by Jamie Davis
Table of Contents
Stolen Destiny
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Want to Know What Happens Next?
About the Author
Table of Contents
Stolen Destiny
Copyright
Stolen Destiny
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Want to Know What Happens Next?
About the Author
Stolen Destiny
by Jamie Davis
Copyright © 2017 by Sterling & Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.
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CHAPTER 1
Winnie Durham stood at the lake’s edge, looking out over the mist-covered waters. Shores to the left and right were lined with tall trees, bushy with deep, green leaves. She glanced down at her hand, surprised to see the subtle sheen from Excalibur.
Like everything here in this strange bridge between worlds, the sword seemed rooted more in the magical realm than in reality. Looking back over her shoulder in the direction she’d come, Winnie saw a broad field of rolling green hills covered in lush grass and wildflowers. She couldn’t see the crater’s edge, nor the steel mill through which she’d entered this realm.
A whisper of sound drew her attention back to the lake.
Brigid, the Lady of the Lake, was crossing the water towards her, skimming the surface and emerging from the mist as if from yet another unseen place beyond this one.
Winnie waited for Brigid to reach her before she knelt and bowed her head, holding out the sword in offering.
“Rise, Guinevere, Queen of Avalon, and take back your blade,” the Lady said. “The time has not yet come for you to return Excalibur. There is more to be done, more for you to do.”
Winnie stood and lowered the blade to her side again. It was strange. In this place, the blade of steel and gold had almost no weight. She looked down at the blade and back up to Brigid.
“What would you have me do? I retrieved the talisman as you asked. Isn’t this what you wanted?”
Brigid smiled at Winnie.
Winnie was warm with a sudden and infinite peace.
“My child, you have done well in the face of impossible odds, but the quest is not complete until the world is set right again. There are still forces of great evil afoot in the realm of man. That evil can undo all that you have accomplished.”
“We can stop Kane. We can expose him, prove that he’s a chanter himself.”
“There is more at play here than one man,” Brigid said. “Kane is a conduit for a far greater evil—an evil that almost consumed the world once before when it toppled the Roman Empire. The world was plunged into darkness. Stare into the mist and I will show you.”
Winnie looked past the Lady to the mist swirling behind her over the glassy water. She thought it odd how the mist swirled and twisted over the water as if winds she couldn’t see or feel pushed it across the lake.
Before she could stop herself, Winnie’s vision shifted and she felt as if she were falling forward into the mist.
She called out, but her cries of alarm faded to nothing when she found herself standing in a marble-walled room full of angry people in strange robes and tunics. Most were armed with swords.
Winnie started to back away from one angry group, shouting at a man sitting on a raised dais in the room’s center.
She stopped when she realized that the people couldn’t see her.
Raising her hand, Winnie realized she was transparent, ethereal in this setting, an observer only.
She listened to the voices calling out to the man on the platform.
“We need more troops from the garrison patrolling the lands to the west.”
“No, I need protection from the Saxons to the north.”
“The lands to the east will fall if we do not turn away the sea raiders landing there.”
The man on the platform called out to calm the people.
“I understand your concerns,” the man said as the group of rioters quieted. “You must understand—Emperor Honorius can send us no help. Rome itself is besieged by the Visigoths. There will be no return of the legions as was foretold. Londinium and the other provincial cities are on our own and must rely on the forces remaining here for our defense.”
The crowd erupted in protests and shouts.
The man on the dais fruitlessly called for quiet again.
A whispered voice behind Winnie caused her to turn and look.
A small group of men and women stood apart from the others, robed in shades of brown and green.
“It is as I feared,” said the balding old man at their center. “The Romans have forsaken our island. If the Britons are to survive this time, we must turn to the old ways for help.”
“Will the Fae answer our call, Merlin?” An ancient, gray-haired woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd. “You said yourself a long time ago that they were loath to offer more than the small magics they entrusted to us alrea
dy.”
“I believe there is a greater evil afoot here than we knew of before,” Merlin warned. “The Visigoths serve the Fell and they have besieged Rome itself. If the Fell seeks to turn the world to his own ends, perhaps I can convince the Lady to lend us some aid.”
