Stone of Destiny

by Rowan Casey

  “A flying visit,” he said.

  “You went to see the Stone of Scone didn’t you?”

  “I did, but it had already been taken off display.”

  “Off display? What do you mean?”

  “It’s going to America tomorrow, some kind of exhibition over there.”

  “You didn’t see it?”

  “I only saw the replica I’m afraid,” Matthias said. “They have put it on display in its place while it’s away.”

  “I guess that’s why you didn’t stay long,” Rhys suggested.

  “Didn’t seem much point in spending time with something that wasn’t the real thing.” The pair were showing no sign of leaving, and while Matthias felt uncomfortable about them standing in the hallway he had no desire to invite them in. It would be impossible for them to recognize the Stone for what it was, but he really didn’t want them asking questions about it if they saw the rock lying on the bed.

  “Quite right,” Rhys said. “Looks like we’ve had a wasted journey here too, then.”

  “You must have had quite a journey. Did you drive all the way?”

  “’Fraid so, anther night of sleeping in the van, but it looks like you’ve taken a step up in the world.” Rhys peered over Matthias’ shoulder into the room. “This place puts my Aunt’s place to shame. Any chance of quick look before we head off? You must have quite a view from your window.”

  It was almost impossible to stop them. Before Matthias had the opportunity to refuse, Rhys slipped past him and he had no alternative but to let Megan follow. The young man seemed in awe of the room, but settled at last by the window and stared out at the castle. Matthias was so caught up with keeping an eye on the man that he missed the moment when Megan picked the stone from the bed.

  “You found it!” she said, turning the Stone over and over in her hands, then softer, almost to herself. “You found it.”

  Matthias’ heart skipped a beat, his mouth suddenly dry. “That’s nothing,” he said. “It’s just a pebble I picked up. Just a keepsake.”

  The woman tilted her head to one side, not taking her eyes from the Stone. She held it across the palms of both hands held together as if making an offering, her thumbs running over the surface. She was mesmerized.

  “It’s nothing,” Matthias said and held out a hand to take it from her, but she made no move to return it. “Please,”

  Rhys turned from staring out of the window, a frown on his face. “You okay, Megan?”

  “He found it,” she said again. “It’s been lost for so long, but he found it.”

  “It’s just a stone,” Matthias said.

  “Best let him have it back,” Rhys said softly, reaching out a hand to her shoulder but she shrugged him away, clutching the stone to her chest. “Come on Meg, let him have it. This isn’t what we came here looking for.”

  “No!” she snapped, a sudden rage appearing in her voice, a rage that Matthias had not felt in her before. Rhys seemed taken aback by the flash of anger, too.

  “Meg? You okay?”

  “He found it. After all this time. He found it,” She sank down to sit on the edge of the bed, still clutching the stone tight to her. Slowly, she began to sway backwards and forwards.

  “I’m really sorry,” Rhys said. “She’s never been like this before. This whole thing has been an obsession of hers. I think she wants to find the Whetstone so badly that she’s ready to believe this is it.”

  Matthias knew that if this was just any rock that he had picked up on a beach somewhere he would have just let her have it. The young woman was clearly ill and the last thing he wanted to do was to make things worse for her. She needed help. Taking the Stone from her was not going to make things better but he could not let her walk out of there with it. He sat down on the bed beside her and tried to gather his thoughts. He needed a story, a lie that would make sense, rather than try to simply tear it from her grasp.

  “I’ve been carrying that stone around with me for a long time,” he said. “I found it on a beach close to where I grew up, not long before I first left the country. I’ve taken it everywhere with me. Whenever I feel homesick I take it out and look at it.” It could have been true. There had been many times when he had wished that he had something with him to remind him of home.

  He had no idea if he was getting through to her but she seemed to be retreating deeper and deeper inside herself. She shook her head, still swaying backwards and forwards, and showing no sign of returning the stone to him.

  “We should go,” Rhys said. He helped her to her feet and clasped one hand over hers. “This rock is important to Bryn. We can’t take it away from him. You know that it isn’t the Whetstone. It can’t be, it’s much too small. You know that the real Whetstone would be much bigger than that.”

  Matthias was hoping that the man was having some success in getting through to her, but there was no obvious sign that he was. He continued to urge her to stand, and eventually she stopped swaying. She opened her hands and looked at the stone once more.

  “It is the real stone,” she insisted. “I know, I can feel it.”

  Rhys reached for it gently, but she snatched it away from his grasp.

  “No!” she screamed. “Can’t you see that he’s lying to us. He doesn’t want us to have it, he wants it for himself.” She pushed him away with one hand, sending him sprawling to the ground, his head striking the wall beneath the window with a sickening thump.

  “It’s mine,” she said. “I’m taking it.”

  She made for the door but Matthias was standing in her way. His first instinct had been to go to Rhys’ aid but a moment of indecision had held him back. He held out an arm which prevented her from passing. The young woman gave out a shriek and lashed out with one hand. Fingernails raked at his cheek and stung as they gouged his skin.

