The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

Author:Cinda Williams Chima
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction - Young Adult
Publisher: Disney Publishing Worldwide

Chapter Twelve

A Visit with Dr. Longbranch

Linda had booked rooms for herself, Jack, and Becka in a small, elegant hotel on Thurloe Place, near the Victoria and Albert Museum and Kensington Gardens. Jack’s room was bright and airy, and opened out onto a garden. He threw open the garden doors and breathed deeply. Roses. He slid the bag with the sword in it under his bed, laid wards along the perimeter of the room, and collapsed, exhausted, on the bed.

From the time the plane had landed, he had been overwhelmed with a feeling of homecoming, although he’d never been to England before. From the street signs to the buses to the greenery to the architecture, everything was uncannily familiar. What was more disconcerting was the constant murmuring, a cacophony of voices of the Weirlind long dead. They were everywhere, calling from church graveyards and gardens and old buildings. “Welcome the warrior,” they whispered. He had begun to understand what Nick meant by noise. He hardly felt he’d slipped into town unnoticed.

Once they were unpacked, he and Becka had lunch in the hotel dining room. Linda had other business to take care of, she’d said. Although they had traveled all night, Becka was full of plans. “Harrods is just up the street, so we’ll have to go there. We can walk over to Kensington Palace, and you can see the gardens and the Serpentine, and walk along Rotten Row.” She waved her fork in the air. “Then, tomorrow we’ll go over to Buckingham Palace in the morning, and maybe see the Tower in the afternoon.” She grinned wickedly. “I think you’ll like that.”

“Sounds great, Mom.” After all that had happened, Jack was genuinely looking forward to being a tourist.

He and Becka toured Kensington and Knightsbridge that afternoon, and all three spent the next day seeing tourist London: Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and the Tower.

Jack found Westminster Abbey exhausting, and not because of jet lag. They began their tour in the shrine of Edward the Confessor. A sour-looking cleric delivered a rather long, boring speech about the history of the church, while ghost warriors drifted above his head and shoulders, gesturing urgently to Jack. Their voices echoed against stone like a tuneless choir. They trailed him through the Lady Chapel, where were buried the three great female adversaries of Tudor times: Elizabeth I, Mary Tudor, and Mary, Queen of Scots. PARTNERS BOTH IN

THRONE AND GRAVE, HERE REST WE TWO SISTERS, ELIZABETH AND MARY, IN THE HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION.

Jack paused at the tombs of Henry the VII and Elizabeth of York. Their marriage had ended the War of the Roses. Officially, at least. Here the Weirlind became almost frantic. A gaunt ghost soldier seized Jack by the arm. His gray flesh was nearly translucent. A great gash beneath his chin stretched from ear to ear.

“Beware, Warrior!” he intoned, reminiscent of Caesar’s ghost. “Beware the Ghyll!”

Jack allowed Becka and Linda to get a little ahead of him, then spun around and hissed, “Will you leave me in peace?”

“Beware, Warrior!” the ghost repeated.

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