Blazing Earth Read Online Free Page A

not done that. Pulling her sleeve up to take a closer look, she thought it did not look like a usual burn. Or infection. Or abrasion. Yet there it was. She found the jar of unguent she used for such things and dabbed some on the area. With her sleeve back in place, she went about her tasks and saw to those she needed to tend.
    It was much later that she realized she’d underestimated the strange mark and what it would do, just as she had underestimated Tolan.
    *   *   *
    Geoffrey of Amesbury was a worried man.
    He pushed his helm off his head and let it drop,knowing the man who followed along behind his every step would catch it. Sliding the mail hood back, he let the chill air cool his head and neck. Hours of riding and searching this day had found him nothing.
    Not a sign or symbol on any of the standing stones here. Or those that had fallen or been knocked down. Geoffrey had himself searched even when his men reported there were none. Now, exhausted and frustrated, he accepted a skin of wine and drank deeply from it.
    â€œMy lord?”
    â€œWhat is it?” Geoffrey peered out over the land before him, not bothering to face the soldier.
    â€œThere are more of those strange mounds to the west,” the soldier offered. “We have not searched those yet.”
    Without hesitation, Geoffrey knocked the man to the ground with the back of his hand. Since he had been with these men, searching these lands for the last fortnight, he knew what had or had not been examined. And he knew that the markings he sought must be on stones and not in the ground. That this soldier thought to advise him was unacceptable. Geoffrey strode off toward the tallest of the stones before him here.
    Walking into the center of the several concentric rings, he knew this place held power. He could feel it there, beneath his feet, as it moved into his body and sent small sparks of some energy into his skin. He squinted into the sun as it set in the west and waited for more.
    Nothing.
    He knew then that this was not the place that Hugh de Gifford sought. Geoffrey slid his hand inside his tunic and withdrew the parchment he’d received from his distant cousin just days ago. Though something prevented Hugh from reaching England, this missive had arrived and given him orders and knowledge, sketches even, of what to look for on his lands.
    For some reason not disclosed, de Gifford believed that the circle of power lay here, in this area, on Geoffrey’s lands. Whether or not his belief was based on the many strange mounds and stones and other artifacts, Geoffrey knew not. He only knew he must find it, for there were warriors on their way to destroy it.
    He turned to find his men standing just outside the stones, in watchful readiness for his next command. Calling out an order to set up camp, he faced the sun again and wondered what would happen when Hugh arrived and he’d not found the circle yet. Tremors shot through him at the thought of failing this man. Well, de Gifford was more than a mere man—there was a power in him that defied explanation. Geoffrey had seen that power used and would never want to be its target.
    He could return to his keep and the comforts it offered, but his time to find the stones was dwindling and he could not afford to let his desire for comfort interfere with his duty. Hugh said there were signs and so he knew there were. All Geoffrey had to do was find them.
    And find them now.

C HAPTER 3
    The two guards standing over the gates to Amesbury Castle nodded and waved Tolan inside. He guided his horse along the well-worn path, up the slight hill to the stark stone building in the center of the large yard. The design and coloring of this keep made it blend into the landscape around it, almost as though it had been done apurpose to hide it from sight.
    As he glanced back out through the gates, the other prominent building in the area—the Amesbury Abbey—glistened in the sun. At