Read Online Bran Mak Morn: The Last King by Robert E. Howard, Gary Gianni - Free Book Online

scant hour agone.� �ou talked with his ghost �� �r he with mine? Did I go back a hundred thousand years, or did he come forward? If he came to me out of the past, it is not I who talked with a dead man, but he who talked with a man unborn. Past, present and future are one to a wise man. I talked to Gonar while he was alive; likewise was I alive. In a timeless, spaceless land we met and he told me many things.� The land was growing light with the birth of dawn. The heather waved and bent in long rows before the dawn wind as bowing in worship of the rising sun.
    �he jewel in your crown is a magnet that draws down the eons,�said Gonar. �he sun is rising �and who comes out of the sunrise?� Cormac and the king started. The sun was just lifting a red orb above the eastern hills. And full in the glow, etched boldly against the golden rim, a man suddenly appeared. They had not seen him come. Against the golden birth of day he loomed colossal; a gigantic god from the dawn of creation. Now as he strode toward them the waking hosts saw him and sent up a sudden shout of wonder.
    �ho �or what is it?�exclaimed Bran.
    �et us go to meet him, Bran,�answered the wizard. �e is the king Gonar has sent to save the people of Brule.� II
    � have reached these lands but newly
    From an ultimate dim Thule;
    From a wild weird clime that lieth sublime
    Out of Space �out of Time.� Poe
    The army fell silent as Bran, Cormac and Gonar went toward the stranger who approached in long swinging strides. As they neared him the illusion of monstrous size vanished, but they saw he was a man of great stature. At first Cormac thought him to be a Northman but a second glance told him that nowhere before had he seen such a man. He was built much like the vikings, at once massive and lithe �tigerish. But his features were not as theirs, and his square-cut, lion-like mane of hair was as black as Bran� own. Under heavy brows glittered eyes gray as steel and cold as ice. His bronzed face, strong and inscrutable, was clean-shaven, and the broad forehead betokened a high intelligence, just as the firm jaw and thin lips showed will-power and courage. But more than all, the bearing of him, the unconscious lion-like stateliness, marked him as a natural king, a ruler of men.
    Sandals of curious make were on his feet and he wore a pliant coat of strangely meshed mail which came almost to his knees. A broad belt with a great golden buckle encircled his waist, supporting a long straight sword in a heavy leather scabbard. His hair was confined by a wide, heavy golden band about his head.
    Such was the man who paused before the silent group. He seemed slightly puzzled, slightly amused. Recognition flickered in his eyes. He spoke in a strange archaic Pictish which Cormac scarcely understood. His voice was deep and resonant.
    �a, Brule, Gonar did not tell me I would dream of you!� For the first time in his life Cormac saw the Pictish king completely thrown off his balance. He gaped, speechless. The stranger continued:
    �nd wearing the gem I gave you, in a circlet on your head! Last night you wore it in a ring on your finger.� �ast night?�gasped Bran.
    �ast night or a hundred thousand years ago �all one!�murmured Gonar in evident enjoyment of the situation.
    � am not Brule,�said Bran. �re you mad to thus speak of a man dead a hundred thousand years? He was first of my line.� The stranger laughed unexpectedly. �ell, now I know I am dreaming! This will be a tale to tell Brule when I waken on the morrow! That I went into the future and saw men claiming descent from the Spear-slayer who is, as yet, not even married. No, you are not Brule, I see now, though you have his eyes and his bearing. But he is taller and broader in the shoulders. Yet you have his jewel �oh, well �anything can happen in a dream, so I will not quarrel with you. For a time I thought I had been transported to some other land in my sleep, and was