A Land Of Fire (Book 12) Read Online Free Page A

nodded.
    “She needs you, Thorgrin. They all need
you—and they also need a new home.”
    As Thor continued to watch, he saw the
landscape transform, and he saw the entire Ring devastated, a blackened
landscape, Romulus’s million men covering every inch of it.
    “The Ring,” he said, horrified. “It is
no more.”
    Thor felt a burning desire to race from
here and rescue them all right now.
    His mother reached out and closed the
window panes, and he turned and faced her.
    “Those are just some of the quests that
lay before you,” she said. “Your child needs you, Gwendolyn needs you, your
people need you—and beyond that, you will need to prepare for the day when you
shall become King.”
    Thor’s eyes opened wide.
    “I? King?”
    His mother nodded.
    “It is your destiny, Thorgrin. You are
the last hope. It is you who must become King of the Druids.”
    “King of the Druids?” he asked, trying
to comprehend. “But…I don’t understand. I thought I was in the Land of the Druids.”
    “The Druids do not live here anymore,”
his mother explained. “We are a nation in exile. They live now in a distant
kingdom, in the far reaches of the Empire, and they are in great danger. You
are destined to become their King. They need you, and you need them.
Collectively, your power will be needed to battle the greatest power ever known
to us. A threat far greater than the dragons.”
    Thor stared back, wondering.
    “I’m so confused, Mother,” he admitted.
    “That is because your training is
incomplete. You have advanced greatly, but you haven’t even begun to reach the levels
you will need to become a great warrior. You will meet powerful new teachers who
will guide you, who will bring you to levels higher than you can imagine. You
haven’t even begun to see the warrior you will become.
    “And you will need it, all of their
training,” she continued. “You will face monstrous empires, kingdoms greater
than anything you’ve ever seen. You will encounter savage tyrants that make
Andronicus look like nothing.”
    His mother examined him, her eyes full
of knowing and compassion.
    “Life is always bigger than you imagine,
Thorgrin,” she continued. “Always bigger. The Ring, in your eyes, is a great
kingdom, the center of the world. But it is a small kingdom compared to the
rest of the world; it is but a speck in the Empire. There are worlds, Thorgrin,
beyond what you can imagine, bigger than anything you’ve seen. You have not
even begun to live.” She paused. “You will need this.”
    Thor looked down as he felt something on
his wrist, and he watched as his mother clasped a bracelet on it, several
inches wide, covering half of his forearm. It was shining gold, with a single
black diamond in its center. It was the most beautiful, and the most powerful,
thing he’d ever seen, and as it sat on his wrist, he felt its power throbbing, infusing
him.
    “As long as you wear this,” she said, “no
man born of woman can harm you.”
    Thor looked back at her, and in his mind
flashed the images he’d seen beyond those crystal windows, and he felt anew the
urgency to Guwayne, to save Gwendolyn, to save his people.
    But a part of him did not want to leave here,
this place of his dreams to which he could never return, did not want to leave
his mother.
    He examined his bracelet, feeling the
power of it overwhelming him. He felt as if it carried a piece of his mother.
    “Is that why we were meant to meet?” Thor
asked. “So that I could receive this?”
    She nodded.
    “And more importantly,” she said, “to
receive my love. As a warrior, you must learn to hate. But equally important,
you must learn to love. Love is the stronger of the two forces. Hatred can kill
a man, but love can raise him up, and it takes more power to heal than it does
to kill. You must know hate, but you must also know love—and you must know when
to choose each. You must learn not only to love, but more importantly, to allow
yourself to