Children of Avalon Page 27

  “Well then, how to you propose we get it?” he retorted.

  “This way,” I said, taking Bridget’s other hand. “All together.”

  And then with my free hand, I, too, reached toward the cup. As soon as my fingers touched it, the branches began to loosen their grip.

  My fingers intertwined with Dylan’s as we wrapped them around the chalice. My eyes met his. Warmth flowed through me, engulfing me as surely as if I had sunk into a bath of joy and happiness.

  A small smile played on his lips as he looked at me. His hair stirred with the warm breeze of the good feelings I was sending to him.

  We were sharing something very special, very...intimate.

  In a flash of shyness, I turned toward Bridget and pulled her into our warmth. “This is the way it should be. With the three of us. Together.”

  Bridget’s brilliant smile burst onto her face with all of her fire sparking from her eyes. “Absolutely. It takes all three of us,” she said, turning to Dylan and even sharing her smile with him.

  He nodded his head in acknowledgment. “Yes, the three of us, together.”

  And when I turned back to look at the chalice again, it was Dylan, Bridget, and I who were holding it. The branches had completely fallen away.

  I followed Dylan back to the beach as he climbed through the branches, holding the chalice triumphantly.

  Sir Dagonet jumped up from where he was sitting in the sand. “You did it! You got it!”

  Dylan stopped. With a broad grin on his face, he turned to Bridget, “No, sir. We got it. It took all of us.” He handed the chalice to Bridget. “Not one of us could have done it alone, right, Bridget?”

  Her eyes flashed with fire as she took the cup from his hands and her mouth fell open a little in wonder. I could hardly believe my strong, brave, and bold sister was awed by this cup. But then a slow smile grew on Bridget’s face, and she turned back to Dylan. “That’s right. It needed the three of us.”

  “Not like taking on three knights at once, eh? Anyone can do that, wot?” Sir Dagonet said, hovering close to the chalice.

  The warm glow that had been wafting through me intensified. I smiled at Dylan, who gave a little laugh. “Well, I don’t know that just anyone could take on three knights as you do, sir. Not everyone is so strong or brave.”

  “Or stupid,” Sir Dagonet added, laughing. He turned back to Bridget. “Mind?” he asked, indicating the cup.

  “What? Oh, yes, go right ahead.” Bridget handed it over.

  “Huh, not quite as impress...” and there he stopped, his eyes widening as he looked at the cup in his hands. He handed it right back to me and began to shake out his hands as if he had been holding onto something too hot.

  We all looked at him, laughing.

  He joined in after a moment saying, “Fingers tingling, don’t you know?”

  “It is powerful, isn’t it?” Bridget said, rubbing her own hands together.

  “So what do we do now?” I asked, voicing the one nagging little thought that had been plaguing me ever since we’d come out from the trees.

  “What do you do now?” Sir Dagonet repeated in shocked tones. “What do you mean?”

  I got the distinct feeling that he didn’t know either, which was why he was just repeating my question back to me. I smiled, holding back my laughter.

  “We’re supposed to kill Lady Nimuë, isn’t that right, sir? This will give us the power to do so,” Dylan said.

  “What? I’m not going to kill anyone!” Bridget burst out.

  “But Bridget...” Dylan began.

  Bridget turned on him. “I am a healer, Dylan. I do not kill.”

  “Not even someone like Lady Nimuë who would kill you in a heartbeat? Who, in fact, just tried to do that not a quarter of an hour ago?”

  She turned away from him and took a step closer to the water. “I just want to go home,” she said, so quietly that I almost didn’t hear her above the sound of the waves and the wind that had picked up.

  Was the wind because of me? I didn’t think I’d done anything. I looked up at the sky and then out toward the sea. The others did the same.

  But Bridget repeated herself, just a little more loudly. “I want to go home.”

  “Home,” a voice repeated. It was a soft, gentle voice that came in on the wind.

  “What was that?” Dylan asked, looking around. “Did you hear...”

