Twist of the Blade by Edward Willett

Author:Edward Willett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Lake, King Arthur, Arthurian, water, cave, Regina, internet, magic, Excalibur, legend, series, power, inheritance, quest, Lady
ISBN: 9781550508079
Publisher: Coteau Books

CHAPTER NINE

CALL OF THE DARK

Wally had been to Europe before with his family: twice, in fact. He’d even flown into Frankfurt before, on the last trip, the one other time he’d visited France, when his family had still been a family. He’d only been eleven, but he thought he remembered the routine well enough that he’d have no trouble getting through customs and making his connection to Lyon, especially since he could sorta-kinda speak French.

He wasn’t worried about himself...not much, anyway. But he was worried about Ariane.

In the middle of the abbreviated night, somewhere near the Arctic Circle, he leaned his head against the cool Plexiglas of the airplane window and looked down at clouds shining in the moonlight far below. It was a very strange notion, but he wondered if even then Ariane was in those clouds, making her own way to France via this new twist of the Lady’s magic.

He snorted. If she moved as fast through the clouds as she moved us through water, she’s already there and waiting for me. Then he frowned. If she got there first, and sensed where the shard was...what if she simply went and got it, without waiting for him? Despite their plans, if she saw a chance she’d surely take it. She might greet him at the airport with shard in hand.

It was an uncomfortable thought, which, if it happened, would raise an uncomfortable question. Does she really need me anymore? Am I really the heroic sidekick...or just useless baggage?

Wally tried to sleep, with little success, and was jolted awake by turbulence as the sun rose. It wasn’t bad, but it went on for half an hour or more, and by the end of that time his head hurt and he’d even pulled out the airsickness bag, just in case. Thankfully, he managed to fight down his nausea as the turbulence eased, though a faint headache remained. Must be the concussion, he thought, disgusted; he was never airsick, carsick, seasick, or any other kind of motion-sick.

The rough ride made him wonder again what the trip had been like for Ariane. What would happen if she hit a thunderstorm? Worrying about her helped him stop worrying about whether the very large gentleman who had been in front of him in the screening line in Regina, had followed him across the Calgary airport to the Frankfurt flight, and was now seated directly behind him, would lose his own battle with airsickness; from the moaning and gulping, he was in worse shape than Wally, and Wally wasn’t sure he could contain the contents of his own stomach if he heard – or worse, smelled – someone else throwing up.

In the end, neither one of them upchucked, though it was a close thing. Wally had devoured the meal served during the first three hours of the flight, even though he wasn’t entirely sure what the protein had been – beef? chicken? fish? – but he turned down breakfast entirely, which surely would have astonished Ariane had she known.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.