Free The Pendragon's Challenge (The Last Pendragon Saga Book 7) by Sarah Woodbury Page A

stopped. Cade ordered everyone to dismount on the near side of the bridge, and Rhiann and Angharad threw their arms around each other.
    Angharad’s mane of red curls had come loose from its bindings and formed a halo around her head. “Is this Mabon’s doing?” She pressed down on her hair, trying to tame the loose strands.
    Rhiann wanted to reassure her friend but couldn’t find the words. “I don’t know. I don’t think anyone does.”
    But Angharad’s attention had been drawn to the top of the mountain. Rhiann turned to look with her to where the castle loomed above them.
    Or used to.
    The familiar battlements had vanished, to be replaced by a pall of smoke that was visible against the risen moon and stars. Cade reached for Rhiann’s hand, and as he held it, she realized that her skin was as cold as his. By then, everyone was looking up, and such was the discipline of Cade’s men that nobody panicked, though a few scattered curses rebounded among them.
    “We could have been inside that,” Rhiann said, putting into words what many were thinking. She glanced at her husband. “Taliesin’s prescience saved us.”
    “It was actually Catrin’s,” Cade said.
    One of Cade’s men, Aron, an older fellow with a thick, mostly gray beard approached. “What about those who remained behind? We should return to help them.”
    “I fear for them as much as you, Aron. But I can tell you right now that I cannot return to the mountain top. Can’t you see that I, at least, am not wanted?”
    “Cade—” Rhiann started to protest, but he spoke over her.
    “It has become clear to me, if it wasn’t already, that my task lies elsewhere. We will roust the village—those who aren’t already awake—and send to the top of the mountain all who are able to help.” He clapped a hand on Aron’s shoulder. “Choose ten of our men to assist you.”
    Aron swallowed hard. “Yes, my lord. What about you? Will you still ride to Caer Fawr as you planned?”
    “Caer Fawr holds no answers for me this night.” Cade swung around to look north. Then he lifted his chin so his voice would carry to all the men. “We ride to Chester.”
    Dafydd’s brows drew together, but he didn’t argue. None of the men did, so it was left to Rhiann to ask what they were all thinking, though she spoke softly so only her husband could hear her. “Is that wise, Cade? We would be escaping one danger only to embroil ourselves in another.”
    Cade put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Earlier I spoke of Chester as the lion’s den. Now I’m wondering if it wasn’t Peada who walked into it instead. Perhaps I should be thanking the Mercians instead of cursing them.”
    Rhiann wrapped her arms around her husband’s waist. “How could this happen? What made the mountain shake so?”
    “I have spoken to you of the darkness there. I fear the sidhe are continuing to meddle in our affairs, regardless of what Arianrhod said to Taliesin.”
    Rhiann nodded. If it was the darkness that had awakened, the message it was sending was clear: don’t come back.
     

Chapter Nine
    Catrin
     
    A s the ground shook and shook, the hair on the back of Catrin’s neck stood straight up, and the chill running down her spine wasn’t just from the cold air that had pooled in the tunnel. She had hesitated so long in the doorway before starting after Taliesin that he and Mabon had gotten quite far ahead before she found the courage to put one foot in front of the other. Up ahead in the darkness, the sound of laughter came, cut off a moment later.
    “That sounded like Mabon,” Goronwy said.
    As the shaking abated, Catrin picked up the pace, only barely keeping the light of Taliesin’s staff in sight. She had stopped trying to pull her hand from Goronwy’s, because it only made him hold on tighter. Back at Dinas Bran, she had meant to walk away from him, only to find him asking to come on the journey too. While on one hand, she had no interest in leaving his side,