Shadow Hand (Tales of Goldstone Wood Book #6) (43 page)
Read Shadow Hand (Tales of Goldstone Wood Book #6) Online
Authors: Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Tags: #FIC042080, #FIC009000, #Magic—Fiction, #FIC009020
For a moment, she hesitated. Then she opened up the page Eanrin had given her and read the badly scribbled lines. She frowned and read them again, then a third time. “What dragon-eaten nonsense,” she muttered at last and felt better for it.
Taking up her quill and drawing an empty page before her, she began to write, copying in her neat script of Faerie letters these lines:
Oh, Shadow Hand of Here and There,
Follow where you will
Your fickle, fleeing, Fiery Fair
O’er woodlands, under hill.
She’ll not be found, save by the stone,
The stern and shining Bronze,
Where crooked stands the Mound alone,
Thorn clad and sharp with awns.
How pleasant are the Faerie folk
Who dwell beyond your time.
How pleasant are your aged kinfolk
Of olden, swelt’ry clime.
But dark the tithe they pay, my son,
To safely dwell beneath that sun!
Oh, Shadow Hand of Here and There,
Hardened ground you till,
And still your fickle, Fiery Fair
Flees o’er woodland hill.
The wolf will howl, the eagle scream.
The wild white lies dead.
Tears of Everblooming stream
As she bows her mourning head.
Bargain now with Faerie queen,
The Everblooming child,
If safe you would your kingdom glean
From out the feral wild.
Oh, Shadow Hand of Here and There,
Heal now the ills
Of your weak and weary Fair,
Lost among the hills.
You would give your own two hands
To save your ancient, sorrowing lands.
Summon now the Faerie beasts
Beneath the spreading tree
Lead them where the darkness feasts,
And this is what you’ll see:
Just at the mirk and midnight hour
Of thirteen nights but one,
The warriors bear their bronzen stones
Where crooked stands the Mound alone.
There you will win your Fiery One
Or see her then devoured.
First let pass the warrior red,
Then let pass the brown.
But when you see her flaming head,
Then throw your weapon down.
No lance, no spear will save the night,
Nor bloodshed on the ground.
This alone will be your fight:
To hold your lady, hold her tight
When once again she’s found.
You would give your heart and life
For she who’ll be your wife.
Her heart will turn within your hold
To a red-hot brand of iron,
To melting, molten, lava gold,
And how your hands will burn!
But hold her fast and hold her tight
And yet you’ll win this terror night.
In broken sleep upon the ground
The dear one lost now lies.
Yet a kiss in faithful friendship found,
And love opens wide eyes.
Oh, Shadow Hand of Here and There,
Crippled now you bide.
But free and fierce is Fiery Fair
Your own, your hard-won bride!
You gave your own two hands
And saved your ancient lands.
The king returns to home and hall,
To throne and crown and glory.
And ever stands he proud and tall,
The crippled Shadow Hand. Recall
You now my ancient story!
Anne Elisabeth Stengl makes her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, Rohan, a passel of cats, and one long-suffering dog. When she’s not writing, she enjoys Shakespeare, opera, and tea, and studies piano, painting, and pastry baking. She studied illustration at Grace College and English literature at Campbell University. She is the author of
Heartless, Veiled Rose, Moonblood
, and
Starflower
.
Heartless
and
Veiled Rose
have each been honored with a Christy Award, and
Starflower
was voted winner of the 2013 Clive Staples Award.
Learn more at
anneelisabethstengl.blogspot.com
.
Heartless
Veiled Rose
Moonblood
Starflower
Dragonwitch
Shadow Hand
