Read Online Children of Prophecy by Glynn Stewart - Free Book Online

hawk resting on the perch. “All right, Tal,” he said calmly. “Shift back now.”
    Tal flew down to the floor and concentrated. He Shifted back into himself and stood up. “From what he was saying, it sounds like something major is going on in Kahir,” he said quietly.
    Car nodded. “And it doesn’t sound good,” the old Hawk admitted. “We’re going to be leaving in morning, flying south.”
    “Flying?”
    “Yes,” Car said flatly. “Only pack what you can carry on you. However,” Car raised a finger, “be certain you bring your sword and your formal robes.”
    Tal felt his eyes widen. “You think it’s going to get messy?” he asked. Formal robes were worn to special occasions, Judgments and combat.
    “At the very least, we’re going to Judging some poor bastard. Bring the robes,” he ordered.
    Tal bowed. “Yes, Father.”
     
     
    Tal stood in darkness. He looked around, but could find nothing. Unlike some of his other dreams, he seemed to have a body, but he wasn’t sure it was his. He stood on something, but there was only nothing around him.
    “Where am I?” he demanded.
    As if in answer, a light appeared in front of him and he found himself dragged into it.
    He was on the street of a city. Behind him, he heard a crashing noise and turned to watch an immense tower crumple to the ground, lit with flame. As he stared in horror, the streets suddenly filled. The people didn’t come from anywhere, they’d been there before – and yet not been there.
    Those people were screaming and running, as creatures came boiling down the street, ripping apart those they reached. In gaps in the Swarm walked men in robes of a constantly shifting purple. When a group of children tried to hide in an alley, one of them gestured with a staff and a group of Swarmbeasts charged in after them.
    Tal felt himself stride towards the swarm, which split before him. The Swarmmasters sank to their knees when they saw him. “Lord, the battle goes well,” one of them reported.
    “I know,” Tal said harshly, the voice coming from his lips as cold and as pitiless as steel. “These mean nothing.” A wave of his arm took in the running innocents. “Come with me.”
    He turned away and the Swarmmasters and their ‘beasts followed him, leaving their prey at his command. As they traveled, more Swarm gathered around them, until they reached another street, this one seemingly empty.
    It wasn’t empty for long. Even as the Swarm moved onto the street, a formation of silver-armored Kingsmen appeared on it, marched around a corner and down the street, guarding a small group of robed figures.
    Tal’s body bowed mockingly to the lead figure. “Greetings, Wolf Lady,” he told her. “I’m afraid your Black Lord can no longer save you.”
    The woman stepped forward and drew back the hood of her robes. Long red curls framed a face that made every other girl Tal had ever seen seem like a crone.
    “So it comes to this, Accursed One,” she replied with a toss of her. “I will never yield to you.”
    Tal felt a mocking inclination of his head. “I’m afraid you’re wrong , milady,” he said coldly. “You will yield to me and be mine.”
    She laughed. With the great city burning around her ears and faced with evil-made-flesh, she laughed. “ Never , Accursed One,” she snarled, gesturing forward the Kingsmen and Battlemagi with her. “We will die before we yield!”
    “So be it.” Tal felt the shift before it happened, an arm snapping up. No fire blazed from it, but a lance of pure chaos.
    The Battlemagi threw up a shield, but the lance cut through it like paper. It blasted into the lady and destroyed that beautiful face forever.
     
     
    Tal woke, panting with the effort of not screaming his fear to the world. He slowly controlled his breathing, using the focus exercises he’d learned over the years of dealing with the dreams. This one was different somehow. Who was she? That woman… she was beautiful… He sighed and