  Her attack was ferocious and full of desperation. She was determined to get out of the room and was intent on taking the Stone with her. Matthias grabbed the wrist of her hand that had just damaged his face to stop her from doing it again and almost didn’t realize that her other arm was swinging hard and fast. Too late he tried to get out of the way of the Stone as she struck him on the side of the head. Despite it being no more than a glancing blow the strength went from his knees as blackness threatened to overtake him. He knew that if he succumbed to it, the woman would be able to make her escape and take the Stone with her. She might even make sure that he would never be able to follow her, and the Stone would be lost again. He sank to his knees but held tightly to her wrist and held up his other arm to defend himself.

  He shook his head and started to get to his feet unsteadily as the woman swung again. This time he didn’t hesitate. He jerked the arm he was holding onto and swept her feet from under her. She lost her balance, and her aim, falling against the bed and dropping the Stone in the process. He hoped that it would break the spell for a moment but instead it seemed to enrage her even further. There was a rage that was out of control.

  The Stone skittered beneath a low table set between a pair of armchairs and they both scrambled to be the first get hold of it. Matthias felt his fingertips make contact with it followed by a searing pain as fingers threatened to tear a clump of hair from his scalp. He threw her off him and grabbed hold of the stone. There was no way that Megan was going to get her hand on it again, no matter how ill she might be. He had already taken a big enough risk to get it and there was no way that he was about to let someone else just walk out of the room with it.

  She was cowering at the side of the bed sobbing when he got back to his feet and Rhys at least seemed to be coming to. There had been a moment when he had thought that the young man might have been dead, but he seemed to be recovering from his own blow to the head. It might take him a while to recover but Matthias didn’t want them in the room any longer than was absolutely necessary.

  “I think you should both leave,” Matthias said. “I don’t know what this is all about, but Megan needs help.”


  “Help? I don’t need help. That stone belongs to me.” Megan scrambled to her feet with renewed energy. Her face had turned a sickly grey, her hair wild. Matthias thought she was about to lunge at him again but she made no sudden moves. He slid the Stone into his pocket in case the sight of it was making matters worse.

  “Come on Meg,” Rhys said reaching out to comfort her. “Bryn is right. We need to get you to a doctor. I really don’t know what got into her Bryn. I’m so sorry.”

  Matthias caught a glimpse of the back of the man’s head then glanced at the smear of blood on the wall where he had fallen. “I think you need to get that wound on the back of your head looked at, too.” There was a lump the size of an egg developing on the side of his own head and a steady throbbing that showed no sign of going away.

  “I’m going nowhere without the Whetstone,” Megan said. “It needs to go back where it belongs.” She seemed to suck in all the air from the room, creating a draft that knocked over a vase of flowers, splashing water over the carpet where Rhys had fallen. There was a pause and then she released a scream that had both men clamping their hands over their ears. Even then the pain was almost too great to bear, amplified by the pain already in his head.

  “Stop it!” Matthias shouted, his words lost in the scream that did not seem to end. When at last she stopped there was a satisfied look on her face as if she had won some great victory. Rhys had slumped on the bed, but Matthias lunged at her before she could release her dreadful sound again. This was no ordinary woman. He was sure that Rhys had no idea, but his girlfriend was unlike any woman he had known before.

  He clamped a hand over the woman’s mouth, surprised to find her skin as dry as paper that shifted beneath his touch. She struggled against him, arms flinging wildly but he used his weight to press her down. He had no idea what he was going to do with her once she was restrained, but it was the nearest thing he had to a plan. He fought the temptation to plant a fist in her face and silence her for a while at least, but there was something inside him that stayed his hand. Instead he held her still until her wild thrashing slowly calmed. He relaxed his grip for a moment and instantly she seized the opportunity to throw him off her with unbelievable strength.

  Strips of skin peeled from her face, sticking to his fingertips as his hand was pushed away revealing sinew and bone. He grabbed at her hair but it came away in a handful. He stumbled back at the sight of the woman transformed into an ancient crone that seemed barely alive. He had heard stories of creatures like this; bedtime stories his grandmother had told him when he was a boy and yet he could not believe that they really existed. A gwrach; a hag of the night a creature that was used to frighten children who would not go to bed when they were told, but then caused them to stay awake all night, afraid to go to sleep.

  He scrambled backwards putting as much distance between himself and the creature as he could, but it was not enough. Rhys was curled up on the floor with his hands clamped over his ears. He seemed completely oblivious to what was going on in the room around him. He was unlikely to be able to offer assistance any time soon. Matthias was going to have to deal with her alone if he was going to be able to stop her at all.

  “Give me the stone,” she shrieked holding out her hand expectantly. Her words wormed inside his head, taking root there and tempting him to hand it over. This wasn’t his fight after all, he was just doing a job he had been paid for. He wasn’t being paid enough to lose his life over it. Besides he had no weapon to fight her with, other than perhaps the Stone itself. He reached for his pocket unsure of whether he would use it to strike the woman or hand it over and send her on her way. He had it clasped in his hand when the door to his room burst open.

