Free The Children of Urdis (Grimwold and Lethos Book 2) by Jerry Autieri Page B

name and hoping the goddess still had a purpose for his life. He felt himself buffeted forward with the wind, and soon he was headed toward a spot of light in the cloud of dust. His eyes watered, and something heavy hit his right shoulder as he burst out of the forest. He chanced a glance behind, and looming overhead were swirling black clouds that seemed to extend down into the trees. He tried to stand against the wind but it was forcing him back.
    He was on the cliffs overlooking Tsaldalr. Below, water swirled foamy against the sheer red-tinged cliffs. Behind, the howl of the wind forced Syrus toward the edge. Was it the guidance of Fieyar? Should he jump and risk drowning or being smashed on the rocks? He stumbled against the wind, and the twisting cloud, while still distant, now turned toward him. Trees flew up and disappeared into the dirty mass with wooden groans.
    Syrus looked over the edge. The water appeared deep enough. He didn't know how to swim. But he preferred drowning to being battered into pulp.
    He jumped, his stomach rising to his throat as he plunged over the side of the cliff.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TEN
     
    Valda stood atop the highest tower of Norddalr and stared out across the mountains to the flat gray sea. The day was as lonely and cold as any autumn could be, and the mountain peaks enfolding her castle home were already covered in snow. She wondered where her brother Thorgis had gone in the company of the strange warrior priest with the shaved head. Even as the oldest daughter of the High King, she knew little about the world of men and their deeds of glory. Her father had sheltered her and her sisters as if they were no better than delicate flowers. Yet her mother was descended from the blood of fierce warriors, and had she not carried a sword beside her father once? During the war of the trolls a year ago, Valda had been made to hide behind her brother, even though she was as capable of holding a weapon as he was. Maybe even more capable.
    The wind tore at her green dress and tousled her long, blond hair as she leaned against the cold stone. She did not like this castle, preferring the cozy wood walls of her childhood hall. This place was built by strange hands, not the work of her people. Her father seemed comforted to be in this place at last. Her mother, Siffred, would not share her opinion, but Valda knew she disliked it as well. It was cold and echoing, like a tomb. Not a tomb for herself, but the tomb of something older and forgotten. Her father had told them one day they would make this hidden fortress the seat of their power, and he had always seemed to have a distant gleam in his eye when he spoke of it. As a girl she had dreamed of living here, but now the reality was so much different.
    In the yards below, the High King's guard practiced their martial skills, swords thudding on shields or clanging together in their mock battles. Craftsmen moved among them on their various duties, and laborers moved carts of hay through the yards. Beyond all that, the blacksmiths at their forges hammered out weapons and armor while expelling black smoke into the wind. Valda absently touched the dagger sheathed in plain leather at her hip, a sign of authority she was proud to display. One of those blacksmiths had forged it for her on her seventeenth birthday, and presented it with his cheeks flushed red. She had been told she was as beautiful as her mother, which was impossible, as no woman approached the beauty of Siffred. Yet all her looks availed her nothing when her days were spent confined to a mountain castle.
    The height of this particular tower had always fascinated her, but the surrounding mountains limited the view to slivers of ocean. So while she enjoyed the time away from her chattering sisters--who did not share her appreciation for heights and therefore never explored the towers--she quickly tired of the venue. With a strong wind dropping the