Read Online The Pendragon's Challenge (The Last Pendragon Saga Book 7) by Sarah Woodbury - Free Book Online

way forward, elbowing the monk in the chest as he crossed the threshold. The man fell back. Since Goronwy’s arm was around Catrin’s waist, she came with him whether the monk liked it or not. Then Goronwy pulled the hood of Catrin’s cloak over her head to hide her hair. “We won’t be but a moment.”
    “N-n-n-no, please, my lord.” The monk was stuttering, shocked to find himself disobeyed. “I cannot allow it! My abbot will punish me—”
    “Then don’t tell him.” Goronwy looked at Taliesin. “We should be about whatever business you have here.”
    Ignoring the monk’s fluttering anxiety, Taliesin marched across the courtyard and straight up to the great double doors of the main church building. Matins, the midnight vigil, had come and gone, and there was nobody else around. Mabon, Goronwy, and Catrin followed, along with the monk, who was still protesting.
    Taliesin stopped on the threshold and allowed the others to pass him. Rather than leave the peacemaking entirely to Goronwy, which might be amusing, he spread his arms wide and filled the doorway, preventing the monk from entering the church after them. “We have business that does not include you. Return to the gatehouse and forget that we were ever here.” It was the voice of Command, one Taliesin did not often use, and barely used in this case, putting only a little force into his words. He’d known in advance that the gatekeeper was suggestible. As he’d told the others, he’d been here before.
    The monk’s eyes glazed for a heartbeat and then cleared. When they did, he was no longer looking at Taliesin. A scuff mark on the frame of the door had caught his eye, and he licked his finger and rubbed at it. Then he turned away, muttering about careless novices.
    Goronwy stepped to Taliesin’s side and watched the monk walk back across the courtyard. “Do I want to know what you did to him?”
    “I gave him a slight nudge in the direction he wanted to go. He didn’t want to wake the abbot and wanted this problem to simply go away—so I encouraged him to think that it had. He is much happier now.” Taliesin closed the door with a gentle thud.
    If Taliesin had been alone, he might have opened and closed the door again, just to appreciate how well made it was and how easily the heavy door swung. Catrin gained her strength, as did most seeresses, from the living creatures that filled the earth. Taliesin, on the other hand, drew his power from the earth itself—from soil and stone. Many druids made a wood or forest their center of worship, but it was equally likely to find them in stone circles and caves. Or it had been until the Romans came and murdered every druid they could find.
    Catrin shook her head. “And some men question why I have not found the Church to be a haven for me.”
    “Taliesin took care of it.” Goronwy took her arm. “Come on.”
    “Where are we going now?” Mabon headed down the nave.
    “Taliesin?” Catrin glanced back.
    “The crypt,” Taliesin said.
    “This way.” Goronwy strode towards the altar, which lay in the exact center of the church, and then through the monks’ choir, where they sat during their services. The steps to the crypt lay at their feet.
    Taliesin meant to follow them, but instead he found his feet frozen to the ground at the sight of so many shades inside the church. Most were floating near the walls, paying no attention to their surroundings, but four or five turned to look at Taliesin. One wore the uniform of a Roman legionnaire, his helmet tucked under his arm. Another was dressed in ragged robes, and Taliesin recognized him as a fellow druid, though not one he knew personally.
    “Blessings, friends,” Taliesin said, though he didn’t say the words out loud. He didn’t need to.
    The druid’s eyes were full of concern. “Have you drunk from the holy well?”
    “I have,” Taliesin said.
    The druid nodded. “Then you may enter. But beware. All is not as it seems.”
    “If I know