Read Online Souls of Aredyrah 3 - The Taking of the Dawn by Tracy A. Akers - Free Book Online Page A

hint of humor played on Haskel’s face, then
he cleared his throat again. “No, I s’pose not.”
    “Then why is it so wrong for me to love
Falyn?”
    “It isn’t wrong, it’s just—dangerous.”
    “I’d risk anything for her.”
    “Even her life?”
    “Her life ?” Dayn said with alarm.
    “If she’s caught with ye, she’ll be more than
disciplined. Ye heard what her father said about purgin’ his
children’s souls.”
    “You heard that?”
    “Aye. And Lorcan takes his children’s souls
very seriously. From the look of the injuries on his son’s back,
I’d say Sheireadan’s soul was Lorcan’s primary concern tonight. No
father should do what Lorcan does, and no son should have to endure
it.”
    It occurred to Dayn that although Haskel had
not, in Dayn’s mind, been the best of fathers, at least he had
never had a reputation for violence. If anything, he had only tried
to protect Eyan from people like Lorcan and the members of the
Vestry.
    “Uncle?”
    Haskel gave another grunt.
    “What I said to you about Father, I’m
sorry.”
    Haskel’s expression relaxed somewhat, but his
tone remained stiff. “I’m sorry, too.”
    “Did you try to enter the cave? I mean—”
    “Aye. But a landslide had blocked the path,
and we could go no further. I feel certain that’s where your father
met his fate.”
    Tears stung Dayn’s eyes as he realized it was
his own fault that his father was dead. Gorman would never have
gone back to the cave if Dayn had not run away and entered it.
    “You and your sister’ll have time to grieve,”
Haskel said in response to Dayn’s obvious anxiety, “but right now
your mother needs your courage.”
    Dayn swallowed thickly. “She’s grave ill,
isn’t she?”
    “Aye.”
    “Am I the cause of it?”
    “Aye.” He glanced at Dayn. “And no.”
    Dayn remained silent, sorting through his
remorse.
    “You and your sister are back now. There’s no
better medicine for her than that. But soon there’ll be more
pressin’ issues to deal with.”
    Dayn did not have to ask what his uncle
meant. Memories of spell-work done at his parents’ house, and his
own recent altercation with Lorcan, made the meaning clear. “What
are we to do?” he asked.
    “We must call a gatherin’ of the clans.
Lorcan’ll not let this go. He’s the one that started the crusade
against you and your parents to begin with. The anger of the
mountain gave him more leverage. Now that he knows ye’ve
returned…well…let’s just say he wasn’t bluffin’ when he said the
clans’ll be hearin’ from the Vestry.”
    “But what can the Vestry do?”
    “They can demand we turn ye over for
trial.”
    Dayn reined his horse to a halt. “Trial? For
what?”
    Haskel stopped in response. “Demon craft.
Taintin’ wells. Fire on the mountain. Take your pick.”
    “There are no demons, so how can I be one?”
Dayn cried.
    “Of course there are demons. The Word tells
us so.”
    “No uncle. I know the truth of it. I do.”
    “You’d best watch your words, boy.
Blasphemy’ll not endear ye to the clans or the Vestry.”
    Dayn inched his horse to Haskel’s side. “I
swear, it’s not blasphemy. Alicine and I went to the other side of
the mountains, to a place called Tearia. There are people there.
And they’re not demons.”
    Haskel’s mouth twitched, but he said
nothing.
    “The Word says that pale-haired demons
survived after the Purge,” Dayn continued, “and roamed the
mountains as a message to us. But it was pale-haired people that
roamed the mountains, not demons. They were Tearian guards, sent to
keep the Kiradyns on their side of the mountain, even if it meant
killing them. Before the Purge, Tearians and Kiradyns were friends,
and visited back and forth, but when the mountain sent the fire,
the Tearians blamed the Kiradyns, so they stopped them from
crossing over.”
    “Enough,” Haskel warned. “To speak such
things is to declare the Word a lie, and believe me, the punishment
for that