Now, stand the stones!Nantosuelta called out.
He drew his winds tighter around them and strengthened them. When they were so strong they could not be resisted, they moved around the ring, pushing the stones upright and into their places. Before dissipating, Soren pulled Ran to him inside the winds.
“No matter what happens, Ran. Know that I love you,” he whispered to her.
“And I you,” Ran whispered back, kissing him as though it was their last time.
Though they’d never spoken it, they both knew that they would destroy the circle and themselves before opening it for evil to enter.
No matter the cost,she and the goddess whispered.
Soren let the winds go and brought them down to the beginning of the path leading out into the lake where the twin stones stood marking it. All of it had been right there—marked by the upright stone and its twin that pointed right out to it.
Ran glanced over and commanded the waters to stay away. Then they waited for Hugh to bring Ander to them. He must enter the circle first to begin the ceremony.
As he watched his friend approach, he knew something was very wrong. Ander did not feel right to him. Confusion poured out of him and his gaze darted quickly from one to the other, to Hugh, to the rings, to Svein.
“Do we begin?” he asked in a voice that did not sound like his own. It was familiar but Soren could not identify it.
“Aye, Ander,” Soren said, holding out his arm. “Let me guide you.” But Lord Hugh stepped forward first, placing his arm on Ander’s shoulder.
“Are you ready, Father?” he asked the priest. “Are you strong enough to carry out the task?”
The words had a strange sound to them and Soren realized he was using his power to control people by pushing his thoughts into their minds. Taking over their wills.
“Aye,” Ander said, now in his own voice.
“Very well,” de Gifford said, releasing him. “Seek out the inner stones and the altar and begin the ritual.” Soren watched his friend walk along the path slowly, turning this way and that, staring into the circle and then to the sky . . . or the heavens, mayhap. When he reached the first of the rings, he touched the nearest stone before entering.
Soren took Ran’s hand and they walked side by side down the path leading into the lake. Glancing back, he saw that de Gifford now held Svein before him, a dagger at his throat.
“Ran Waterblood!” he called out.
Though Soren knew the threat that was coming, he had to look back with her.
“This will be your father’s fate if you think to betray me.” Two of the soldiers near the wagon lifted out a blanket-wrapped form and tossed it free.
Marcus’ dead body lay at the foot of the twin stones. When Ran screamed and tried to run to her father, de Gifford met his gaze and nodded. Soren nodded and pulled her once more toward the ring in the lake. Suddenly another scream filled the air. As they watched, the torches flared around the area until Brienne materialized before her father.
“What have you done?” she screamed, taking her human form and running to Marcus’ body.
“He tried to meddle in my plans,” Hugh said. “He knew the price.”
When Brienne turned to fire and began to attack Hugh, her father simply moved Svein before him and smiled. Unable and unwilling to kill an innocent, Brienne stood waiting—most likely for her chance to save Svein or stop her father.
Hugh’s men began pointing in the distance and shouting.
He’d seen the Warblood rise to take his form in practice, but nothing he’d seen prepared Soren to see this. He understood why Hugh’s soldiers began fleeing.
Almost as tall as the stones of Stenness at his back, the Warblood stood now as a blue-skinned berserker of legend. His eyes glowed red as he moved with a lethal grace across the path to the twin stones. The ground shook with each step he took. Soren blinked several times, still not believing the sight of him. One of his massive arms was now a sword that no man could carry and the other was a war hammer worthy of Thor Odinson himself. The scream the Warblood released made even his own blood curdle at the sound.
“Harm her and I will destroy you, Fireblood!”
“We seem to be at a stalemate for now,” de Gifford answered. “But when the gate is opened, you will pay for your choosing to resist me.”
“Soren! Ran! Do not help him!” Brienne screamed out.
“We have a bargain, Stormblood. Waterblood, you sealed ours with your water,” de Gifford called out. “Go now! Chaela awaits.”
