The Angel's Fall (The Fay Morgan Chronicles Book 6) Read Online Free

am better,” Merlin replied, “Life is long. Things change. And you. You look older.”
    I walked down a short hallway that led into a kitchen where the old man stood beaming. “Older? Do I really? It’s good to hear that from someone honest. It’s hard to trust any of the monsters down here. Hard to find any good people at all. Which is why you are here.”
    “We’re here to free my friend Lila,” Merlin said. “I’m sorry if you have some other idea.”
    “Sorry? No need. I am and should be sorry. Always. And…” A puzzled look fell across his face and he stopped talking. He shook his head. “But it’s tea time, isn’t it? We haven’t eaten yet, have we? Yes. For I have tea and we have time.” He laughed and gestured toward his table. “You have just arrived?”
    “Yes,” I said.
    Merlin’s father nodded a couple of times. “Well then, welcome to Hell, Hell, and more Hell.” He turned toward his table. “The way here will have been more taxing then you realized. Not all the rules of this realm are the same, you see. And then there’s all the instability. You must eat, while you can, on this day of days. You will be in my house for a short time, seething with the need for action, but trust this and be patient with an old man. I will help you find all that you must find today.”
    He walked to his table and sat down.
    “The only thing we need is information on how to rescue Lila. Quickly,” I said. I knew my words were unfair: Merlin should have some time to speak to his Father about whatever he wished. This might be their only meeting. Yet our day’s quest would take all of our wits, and tarrying here might mean whatever slim advantage we had would disappear.
    “Sharp as glass, sweet as a lemon, isn’t she?” the man said to Merlin. “Trust, children, that I will help as I can. Now we break bread. We haven’t done that yet, have we? Eat.”
    “Have you future sight?” I asked. “Is that why you’re a bit… confused?”
    He frowned and took a long moment to respond. “No. But I have come unmoored from time, which can happen to the truly ancient. Did I already say that? Let me feed you.”
    “Have you seen us rescuing Lila?” I asked, not moving from where I stood.
    The man didn’t answer but pointedly unfolded his cloth napkin and tucked it into his collar.
    “He’s not wrong,” Merlin said. “I am hungry.”
    My belly ached as though I hadn’t eaten for days. “Very well.”
    The old man smiled. “Eat and have no worries. The food I offer is merely food, much like on Earth. There is no spell wound through my pomegranates that will make you stay here.” He chuckled. “There are far greater powers that will see to that.”
    I sat and inhaled the smells that filled this small cottage. Baking bread, roasting fish, and the hint of sweet apples. There were other more subtle odors that reminded me of a long past coming from the rough-hewn wood beams on the ceiling and the mud floor, well-packed and well-swept. The plain wooden table wrought of thick-planked wood lay set with coarse ceramic plates and cups, along with woven napkins. All of it reminded me of Wales and Avalon.
    As we filled our plates, the old man watched Merlin with a gaze that did not waver. “I made this repast thinking about the one time, very long ago, when I lived on Earth.” The man broke open a still-warm loaf of brown bread. Steam rose from it as he tore off a hunk and passed it to me. I took some and tried to hand it to Merlin, but he didn’t take it.
    “Your time on Earth?” Merlin said. “You mean when you lived in Wales? When you impregnated my mother and left her to die several months later in childbirth? When you left behind an orphaned bastard? That time?”
    I put a hand on Merlin’s thigh beneath the table to remind him I was here, however he might need me. His muscles were tensed and taut.
    The old man nodded slowly. His face was a study of age and sadness. “Yes. That time. Everything you