Shadows on the Stars Read Online Free Page A

creatures and killed more, all in his quest to gain a powerful crystal of pure élano. Tamwyn, helped by his companions as well as his staff, had done his best to stop White Hands. Yet there was a satisfied gleam in the sorcerer’s only eye that made Tamwyn feel sure that he was still alive. And that he possessed the crystal.
    Suddenly the scarred visage moved—and spoke. The sound of the sorcerer’s hoarse voice bubbled out of the air. “So what lies ahead, my lord?”
    My lord ? wondered Tamwyn. Who could he mean ?
    Something shifted behind the image of White Hands. It was hard to make out, barely more than a thin trail of smoke. Or a gaseous sort of serpent. Then the smoky form itself spoke, in a voice that crackled across the sky like a bolt of black lightning. And in that moment Tamwyn knew exactly who this was. For though he’d never heard the voice before, somewhere deep within himself he recognized it instantly.
    Rhita Gawr. Wicked warlord of the Otherworld, where he’d been banished long ago by the great spirit Dagda and the wizard Merlin.
    Rhita Gawr — here in Avalon.
    “My ultimate triumph,” crackled the voice, “is but a few weeks away! First will fall Avalon, this miserable world in between. And then more worlds will follow.”
    White Hands, rubbing his palms, nodded vigorously. “And the sign, my lord? What will be the sign?”
    The snakelike form coiled slowly. “When the great horse dies, the storm will come.” A harsh, hissing laughter filled the air. “Ah yes, my pet, it will come.”
    The sky flashed again, so bright that it took Tamwyn and Elli several seconds before they could see anything. When at last they gazed skyward, they saw no more visions. Only stars. And one dark, gaping hole where a certain constellation had once shone.
    Tamwyn recalled the vision of those strange, shadowy shapes emerging from the void of the missing stars. Shapes that would, he felt sure, soon appear in reality. What were they? What did they mean? And what in the name of Avalon had Rhita Gawr meant about his triumph just a few weeks away—and by those words when the great horse dies ?
    He grimaced. This vision had raised more questions than it had answered!
    He turned to Elli, and saw the same questions on her face. As well as all the anger and hurt that he himself had caused. His heart seemed to wither in his chest.
    “Listen,” he started. “I can explain.”
    She shook her head, jostling her curls in every direction. “Don’t explain. Just go.”
    “But Elli—”
    Her eyes seemed to sizzle. “Just go ”
    He stooped to retrieve his staff as well as his pack, wanting to say more but certain now that it would take some time before he could even hope to speak with her. All the things he’d like to tell her would simply have to wait. Just as his plan to ask for a vision about his missing father would have to wait. How long, he couldn’t even guess.
    He turned and trudged off through the snow, troubled by the demons he’d seen on high—and, even more, by the demons he’d seen in himself.

2 • Magical Wood
    The man, tall and rugged, stood alone on a mountain ridge. Wind blew his long gray locks across his face, barely lit by the flickering light of his torch. Dark shreds of mist swirled about him, wrapping him in shadow.
    But Tamwyn recognized him instantly. “Father!” he cried, though he wasn’t sure whether the man was on the same mountain as himself, or somewhere far distant. “Father, I’m here!”
    The man suddenly started. His coal black eyes, bright in the torchlight, opened wide. And in that instant Tamwyn knew beyond doubt that this was indeed his father.
    Slowly, the man turned toward the voice. His weathered, hawklike face seemed exactly right for Krystallus Eopia—voyager to Avalon’s farthest reaches, born of the wizard Merlin and the deer woman Hallia. Right now he looked both surprised and puzzled, as if he couldn’t tell whether the voice he’d heard was very near or very