Winnie wanted to hear more of the quiet discussion, but the mist swirled about her again and she found herself in a new place. This place was like the rolling hills at the crater’s center, but somehow, seemed even brighter still, with colors more vivid than she’d ever seen.
Winnie had been standing on the Lady’s shore before, but now she stood on the opposite side, in the land of the Fae.
Brigid stood nearby, speaking in whispers with a small group of three other Fae. Winnie didn’t understand how she knew who the Fae were, but when she looked at them, their identities and connection to the magical realm became clear in her mind.
There was Culann, a smith of great renown among the Fae, the warrior Lugh, and the king-father, Dagda. Winnie arrived mid-argument and stepped closer to hear it.
“You’ve always been soft for that human wizard, Merlin, sister,” Lugh said to Brigid. “He calls and you travel across your Lake to answer his questions.”
“This time, he has concerns that may affect all of us, my brother.” Brigid turned to her father, Dagda. “He says the Fell has attacked the lands governed by our Roman brethren. Their barbarians, the Visigoths, surround the capital as we speak. I sought Diana before I called you both here. She would not or could not answer me. They must be besieged along with their followers in the city. I fear the seven hills will fall and the darkness will cover the lands to the east.”
“But what you ask is dangerous, my daughter. To hand our greatest talisman over to the lands of men … that means releasing our hold over the magic supporting the natural world. What assurances have you that Merlin will return it?”
“I trust him, father,” Brigid said. “He has shown me the scrying himself. He is not lying. If he cannot find a source of great magic to unify the Britons, there will be no way for him to withstand the Fell when he comes for their lands.”
“Bah,” Lugh spat. “If we give Merlin this talisman, he will control our magic, and our best weapon against the Fell and all he can bring to bear against us in the world. If our Roman brethren to the east cannot withstand them, we will stand no chance without it.”
“I will not tell Merlin of that power, nor trust such folly to any human,” Brigid said. “Without the word of command, the talisman summons nothing. It will only serve as a bridge to bring magic to the mundane world. Merlin assures me he will contain the magic to his inner circle, including Morgana and his own son, Fenris. They will not betray us.”
Culann finally spoke. His deep voice perfectly matched his giant arms and colossal shoulders.
“To take the talisman and forge it into a form that the world of men would respect and understand will take considerable work, Brigid. It is difficult to work both the magic and the metal at the same time.”
“I know this, brother, but I fear for the island and for the Fae. If the Fell gains a foothold, then all will be lost no matter what we do later. I will come with you and lend my magic to aid in your forging.”
Again the mist swirled, wrapping the Fae gods until they disappeared.
The air cleared and Winnie found herself in a cave, the heat of a smoldering forge washing over her.
Culann worked the bellows, hunched over the fire, pumping air into the forge with a surge of sparks amid the blazing white coals.
The smith pulled a long, glowing rod from the coals then laid it across the anvil.
Brigid stepped forward and waved her arms over the anvil, invoking the magic to infuse the metal, while her brother hammered the rod into a flat blade with heavy, measured strokes. His titan’s arm delivered ungodly blows. Sweat beaded on Winnie’s brow as she watched the two work.
The newly formed blade was returned to the coals, again and again, then back to the anvil for more pounding and magic.
After many long hours, the two stepped back and Culann dunked the naked blade in a barrel. Steam spewed from the waters.
Both Fae were exhausted but Winnie saw the gleam in Brigid’s eyes when the freshly made blade was drawn from the barrel.
Excalibur’s birth, the great blade, to be given as a gift to the Britons so they might hold back the forces of darkness sweeping the land.
“Take it to Lugh, sister,” Culann said. “He is best at fine metal work. He should fit the hilt and grip to the blade.”
He wrapped the blade in a cloth bundle for Lugh, but hesitated before handing the sword to her.
“What happens if they fail to return the talisman, Brigid? They may succeed in defeating the Fell, but without the magic we cannot sustain the earth as we’re meant to. We are placing the planet’s trust in your man, Merlin.”
“I know, brother. He will not fail us.”
The mist swirled, carrying Winnie away from the pair in the forge
When it cleared, she was back on the Lakeshore.
She looked over to Brigid, standing atop the still waters.
Winnie raised the blade. “Why can’t you take it back from me now?”
