The huts are gone. The green lawn beside the stream holds only an echo of their fallen carcasses. Their fires sleep forever in shadow. Voices whisper only in the wind. Stones line the way, guiding reluctant feet towards the hidden valley and the stark, skeletal rowans of winter. The land wears an ancient garment of bronze and the wind howls.

I see you.
I called, and you have come. The time is now.
I know you fear what you will find and the veils you will part.
I see it in your eyes… in your footsteps… in the tilt of your head.
Wind in hair the colour of faded bracken, beside you he who sees the world with the eyes of the heart, while you see with eyes aflame.
I know your name… though you do not. Not yet.
Not yet, little sister.
Names matter. They contain the power of bringing into being; the power of making.
Mine was never spoken, after my choosing. And after the flames only one remained to hold it safe; he could not speak it, his voice ever given to the gods except in service. We never spoke, never whiled away the winter darkness…our voices touched only to serve the seeing. Yet he saw me as clearly as I see you now, a mirror of destiny across the bridge of time. Empty vessels of the gods.

Yes, closer still… Come. It is all in the finding.
Even though you do not understand what it is you seek here. Not yet.
That will come.
Yes. Here they laid my bones, clean and white, marked with earth, laid under earth, not given to the flames. That was their gift to me… to those who went before. Those whose soul’s gift I carried. They laid me under earth and under stone, beside the cool waters in the quiet place. He waited in silence until his ending, an ending of his willing. My name on his lips at the last.
Listen. You can hear it still, whispered on the wind.

Listen.
Listen to the wind in the trees.
To the flight of birds and the song of stones;
to the call of the goat and the laughing waters;
to the whisper of leaves and the tales of starlight
in the cavern of night bound by the ribbon of the gods;
and to the waves of the shore my eyes saw only in the dreaming.
Learn to hear…listen to learn.
You will find the white stone.
When you need help, ask…
You know my name.
When you can hear it,
when you catch his echo in the heather,
whisper it to the winds…
set it free.

As we prepare to relese the second book in the Doomsday Series: Dark Sage, a Kindle Countdown price promotion will be running from 17th August to 21st October on Amazon UK and Amazon.com forBook One of the Doomsday Triad:

Doomsday:

The Ætheling Thing

Stuart France & Sue Vincent

“Who was this Arviragus bloke anyway?”

Don studies the light as it plays through his beer, casting prisms on the table. How is it possible to hide such a story… the hidden history of Christianity in Britain? Oh, there are legends of course… old tales… Yet what if there was truth in them? What was it that gave these blessed isles such a special place in the minds of our forefathers? There are some things you are not taught in Sunday School. From the stone circles of the north to the Isle of Avalon, Don and Wen follow the breadcrumbs of history and forgotten lore to uncover a secret veiled in plain sight.

Full colour illustrated

Also available in Paperback.

Kindle Countdown Deals start at the lowest possible price and rise which rises in increments for the duration of the promotion until they reach the normal sales price. This is a limited time offer and the book will display a counter with the current offer price and time remaining for that price.

Did you know? You can download a free Kindle app for PC, Mac, android and other platforms that allows you to read the books available, even if you do not own a Kindle.. and there are thousands of books to choose from, including many classics, and hard-to-find volumes! With a huge catalogue of free, discounted and rare books to choose from it is a treasure trove for bookworms. You can download the free Kindle reading app for your device here in the UK, or here in the US.

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