Lord of Mountains: A Novel of the Change Read Online Free Page A

wimples and headdresses bowing like wind through a flower-field made of silk and vair and jewels:
    And the demoiselles will stand and serve the Queen,
    For our Queen!
    The demoiselles will ever serve the Queen!
    Now the circle broke as it turned inward, into a moving line of male and female dancers linked by their hands. Rudi and Mathilda danced towards them in their turn; as each pair passed, they opened out and spun around the royal couple.
    We serve as those before us
    And we teach it to our young.
    And fair the blooms that face the sky
    That from our soil have sprung!
    A crashing chord and they all halted and threw up their linked hands:
    And our monarchs’ deeds are roared aloud
    Whenever honor’s praise is sung!
    This time they were facing Rudi and Mathilda in a spaced line, lord and lady alternating. They bowed and curtsied together as Rudi and Mathilda passed through to the head of the line and turned to face them; all hands were linked in a great chain:
    And the knights of Portland stand and serve the King,
    For our King!
    The knights of Portland ever serve the King.
    The voices wove together again:
    And the knights of Portland stand and serve the King,
    For our King!
    The knights of Portland stand and serve the King!
    The dance ceased, amid a shout of laughter; the dancers turned and did their bow and curtsy to the musicians, applauding, and then deeper to the royal pair. Rudi smiled as he and Mathilda inclined their heads in return.
    Servants brought around trays of hot spiced wine. He took one, and Mathilda did too; they interlinked their arms so that each took a sip from the other’s glass first. Then he turned and raised it to the crowd, the flame dancing on silk and silver and shining eyes.
    And in a day and a night, how many of these laughing young lords of the earth will lie stark with their blood draining into the thirsty soil?
he thought, and fought to keep his face merry, as they’d expect.
    “A fine dance tonight, and the dance of sword and lance to come,” he said, pitching his voice to carry. “So one more cup, seek your beds and sleep untroubled, my lords.”
    For I have other business tonight, with the Powers of the land.
    “Artos!” someone cried; he thought he recognized Rigobert’s voice. “Artos and Montival!”
    “
Artos and Montival!
”
    Stonehenge loomed on its knee of land above the steep drop to the river a thousand feet below. Moonlight painted the standing stones, and hoarfrost glittered; the carriages and teams and horses and bicycles were far enough away that their noise and presence were easy to ignore. Beyond the huge spectacle of the cliff-fringed Columbia fell away to where the light made a glimmerpath on the water, seeming to lead beyond the world. Silk banners hung amid the great rough stones tonight; they were written with the names of those who’d fallen in the Prophet’s War, for more than one coven held this place sacred. The local—semi-clandestine—High Priest and Priestess were here, granting her and the others leave to make their plea in the sacred place.
    Juniper Mackenzie stopped, the hood of her robe flung back, and planted a staff that bore the Triple Moon itself on its top, waxing and full and waning. The celebrants halted behind her, the cold wind making a ripping sound when it fanned the torches. Sparks flowed past her into the darkness, flying on a scent of burning pine resin.
    A very slight smile quirked her lips. What she saw was a replica—and one built by a Quaker named Samuel Hill a bit more than a century ago, ludicrous myths about Stonehenge being a site of human sacrifice makinghim think the shape appropriate as a memorial for the dead of war; before the Change it had been a tourist attraction more than anything else. He’d had a great many plans for the area, very few of which had come to fruition…but Stonehenge remained, and was a center of ritual and rite and in all likelihood would be for uncounted generations.
    Juniper suspected that