  Hautdesert charged inside with a sword in his hand but he made no attempt to attack the woman, instead he threw it to Matthias who caught it as he climbed to his feet. The gwrach took in another breath but before she had the opportunity to release another scream he swung the blade. The sword sliced through ancient flesh and bone, severing the hag’s head from her shoulders. There was a moment before the body fell, but then it collapsed into dust and shadow.

  Matthias sank to his knees again, still clutching the sword with both hands. His memories told him that this was far from the first time he had done something like this, and yet it did not feel that way. He might still be trying to deny so much of what had been revealed to him but he knew the truth of it.

  29

  “I thought we had driven them all out,” Matthias said.

  “You’re starting to remember then?” Hautdesert picked up the sword that Matthias had set aside and was testing its balance, turning his wrist with practiced strokes.

  “Bits and pieces, but there are still a lot of gaps.”

  Hautdesert kicked at the dust with his toe. There was nothing about it that suggested that it had ever belonged to a woman of any description. “It will come to you in time.”

  “Maybe I’d rather it didn’t.”

  “You have a destiny. Maybe it’s time to fulfil it.”

  “And what if I don’t want to?”

  Hautdesert turned to face him and raised an eyebrow. “Who said that you would have any choice in the matter? You fought well.”

  “Did I? I’m not so sure. I think you just saw the best bits.” He felt for the lump on the side of his head, his fingers probing tenderly, pulling away at the first sign of pain. “You could have just used the sword yourself when you walked in, clearly you know how to handle one.”

  “You needed to do it for yourself. You needed the extra reminder of just who you are.”

  “Did I? What If I hadn’t caught the sword when you threw it? What if she had gotten hold of it?”

  “But she didn’t, and you kept the Stone safe?”

  Matthias reached into his pocket and retrieved the object that had caused him so much trouble. It still seemed so small to be so important. Without even thinking about it, he tossed it in the man’s direction. Hautdesert was almost caught unawares, but he snatched it out of the air and allowed a smile to crease his lips. “So, what do we do about him?”

  “Any idea who he is?”

  “His name’s Rhys, I can’t remember his last name. He’s from Llandudno, his aunt runs a small hotel. I’ve got his card somewhere.”

  “You seem to know a lot about him.”

  Matthias shrugged. “He showed me the cave where the Whetstone was supposed to have once been. His girlfriend was obsessed with it.”

  “Girlfriend?”

  Matthias nodded towards the pile of dust at Hautdesert’s feet. “I’m pretty sure that he had no idea.”

  “You should have mentioned them before.”

  “What? So you could have taken care of them?”

  “Maybe I would at least have discovered if they were a threat.”

  “And Rhys?”

  “We can drop him off at the hospital when we leave, but first I have a confession.”

  “A confession? Why do I get the feeling that I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear?”

  Hautdesert shrugged. “It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not, you need to hear it from me. I’d hate you to find out later.”

  “Ok, spill.”

  Hautdesert reached into his jacket pocket with his free hand and retrieved an envelope. “I’ve been saving this for you. Matthias took it from him, slid a finger under the flap to open it, and discovered a single newspaper clipping. He read it carefully once and then again just to be sure that he had not made a mistake.

  “It’s from this morning’s newspaper,” Hautdesert said.

  Matthias stared at the headline, still not quite believing what he was reading. Somehow it seemed even more impossible than the sight of Megan turning into a hag. “Tom Faraday won an award? Last night? But he’s dead. I saw him in the alleyway. I tried to save him, but it was too late. I did everything I could.” The tune of Stayin’ Alive was suddenly in his head again, making the memory even more vivid.

 
; “It was dark. You were mistaken, it wasn’t Faraday.”

  “But the police…”

  “The police found his wallet in the man’s pocket with your card in it. Let’s just say that they jumped to conclusions.”

  “But you got me out of there.”

  “Because I convinced them that the man must have stolen the wallet of the man you had been eating dinner with earlier, that’s why your business card was in it.”

  “Or maybe someone planted it on him,” Matthias said, suddenly realizing that he had been played. “It was just a damn con trick to get me on board, wasn’t it?”

  “Let’s call it illusion, shall we? No harm done.”

  Matthias wasn’t so sure about that, but there was no point in arguing about it now. “So what happens now?”

  “Now? Now we’re off to see the wizard.”

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  The Veil Knights Series

  The Circle Gathers (Book 1)

  The Questing Beast (Book 2)

  Hound of Night (Book 3)

  Run of Luck (Book 4)

  Cloak of Fury (Book 5)

  The Medusa Gambit (Book 6)

  White Mountain Rising (Book 7)

  Hammer of Darkness (Book 8)

  Stone of Destiny (Book 9)

  About the Author

  Rowan Casey is the pseudonym for twelve New York Times, USA Today and Amazon bestselling writers who have come together to create the Veil Knights shared-world experience.

  With more than ten million copies of their books in print around the world, they include Lilith Saintcrow, CJ Lyons, Joseph Nassise, Steven Savile, Annie Bellet, Jon F. Merz, Pippa DaCosta, Robert Greenberger, William Meikle, Steve Lockley, Hank Schwaeble, and Nathan Meyer.

  For more information, visit

  www.rowancasey.com