Protector of the Light (Champion of the Sidhe urban fantasy series) Read Online Free Page A
Author: S. A. Archer, S. Ravynheart
precede Lugh from the room, he held open the door with a courtly gesture and a gracious bow, which altogether seemed to startle her. "Shall we away, my lady?" The woman recovered quickly and departed with a final backward glance to the vampire, who grinned at her in a fashion that was quite playful and waggled her fingers in a jesting wave goodbye.
Chapter Four
As ever, the autos the humans used for conveyance were entirely inadequate to accommodate the generous length of Lugh's legs. The journey from Dublin to Kilkenny lasted a shade longer than an hour, and every moment of it was a cramped and oil-scented annoyance. Even with the window lowered and the seat adjusted back to the farthest setting, Lugh contemplated kicking open the door and flinging himself from the horrid contraption. If not for the urgency of his quest, he'd have shunned the experience and acquired a hearty and well-trained horse. Better yet, to succeed in his mission and regain the unfettered use of teleportation. One did not appreciate the ease of such a magic until denied it.
The human called London mercifully hadn't jabbered away incessantly, as Willem would have done, had the Scribe been toiling with the human magicraft involved in the operation of the contraption. Lugh had almost come to believe that chanting curses was a necessary element in activating the auto's enchantments. Perhaps forgoing with the casting of words of power came with greater levels of experience. Lugh cared not enough to inquire. It was sufficient to know that London was proficient with the magicraft involved.
Once they began navigating the crisscrossed lanes of Kilkenny, Lugh made mental notes of the landmarks that they passed, should he find himself in need of returning to this haven of the earthborns. That is, if they hadn't taken up stakes and moved on to a safer and less crowded venue. Which they had not, he gathered, when London abruptly halted the vehicle. A strangled gasp tore from her throat. She made a frantic gesture, shoving the wand jammed between the foremost seats into a new position and catapulting the contraption backward. "Stop!" Lugh ordered her, and the human complied at his command. "Be still," he instructed, and then freed himself from the restraints that she'd insisted he wear while she worked her spells.
Lugh extracted himself from the auto and stretched to the fullness of his height. At the same moment the dread had struck London, Lugh had felt it as well. The terror stabbed into his soul like nothing else in existence. Only one creature cast such an enchantment. Searching the shadowed eaves at the tops of the buildings, he set his eyes to unfocus. The Glamour of the sluagh manifested in an unconventional manner that furthered their nightmare reputation. One did not see a Glamoured sluagh when looking directly upon it. Only by shifting the eyes slightly to the side, so the sluagh was seen indirectly, did they shimmer into view. The effect was ghostly, to see only when not truly looking. It was thusly that he caught the shadowed shifting of the creature perched inside a darkened alcove in a building some hundred feet farther down the lane.
The sluagh, with its acute hearing, most certainly heard even the beat of his heart from this distance. Not since Rhiannon visited him with her sluagh pets accompanying her had Lugh seen one of the beasts. They clung to the darkest of the Unseelie Sidhe, and those they claimed became known as the Wild Hunt. Not but a few weeks ago had Willem admitted to Lugh that Rhiannon hadn't been in the Mounds when it Collapsed. Could she, whom he cherished above almost all other Sidhe, have come to such a place? The scant hope tormented his calm even more desperately than the daggers of dread that laced the sluagh song.
At this distance, the sluagh troubled him not with its threats. Only when the auto had breached the perimeter of its territory had it threatened them with its scream. And then most likely it had been
Chapter Four
As ever, the autos the humans used for conveyance were entirely inadequate to accommodate the generous length of Lugh's legs. The journey from Dublin to Kilkenny lasted a shade longer than an hour, and every moment of it was a cramped and oil-scented annoyance. Even with the window lowered and the seat adjusted back to the farthest setting, Lugh contemplated kicking open the door and flinging himself from the horrid contraption. If not for the urgency of his quest, he'd have shunned the experience and acquired a hearty and well-trained horse. Better yet, to succeed in his mission and regain the unfettered use of teleportation. One did not appreciate the ease of such a magic until denied it.
The human called London mercifully hadn't jabbered away incessantly, as Willem would have done, had the Scribe been toiling with the human magicraft involved in the operation of the contraption. Lugh had almost come to believe that chanting curses was a necessary element in activating the auto's enchantments. Perhaps forgoing with the casting of words of power came with greater levels of experience. Lugh cared not enough to inquire. It was sufficient to know that London was proficient with the magicraft involved.
Once they began navigating the crisscrossed lanes of Kilkenny, Lugh made mental notes of the landmarks that they passed, should he find himself in need of returning to this haven of the earthborns. That is, if they hadn't taken up stakes and moved on to a safer and less crowded venue. Which they had not, he gathered, when London abruptly halted the vehicle. A strangled gasp tore from her throat. She made a frantic gesture, shoving the wand jammed between the foremost seats into a new position and catapulting the contraption backward. "Stop!" Lugh ordered her, and the human complied at his command. "Be still," he instructed, and then freed himself from the restraints that she'd insisted he wear while she worked her spells.
Lugh extracted himself from the auto and stretched to the fullness of his height. At the same moment the dread had struck London, Lugh had felt it as well. The terror stabbed into his soul like nothing else in existence. Only one creature cast such an enchantment. Searching the shadowed eaves at the tops of the buildings, he set his eyes to unfocus. The Glamour of the sluagh manifested in an unconventional manner that furthered their nightmare reputation. One did not see a Glamoured sluagh when looking directly upon it. Only by shifting the eyes slightly to the side, so the sluagh was seen indirectly, did they shimmer into view. The effect was ghostly, to see only when not truly looking. It was thusly that he caught the shadowed shifting of the creature perched inside a darkened alcove in a building some hundred feet farther down the lane.
The sluagh, with its acute hearing, most certainly heard even the beat of his heart from this distance. Not since Rhiannon visited him with her sluagh pets accompanying her had Lugh seen one of the beasts. They clung to the darkest of the Unseelie Sidhe, and those they claimed became known as the Wild Hunt. Not but a few weeks ago had Willem admitted to Lugh that Rhiannon hadn't been in the Mounds when it Collapsed. Could she, whom he cherished above almost all other Sidhe, have come to such a place? The scant hope tormented his calm even more desperately than the daggers of dread that laced the sluagh song.
At this distance, the sluagh troubled him not with its threats. Only when the auto had breached the perimeter of its territory had it threatened them with its scream. And then most likely it had been
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