Veneficus: Stones of the Chosen Read Free

stood a stockaded compound with a pair of tall, intricately woven willow gates.
    They had reached their destination. This had to be the home of Merlin.
    All gods, no matter how big and important their domains, reported to Zeus, who became leader and king of the gods, father of the Olympians, sky and weather, hospitality, rights of guests and supplicants, sending of omens, punishment of injustice, and governance of the universe. Governance of the universe. That covers pretty much everything a god could want. The ancients liked to have a god in place for everything. An immortal omnipotent in the Presidium of Mount Olympus who would oversee the fates, rules, and spheres of each domain. Among the nine principal gods and goddesses, Tiresias, the Seer of Thebes, was the god of the Domain of the Cowering Dead. He is the god responsible for a great deal of the trouble herein.
Chapter Two
    The two most remarkable things about Merlin were his great height and deep emerald eyes. Bareheaded and straight, despite his advanced years, and tall enough to see clearly over the back of an eighteen-hands horse, the mighty wizard paced and fretted around his compound, stroking his silver-streaked black beard and twining and untwining the thick, shoulder-length mane of similarly colored hair that adorned his great head. The piercing, emerald green eyes flashed and squinted in frustration from beneath thick brows above a large, aquiline nose set in a lined, careworn face. He had known for a long time that someone special was coming to him, someone with embryonic gifts and powers as rare as his own, and someone whose destiny would eventually be that of his successor. He also knew that this person was young and would not yet understand these powers and that there was a great deal to be done by way of teaching, revelation, and enlightenment.
    And that he had less than seven short years left in which to accomplish the task.
    But that was all he knew. The specifics had been denied him. He had posted his conspicuous apparitions around the various routes to his compound, called fervently and often on the Three Fates that control the birth, life, and death of all beings - Clotho, the holder of the distaff of birth; Lachesis, who spins the thread of life; and Atropos, who severs the thread of life - and waited.
    Using all of his many voices Merlin once again paced his compound imploring Lachesis to protect the special one from Atropos until safely in his care.
    “Lachesis I need you to spin, spin, and spin
    Then spin again your threads, begin again your spin,
    Keep Atropos from severing the light from within.
    Lachesis, my wish is that you spin, spin, and spin
    In golden weft threads spin, spin, and spin,
    In warp threads of silver bring my fellow in,
    Then spin again your magic, spin again your spin
    Keep Atropos from severing the light from within.
    Keep Atropos from severing the light from within,
    Bring my fellow to me with your golden spin;
    And being born of Clotho he must be brought in.
    All strength now, Lachesis, all strength to your spin.”
    Then he was hallooed from beyond his own woven willow gates and knew, at last, that his ardent pleas to Lachesis, the spinner of the precious thread of life, had been answered with the arrival of the special one. For a brief moment he looked within himself and triggered a pure wave of pleasure. Keeping a firm hold on it, he allowed it to pulse gently up his long body until it reached his heart; then he released it in a spontaneous cry of joy. It had been so long since he had allowed himself a pleasurable indulgence, but then it had been a long time since he’d had anything this exciting over which to indulge himself. Throwing his hands heavenwards he thanked the ancient fate loudly.
    “Gratia, Lachesis! Gratia, gratia.”
    Hurrying to the willow gates, he flung them open with a great flourish.
    “Salutem dicit!” he cried in a loud voice. “Salutem dicit.”
    In front of him stood a tired,