  “It was the wind,” I said. That was what it sounded like to me.

  “But it said home,” Bridget said.

  The wind whipped a little harder, but it wasn’t an ordinary cold autumn wind. It was a warm breeze, filled with sweet scents of ripe fruit trees and grain freshly harvested.

  “Come home, my children. Come home.”

  Another gust of wind suddenly came up from behind us, almost pushing us into the water that lapped out toward us, touching our toes with its icy fingers before receding once again. It was as if it was calling to us. Drawing us in.

  Bridget looked toward me, curiosity covering her face. She wasn’t scared, but rather concerned, as anyone would be who heard voices in the wind. Oddly enough, though, what would have terrified me just a few months ago only intrigued me now. Magic and anything related to it had become a part of my life, a part of me, and I accepted it—even when I didn’t completely understand it.

  “Well, I suppose that’s what we ought to do, then, wot?” Sir Dagonet said with his usual cheerfulness.

  “What?”

  “You heard her. She wants you to go home,” he said, nodding out to the sea.

  “See, I told you, we should go back to Gloucester,” Bridget said, brightening right up.

  Dylan laughed. “I don’t think that she meant that home, Bridget.”

  She frowned for a moment. “Then what home do you think?”

  “Avalon,” I answered for him. “That was Lady Morgan’s voice. I remember it from my dream. She wants us to go to Avalon.”

  There was silence for a moment as we all looked out to sea and toward the island that lay through the mist, just out of sight.

  Sir Dagonet started, “Right! Going to Avalon, for which we’ll need a boat, don’t you know?” He strode over to his horse as if everything was settled and we knew just what to do and where to go.

  I had no idea where we could get a boat, and I didn’t know whether Bridget would willingly travel on. She seemed to be pretty homesick. But neither Dylan nor I said anything. We all just followed Sir Dagonet.

  Dylan took the chalice from me and wrapped it safely among the clothes in his bag before mounting his own horse.

  We rode the rest of the day, following the beach south, then east around the inlet, then once again to the west following the land around the water. As usual, Bridget and I rode together.

  “Don’t you want to go home, Scai?” Bridget asked me quietly as we were riding.

  I didn’t know. I wasn’t even certain where home was any more. “I don’t know, Bridget. I don’t know if Tallent is my home or if Gloucester is. I miss Father Llewellyn and Aron very much. I would love to go there to see them again,” I said, thinking aloud.

  “I didn’t mean that. I meant home to Gloucester. That is where our family lives,” Bridget said.

  “Our family?” I turned and gave my sister a smile. “Right now you are my family. I was very happy to meet my brothers, but I don’t know that they are the family I was searching for. You, Dylan, and Sir Dagonet are my true family.”

  “Wot? Wot?” Sir Dagonet said, hearing his name being spoken.

  I turned to him as he rode up next to me. “I was just saying to Bridget that you, she, and Dylan are my family now.”

  “Oh!” He smiled at that thought. “Like a father to you, am I? Well, I am honored, honored, I say, wot?”

  I laughed. “Well, I was thinking more along the lines of a grandfather, but yes, something like that, sir.”

  We all laughed at that, Sir Dagonet the loudest.

  “Bridget is truly your
sister,” Sir Dagonet said, “and Dylan is like a brother, eh?”

  My face became warm. I didn’t think of Dylan like a brother. Not at all like a brother!

  Bridget must have seen me, for she burst out laughing again. “I don’t know that Scai thinks of Dylan in that way, sir.”

  “Oh?” He looked over at me and then at Dylan. He, too, had turned surprisingly red. “Er, no I don’t suppose you do, wot?”

  I was blushing furiously now, I could feel it. But I knew that Dylan and I shared something special. Even though we couldn’t act upon it just now, there would be a time when we would.

  Dylan cleared his throat awkwardly but gave me a smile I felt right down to my toes. “However it is, I’m also proud to be a part of your family, Scai.”

