The Song in the Silver Read Free

and faded slowly away. William trembled a little. The door was safely bolted and barred so he had no fear the wolves that roamed the higher slopes would get at him, but it was an awful cry. It could almost have been human, a woman screaming unimaginable loss and pain, but it was far too powerful, bestial, and raw. It had to be an animal but an animal he had no desire to meet. He was glad of the four stone walls and the fire that, though it now burned low, still gave flickering light to the room.
    He slept, fitfully at first, clutching Mary’s cross to him, thinking of the love they had shared earlier and how one day he would be the shepherd of his own flock. Then he could ask her father for her hand. With that thought, he drifted deeper into a happy sleep to await the dawn and a new morning.
    He was jarred awake by a frantic knocking at the door. He sat up, not a little disoriented as he realized that he was not in his own bed. He blinked. The fire had died down to a dim red ember, but at least the rain had passed. It was quiet, and only the wind around the stone walls made any noise at all.
    The knocking came again, insistent.
    He stood and walked to the door.
    “Who is it?” he called.
    A soft voice that seemed too quiet to carry through the door at all drifted in, like a wisp of smoke on a breeze but with an icy edge to it, cloaked in seductive femininity.
    “Will you let me in? I was lost in the woods, and I am cold and frightened.”
    “Who are you? Are you hurt?”
    “Please, it’s so cold out here. Will you let me in?”
    “One moment, I’ll unbolt the door,” he replied.
    He wasn’t going to let a poor lost lass spend the night out there. He pulled the bolt and lifted the wooden bar from across the door. A tall, pale woman in a green cloak stood outside.
    “Thank you, kind sir. Please, may I come in and share your fire?”
    “Yes, of course, please do. Come in quickly now, and I’ll put some more peat on the fire. You must be bitterly cold out there,” replied William.
    He held the door to one side to let her in. She stepped past him and stood by the hearth as he put a dry peat turf onto the fire, poking it to get the flames alive again.
    “You are a sweet boy. It’s so easy to get lost out there in the dark.”
    William nodded. She was tall and slim, with black hair that framed her face and fell down the back of her dark green cloak. Her face was pale, almost white, with lips that lacked any color, almost blue, but it was her eyes that captivated him. They were set beneath dark, arching brows and sunk into her face, almost black with no color at all that he could see. They seemed to be endlessly deep, black pools of infinity, and he found it hard to look away. She swayed gently, as if dancing, and he had to concentrate to stay focused on her.
    “Yes, it is a foul night. Warm yourself by the fire and stay here. I have blankets,” he said, his voice slowing and falling into time with the gentle, side-to-side movement of her body. He could not take his eyes from hers.
    “Thank you. It’s so easy to find yourself lost out there in the dark.” Her voice seemed to be coming from inside his own head.
    “Yes...it’s so...easy...lost.”
    “Lost and alone in the dark, so easy to be lost.”
    “Yes...lost...” All he could see were her eyes, endlessly deep and so fascinating.
    “So dark. So alone.”
    “Dark...alone...” The sound of the wind faded from his awareness, and all he heard was her voice.
    “That’s right. All alone now. All alone. And you are mine now, aren’t you?”
    “Alone...yes...yours...”
    Her voice and eyes were beautiful, so wonderful. All he needed to do was to look into her eyes and hear her voice.
    “You don’t have a name, do you? You can remember nothing before me, can you?”
    “I... I am... I... No. No name... Nothing before you.”
    “Good, you are so good and pure and kind. And you want only to taste my kiss, don’t you?”
    “Y-yes...to taste...your