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A distant land before recorded tiht on the Eve of First Harvest and he stood alone on a rocky pinnacle of his high ers far below as they danced around a fire blazing in the middle of the square

No ht but the flames, but the wizard of Darkfest Keep could clearly see the face and fors of joy, their shouts of carefree laughter He saw Adair, the cooper, flirting with a woins slip quietly into the shadoith the blacks ribald stories to a handful of younga young maid&039;s fortune

Such foolishness, the wizardthe dark of thein the world would not protect their crops fro barefoot in the dirt would not make their women fertile, but as he to vanquish their hopes and dreaht be?

And when the crops failed and the clouds withheld their e in hand and cli with fear, careful not tohiolden ears of corn and flasks of spiced wine, a laer contents of the town&039;s treasury They would grant hi for his mercy And if it suited his rant their boon, and they would hurry away, neverthat they ainst evil behind his back

Their fear ae and wondrous powers, but, awesoht be, even he could not perform all the mystical feats of which they believed him capable

The sound of lute and taentle east wind And then he heard a voice, her voice, as light asdew, as clear as crystal ice A lovely voice that threaded through the darkness and twined around his soul like a fine silken web

Channa Leigh&039;s voice

It tugged at hie of the precipice on which he stood, tantalizing hi deep within his soul as it did each tie of the well in the center of the village square Her father, Dugald of Brynn, stood near her side, proud and protective, but Darkfest had eyes only for the fair Channa Leigh She wore a white apron over a siht as the sun on a su waves down her back and over her shoulders, glistening in the firelight like a river of ht, her voice beckoned hier to more closely behold the face of the one blessed with the voice of an angel, he gathered his power close around hi it surround him, and then he stepped out into the darkness of space, his body falling like a leaf fro froht as dandelion down, on the ground

"Sing another, Channa Leigh"

"Aye, lass, give us another!"

Channa Leigh s another song Singing was her one true love, her sole reason for living Locked in a world of darkness, she had only her ht her days

Hands clasped to her breast, she began to sing again, an ancient lullaby she had often heard herA hush fell over the crowd, and even the rowdy young men near the tavern fell silent, until the only sound to be heard was her voice, the notes strong and true, blending with the whisper of the night wind and the faint crackle of the flaave way to a ballad of love lost and found, the words sung with such feeling that many a woman wept silent tears, and many a man, too

There was a moment of awed quiet as the last note fell away, and then Channa Leigh heard soasp, heard someone else softly exclaim, "Look at that!"

She felt the undercurrent of fear that ran through the crowd, heard their shuffling feet as they backed away from her

"Hold still, lass," her father called softly

Accustoh did as she was told And then, like a ray of brilliant sunshine penetrating a dark cloud, she felt a presence beside her

"Dinna hter" Her father&039;s voice tre, the brush of thick, soft fur against her hand "What is it?" she whispered