  “Thank you,” I said, nodding my head in acknowledgment.

  “You’ve been searching for your family for a long time,” he said. “I’m glad you finally feel as if you’ve found it.”

  I turned to him and returned his smile. “I have.” I then looked over at Sir Dagonet and back to Bridget. “I truly have. I suppose I needed to find my real family in order to realize that one didn’t need to be related by blood to be true family.”

  “I have a true family, I always have,” Bridget said. “And I miss them terribly, but I think I know how you feel. Even if it means gaining another brother,” she added, looking over at Dylan.

  He just laughed and reached out his hand to grab hers. “Well, I’ve never had a sister, but judging from the way I get along with you...well, I have a feeling it’s not going to be easy.”

  He said this with such a warm smile on his face that Bridget didn’t take any offense to it at all. In fact, she laughed and said, “Oh, you should talk to my real brothers. They’ll tell you—with no hesitations—how difficult I am.”

  “I’m certain they would!” Dylan laughed.

  Sir Dagonet just shook his head and chuckled.

  The cool air caressed my skin as we rode on, reminding me of all the wonderful things and people that now made up my life—Bridget and Sir Dagonet, my magic, and, of course, Dylan, whom I was certain would continue to make my life much more interesting and exciting. Yes, I realized with a start, now I was whole. I had my family, we had the chalice, and we were going home—to Avalon.

  It was late into the night when we reached the inn of the little fishing village on the sea.

  “This is it,” Sir Dagonet said, dismounting stiffly. “We’ll get some rest and then, first thing in the morning, we’ll find a boat for hire.”

  “And go to Avalon?” Bridget asked.

  “Yes. Then you’ll get to meet Lady Morgan in the flesh.” He paused and stared off into the sea for a moment. “A wonderful lady she is. Truly a wonderful lady, wot?” he said, obviously picturing her in his mind.

  “I look forward to meeting her,” I said, putting my hand into his large warm one.

  Dylan took my other hand, then Bridget’s. “So do we all.”

  “And we’ll do so together,” Bridget added.

  “Just as we will meet Lady Nimuë, all together,” Dylan added.

  That was something I was not looking forward to, but it was inevitable, I supposed. But as long as I had my family around me, I would be able to face anything.

  Next in the

  Children of Avalon Trilogy

  Coming out April 16th, 2014

  Water: Excalibur’s Return

  Dylan has never been good enough. Neither his foster-brother nor his father have ever thought so. But now, finally, Dylan has a chance to demonstrate what he can do in the most difficult of situations. Dylan is the only descendent of the great Merlin and a member of a magical race known as the Vallen. One of the Children of Avalon, he knows he is strong enough to defeat Lady Nimuë. But when Dylan thinks he can take her on on his own, he is quickly shown otherwise.

  When not even the love of a beautiful and powerful woman is enough, what will it take for Dylan to prove that he is worthy of taking on the greatest threat Britain has ever faced?

  Coming out May 12th, 2014

  Fire: Nimuë’s Destiny

  Bridget isn’t sure she has what it takes to be a leader, but she’s about to find out. The witch hunts are getting worse by the day. But when Lady Nimuë kidnaps Bridget’s own family things get personal. Only Bridget, the brilliant Scai and powerful Dylan—the prophesied Children of Avalon—have the power to defeat Lady Nimuë. The question is, does Bridget have the strength of will to lead them through to the end?

  When Scai’s childhood friend, Aron the blacksmith, joins their group, Bridget is suddenly faced with a new challenge—this one from her heart. Will her love for Aron get in the way of defeating Nimuë, or will it give her the confidence she’ll need?

  About the Author

  Meredith Bond is an award–winning author of a series of traditionally published Regency romances and indie–published paranormal romances. Known for her characters “who slip readily into one’s heart”, Meredith’s heart belongs to her husband and two children. Her paranormal romances include Magic In The Storm, Storm on the Horizon, and the short story “In A Beginning”. Her traditional Regencies include The Merry Men Quartet of which An Exotic Heir and A Dandy In Disguise have recently been republished. Meredith teaches writing at her local community college. If you want a taste of her class in book form, Chapter One is available at your favorite e–retailer.