“When Merlin’s son, Fenris, overthrew his father and seized control of the power for himself and his followers, the talisman Excalibur passed into his hands. His line must complete the task for which it was made. You must continue your quest, young Guinevere. Defeat the coming evil before the talisman is returned.”
“But I don’t even know what it can do. You have to tell me something.”
“When the time is right, you will know what to ask me,” Brigid said. “Only the right question can lead to Excalibur’s true purpose. Until then, trust in those closest to you. Your friends and companions are strong. And don’t discount your staunchest supporter and ally; she has much to show you if you’ll let her.”
“Who?” Winnie asked. “Cait is gone. Tris is strong, but what can she teach me?”
“You mistake me, my child. Look within yourself. Who has been with you, supporting you from the beginning of your time in this world? Her gentle hand has been guiding you since birth. She is the one to help you see forward.”
Winnie wanted to ask more, but the Lady of the Lake retreated into the mists and back across the water. Considering the Fae’s final words, Winnie thought of her mother and made her way back to the world above.
CHAPTER 2
Elaine watched her daughter climb over the crater’s rim and walk back towards the small group standing on the catwalk in the center of the abandoned steel mill.
She was surprised to see Winnie still holding the sword. That had been the purpose of this visit: it had to be returned to the strange magical creatures dwelling here. Winnie said it would heal the world, repair the failing natural magic.
Something must have gone wrong.
Elaine searched her daughter’s face when she drew near, hoping to glean some clue about what had happened down in the crater.
Winnie stepped from the grassy mound leading up to the catwalk and onto the metal steps. She smiled at her mother and waiting friends.
“The Lady of the Lake told me the sword has a purpose yet to be accomplished. It seems that I have to keep it a bit longer.”
“But we defeated Kane,” Danny said. “We took the talisman, and we have the evidence needed to expose him. He can’t stay in power much longer.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure, boy,” Artos said. “I had hoped the Fae would take back the blade and use their considerable power to make things right. But apparently Winnie has been given other instructions.”
“The Lady said greater evil is coming,” Winnie said, nodding. “And we are needed to fight it, with Excalibur.”
“What evil?” Victor asked. “Surely Kane is the one she was talking about.”
“I’m not sure. But I don’t think it’s him, or at least, not just him. She seemed to be talking about something bigger, som
ething we haven’t yet seen.”
“Well, that’s not ominous,” Morgan said.
“There’s nothing more to do here,” Winnie said. “We should head back to the safe house and make plans to ensure Kane is taken down once and for all.”
The group started moving and Elaine wondered where the daughter she’d raised to be a shopkeeper had disappeared to. That girl was now this woman, some said a queen, a leader respected by her followers and feared by her enemies.
Winnie had amassed powers and skills with magic unheard of in modern times, and it all had happened in just eighteen months.
The small group returned to the Baltimore safe house. They’d stay for the night then return to the Pike—the abandoned amusement park near Philly—in the morning. The rest of their central team was still there awaiting their return.
Once the van was parked in the garage, everyone went inside. Winnie lingered and Elaine waited with her. She saw her daughter picking up the cloth-wrapped Excalibur and when she lifted it, it seemed to Elaine as if the world’s weight fell right on Winnie.
“Let me carry that for you,,” Elaine said, stepping forward. “It’s not that heavy and it will give me something to do.”
“I can’t, Mom.”
“What did the Lady of the Lake say to you, exactly?” Elaine looked into Winnie’s eyes, wondering if her daughter could see how she longed to connect.
“She told me the job wasn’t finished.” Winnie hugged the bundle to her chest and tears filled her eyes. “I thought that getting the talisman, this sword, and having the information to expose Kane would be enough. I thought I’d be done with this, Mom.”
Elaine reached out and pulled her daughter into an embrace.
They held each other for a long while, and Elaine wondered what she could say or do that might lift her daughter’s spirits.
Sure, she was this movement’s leader, and a powerful one at that, but in this moment, Winnie was her baby girl, same as always. Elaine held her tighter, squeezed her hard before leaning back, holding her at arm’s length and examining her tear-streaked face.
“You’re not alone in this, Winnie. I’m here and you have all your other friends and followers behind you. This is something we can do together.”