Page 19 of Highland Lords of War & Thunder: The Prequel

“No need.”

“You'll want to know.”

“I won't.”

Carneil climbed onto his wagon. “I think you will. Besides, I owe you for the sound advice.”

Torden shook his head and returned to his work as the wagon rattled away.

Love.

It made otherwise sensible men foolish.

He had his home, his forge, Sorcha, and, when the rest of the Highlands left him alone, peace.

He wanted nothing more, and certainly nothing as troublesome as love.

The night was clear and cold, the stars scattered thick across the dark sky.

Torden stood outside his cottage, his arms folded across his chest as he looked toward the mountains in the distance. Sorcha was settled for the night, the forge had gone cold, and there wasn't another soul around for miles.

Just as he liked it.

No quarrels to settle. No fools threatening one another. No merchants asking his advice about love.

A smile tugged briefly at his mouth… peace.

He drew a deep breath of the cold night air and looked up at the stars. There were nights when he wondered how many times he had stood beneath them just like this. Seasons came and went. Years passed. Men grew old. Children became fathers and fathers became grandfathers.

The stars remained and so did he.

Torden's smile disappeared. He had learned long ago not to dwell on that.

A breeze stirred through the trees and suddenly stopped as if someone had snuffed it out.

Torden’s brow wrinkled.

Then the silence changed. It was no longer the comfortable silence he knew so well, but something deeper.

He felt it before he heard it. A distant rumble.

Thunder.

Torden slowly lifted his head. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Another rumble rolled across the darkness, deeper this time, and something old and long buried stirred inside him.

Torden went still. “Nay.”

The word disappeared into the night. Then a woman's voice came from everywhere and nowhere.

“War that conquers, thunder that roars,

The final strike when kingdoms fall.

By debt unbroken, by promise bound,

Hear my voice and heed my call.

I summon thee to me… Queen Eudora of Morra Mist.”