundreds of feet high. This hill was different than all the others, covered entirely with smooth grass, and paved with perfectly round circles etched into its sides. In between each circle was a small moat, filled with perfectly still, reflecting water. As they all slowly ascended the path, circling again and again, Thor watched all the torches reflecting in the water, a thousand points of reflected light lighting up the hill.

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