  Want to know more? Come visit Meredith at her website, www.meredithbond.com or chat with her on Facebook at “Meredithbondauthor” or Twitter @merrybond. If you’d like to be one of the first to know of Meredith’s new releases and get a free vignette four times a year sign up for Meredith’s newsletter.

  If you enjoyed Air please write a review, lend it, and recommend it to a friend.

  Dylan has never been good enough.

  Neither his foster-brother nor his father have ever thought so. But now, finally, Dylan has a chance to demonstrate what he can do in the most difficult of situations. Dylan is the only descendent of the great Merlin and a member of a magical race known as the Vallen. One of the Children of Avalon, he knows he is strong enough to defeat Lady Nimuë. But when Dylan thinks he can take her on on his own, he is quickly shown otherwise.

  When not even the love of a beautiful and powerful woman is enough, what will it take for Dylan to prove that he is worthy of taking on the greatest threat Britain has ever faced?

  Water: Excalibur's Return

  Meredith Bond

  Copyright 2014 by Meredith Bond. Smashwords edition. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover art by Nina Banerji

  Editing by Alicia Street at iproofreadandmore.com

  Formatting by Anessa Books

  Chapter 1

  What does one do when confronted by a dragon?

  I did the only thing I could think of—I drew my sword and prepared for a battle. Thank goodness I had Sir Dagonet close by. Scai, and Bridget, amazingly fearless girls, would probably join in the fray using whatever they had at hand as well.

  It had all started when a bird flew out of Sir Dagonet’s bag.

  “What, wot?” the old knight had exclaimed, startled, when, as we were approaching the seashore looking for the boat that would take us to the magical isle of Avalon, there was a rustling within his bag. That was when the bird had flown out. “Where did that come from?”

  Scai laughed. “What are you keeping in your bag, sir?”

  “Nothing that I know of!”

  “Maybe it somehow climbed in during the night?” Bridget suggested.


  “I would have seen it this morning,” Sir Dagonet said bemusedly, stopping to see if there was anything else that wasn’t supposed to be there.

  He pulled out a red book with a beautiful tooled leather cover. He seemed at a loss as to where to put it for the moment, but seeing Scai’s interested gaze, he handed it to her before rummaging around in his bag to see if there was anything else odd inside of it.

  “What a beautiful book, sir!” Scai said, caressing it as if it were an animal to be pet.

  “It is lovely, sir...” I began, but Scai’s yelp of surprise stopped the words on my lips.

  She dropped the book as a rabbit hopped out from between the covers.

  “Sir Dagonet, where did you get that book?” I asked, placing my hand on the hilt of my sword. This did not feel right.

  “From the innkeeper,” the old knight said. He dropped his bag on the ground as if it was alive.

  Why would an innkeeper even have a book, let alone give it to Sir Dagonet? Before I could voice my concerns, a unicorn appeared, delicately stepping from the pages of the book now lying on the ground. The rabbit hopped away, as we all stepped back.

  Scai stupidly took a step toward the unicorn, a trembling hand stretched toward it.

  “Scai, no!” I whispered fiercely, not wanting to scare the animal. I had to stop myself from jumping in front of her. I knew better than to frighten an already skittish animal like a unicorn, and I knew Scai wouldn’t appreciate my heroics either.

  Scai paused. “Aren’t unicorns supposed to be friendly?”

  “Er, to maidens, yes,” Sir Dagonet replied with hesitation. “But I don’t like the look in that one’s eyes. Not too friendly, wot?”

  Scai caught my eye, her face turning crimson. No one knew that Scai was no longer a maid—at least I didn’t think so. I knew because I was the one responsible for her current state, even though we had since decided to keep our relationship limited to friendship for the time being.