When First I Met My King by Harper Fox

Author:Harper Fox
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: mm
Publisher: FoxTales Publications
Published: 2017-09-29T18:30:00+00:00

The place was so ordinary that Lance was surprised he could find it again. Viviana’s herb was growing in abundance all along the fringe of the lough now. How he had searched, to find her a few fresh strands! He could have cured all Vindolanda of its fevers now. Nevertheless he directed the horse with unerring certainty to the very spot where he’d first caught sight of the spiralling gold. “There, Art,” he said, the short name coming easily to his lips now. “I found it just there, in the shallows.”

“Just there,” Arthur echoed. “Tell me the whole story of its finding.”

Lance frowned. Why would Art assume there was more to it than Lance had already told him—that he’d gone out as bidden to fetch herbs for the old woman, and come back instead with the sword? Lance wasn’t sure himself why he’d held back part of the truth. Possibly, he told himself wryly, because he didn’t want his new friend to think him a lunatic. Well, that was too bad.

He drew breath, but Arthur gently interrupted him. “Never mind,” he said. “I will tell you the story. You came here, and you saw the sword. But it was given to you by a hand, a pale beautiful hand that came out of the water and disappeared under it once more.”

Lance stared at him. “She touched me, too,” he said, although his heart was so high in his throat that he could barely speak. “Just once, on the wrist. I thought she would be cold, but she was warm as blood.”

Arthur turned to look at him. “Was she?” he said, almost wistfully. “I never heard that part.”

“Where… Where did you hear the rest?”

Arthur swung himself down from the saddle, landing in ankle-deep water. Lance’s first, prosaic, thought was that he himself would not have been so cavalier about such fine boots. He’d observed that, while Arthur was never profligate with clothes—the party were travelling light, and anyway he doubted Ector ever allowed much extravagance—the things he had were of the best, and their spoiling wasn’t the disaster it would have been to a child of Ban’s household.

Lance realised he was seeking distraction because he was frightened. It was not so much that Arthur had known his story as seeing the change coming over his friend now. He’d lost his air of poise, and most of his colour, too. He had turned from the lough, and was staring off over the marshland to the east. He looked weary and lost. “The old man told how it would be. The one who brought me to Ector.”

Forgetting concern for his own boots, Lance dismounted to stand beside him. “How do you remember?”

“Ah—I was a disobedient, sharp-eared brat, always hearing what I shouldn’t. Poor Ector. He used to interrogate every passing guest to see if they were part of the prophecy. It isn’t just that though. All my life I’ve seen him. I… I see him now.”

“Who?”

Art smiled shakily. “Aren’t you paying attention? The old man.

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.