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escaping the chimney gave proof of its use.
    â€œA cousin. He lives here and oversees the fields that surround the woods.”
    The arrangement worked well for both of them—his cousin, Farold, got a place to live and meaningful work and Tolan got someone who oversaw his lands when he could not. Lord Geoffrey moved closer and leaned toward Tolan.
    â€œAre you certain there are no stones like the ones I seek there?”
    â€œI have seen no such stones, my lord.”
    Tolan held his breath as Geoffrey considered his words and made his choice. As he waited, his cousin, having seen their approach and having recognized him, walked toward them, waving in greeting to them.
    â€œGo. See your cousin and catch up with us anon. I wish to sleep in my own bed this night.”
    With a barking command, the nobleman ordered the rest to ride south, leaving Tolan in their dust. Tolan took only a few minutes to greet his cousin and speak on matters between them before mounting and riding away at a fast pace. When he first heard the voice carried on the wind, he thought it was his cousin calling to him. Pulling up hard on the reins and bringing the horse to a halt, Tolan turned and searched for its source.
    Tolan Earthblood, come to me.
    His cousin even now returned to his tasks inside and there was no one else there in the fields or on the road. Loosening his grips on the leather strips, he had readied to touch the horse’s sides to ride once more when he heard it again.
    Tolan Earthblood, heed my call. I am here.
    A woman’s voice. A woman spoke to him, and yet he could not believe where the voice seemed to come from—the center of the woods. He found himself drawn to the edge of the earthwork that surrounded the woods. A huge ancient henge, like the others they’d visited these last weeks and yet not like any other in the world.
    Blood of the Old Ones is in your veins and I call you to my side.
    He cried out in pain as the area on his arm seemedto melt and sear at the sound of the voice. Tugging his sleeve up, he saw that the area now carried a shape—that of a tree—and changed before his eyes. The rough form of a trunk, roots, and branches formed and melted, over and over, there on his forearm. And as it did, the voice whispered low in his head, the power in it growing stronger with each word.
    Now. Come to me now. Serve me and I will make you lord of all you can see. Earthblood.
    By the gods! Were the stories of Old Ones and their existence and ties to this land true? If they were, if the ring of stones existed beneath these woods, then the voice was . . .
    Tolan stopped thinking on it and kicked his heels, making his horse rear and then charge into a gallop along the road. He only knew he must distance himself from this now. Only when he caught up with the others some miles along the road did the whispers cease completely.
    â€œTolan, are you well?” Bordan asked him as Tolan took a place behind the soldiers. “You look like you have seen something unholy.”
    â€œI am not used to such journeys,” he said, not meeting the man’s gaze. “All will be well when I get back to my cottage in the village.”
    And as they crossed the miles to Amesbury, Tolan tried to convince himself of that. But something deep in his soul told him he had never been so wrong.

C HAPTER 4
    The sun rose and she did as well. No matter how she felt on any morning, Thea found it impossible to sleep past sunrise. Stretching out along the length of the pallet, she watched her breath float like a cloud across the chamber. Even knowing that the cold air of the morning would chill her, she tossed back the thick blankets and began her daily routine. There were tasks to carry out and people who needed her attention.
    Those parts of her day ahead were not what caused the anticipation she felt growing within her, though. Bordan had told Langston, who’d been overheard by Kirwyn, who’d then