Ley Ryders by Holly J Williams

Author:Holly J Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Published: 2019-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

A Distressing Discovery

Rosequartz shifted nervously in her saddle and glanced over her shoulder at the elderly, pale-skinned Ryder on the dusky coated donkey behind her and Garnet. Chiastolite looked like a bundle of bones and sticks wrapped in brown cloth as she slowly drove her mount along the path towards Goodstone. It went without saying that all Ryders felt a sisterhood towards each other and although Rosequartz held no personal dislike towards the old woman, her presence, and her unlucky Ley Calling as handmaiden to the dead and dying made the younger Ryder feel uneasy.

‘It doesn’t bode well,’ the normally cheerful Ryder whispered to Garnet as Chiastolite reached round to adjust her belongings strapped to the mule. ‘I am not comfortable having her with us. Never have I seen her do the Ley’s work without it ending in grief.’

Looking towards the overcast sky, Garnet appeared stoic. ‘Patience, Rosequartz. We’ve already learned good tidings from her, that the maiden Petronia is alive and well. The Ley may have simply sent her to us as a messenger.’

Like the other Ryders stationed at Goodstone at the time of the strange attack, Rosequartz and Garnet had left the citadel in the early morning on the orders of Amethyst. No-one, not even Amethyst, seemed to be able to explain the dark entity that had laid siege to the castle so suddenly nor the sudden disappearance of the mute girl. Those who had fought on the battlements had spoken of seeing the newest apprentice for the last time. Her actions had surged with the energy of the Ley as she grabbed a sword and hurled herself like a bird from the wall into the throbbing blackness below. There had been a burst of power, of dark, hungry magic and restless Ley force, causing the air and ground to tremble with the aftershock of their unity. Then, stillness. As suddenly as the hateful entity had appeared at the base of the castle walls, it vanished, sucking itself into non-existence as if being drawn back into another realm and gone with it was any trace of Petronia. Mortal dread had struck at the hearts of Garnet and Rosequartz when they heard this. Had the spectre been sated with a sacrifice of the young girl’s life like an arcane, pagan deity? If that was so then the covenant they had made to her father had been broken and the Ley surely would make them pay with their lives. Indeed, as they allowed the Ley to lead them out into the peaceful countryside, Garnet and Rosequartz were sorrowfully preparing themselves for a justly deserved death. On the following morning when they encountered Chiastolite, bearing her mortician’s robes, they suspected that she had come to attend them in their final hours. However, it appeared that the Ley had drawn the elderly Chiastolite to them for a far more extraordinary reason. After greeting each other the three of them exchanged their remarkable stories of the silent young lass who appeared to be the Stone-Tongue of ancient legend.

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