Synopsis

Back to Arheled

             Book   One   related   how   six   young   people,   one   from   each   of   the   five   villages   and   the   five   stone   churches   of   Winsted, began   to   encounter   a   mysterious   stranger   in   brown   whose   odd   words   and   deep   thoughtful   wisdom   bring   them   gradually   to   an   awakening   of   the   mystery   that   lies   over   the   small   town   and   the   five   villages   around   it. As   a   Fell   Winter   buries   the   land   in   unprecedented   snow,   the   six,   Forest,   Ronnie, Travel,   Brooke,   Bell   and   Lara,   each   discover   different   aspects   of   the   mystery. Forest,   the   quiet   painter,   dreams   of   terrible   events   in   the   past   and   fantastic   Star-people   that   perished   long   ago,   changing   the   heavens:   and   finds   that   a   man   named   Cornello   is   actually   a   dragon   walking   as   man. A   local   caveman   sighting,   the   Wild   Man   of   Winsted,   turns   out   to   be   not   only   a   reality   but   a   terrible   one. Bell,   meanwhile,   finds   that   various   carvings   on   the   churches   are   actually   pointers   to   places   of   importance,   and   the   Churches   themselves   arranged   in   a   ring,   like   forts. As   things   begin   to   draw   together,   the   mysterious   man   in   brown   draws   them   all   to   the   long   mountain   named   Temple   Fell   outside   Winsted,   a   grim   eerie   place,   a   place   filled   with   secret   power:   and   there   he   reveals   that   he   is   Arheled,   Warden   of   the   mysterious   force   called   the   Road,   which   touches   the   earth   once   every   hundred   years:   this,   2011,   being   the   hundredth   year. Accordingly   he   has   called   them   to   greet   the   Road   and   walk   upon   it,   to   see   the   dreadful   mystery   of   the   ancient   heavens   and   how   they   came   to   be   what   they   are   today. He   sends   them   out   to   seek   the   Signs   of   the   Nine   Hills   of   Winsted.

             Book   Two   describes   the   things   they   discover. Each   hill   has   something   significant,   a   huge   tree,   a   date   on   a   stone   house,   an   oddly   drawn   inscription,   stones   arranged   on   a   hilltop   like   the   footprints   of   a   vanished   tower. These   point   them   not   only   to   indicators   in   the   constellations   themselves   but   to   various   segments   of   a   great   and   complicated   tapestry   woven   about   the   small   and   petty   but   picturesque   town. Meanwhile   foes   begin   to   emerge:   not   only   Cornello,   but   the   Witch   of   Winchester,   and   the   ghost-king   of   Blue   Skull   Rock,   and   the   awful   Green   Lady   haunting. And   behind   it   all   a   more   sinister   darkness   gathers:   the   Lord   of   Chaos   is   draining   his   strewn   essence   of   corruption   back   into   himself,   till   he   breaks   the   chains   that   bind   him. As   the   summer   advances,   the   Road   imbues   its’   Children   with   strange   and   unforeseen   powers,   even   as   the   Witches   and   the   Dragons   come   into   play.

Books   Three   and   Four   relate   of   the   climatic   events   of   that   long   summer,   when   Brooke   summons   an   entire   lake   to   kill   a   Dragon,   and   the   clash   of   the   two   titanic   entities   the   Wild   Man   and   the   Father   of   Dragons   that   follows. As   autumn   comes   Arheled   gives   the   Children   concealed   weapons   forged   by   the   Stars   themselves   and   sends   them   under   the   earth   via   the   Gates   of   the   North,   ancient   portals   hidden   under   a   marsh   that   lead   to   the   gates   of   Hell. Around   these   Arheled   has   constructed   the   five   Churches   as   forts   of   power   to   replace   the   fallen   Tower   of   the   Tree. At   the   bottom   of   the   earth   are   seven   thrones,   and   seven   victims   are   chained   to   them:   on   Halloween   they   will   be   sacrificed   to   incarnate   the   lord   of   Chaos. The   Children   descend   for   weeks   under   the   earth,   finding   the   bones   of   the   buried   Giants   growing   new   flesh   and   a   ruined   city   with   ominous   inscriptions,   before   finally   nearing   the   last   descent. At   this   point   they   have   to   fight   through   Dragon-born   and   Witches,   and   when   they   reach   the   bottom,   they   are   too   late:   Cornello   freezes   them   in   Time,   and   they   are   forced   to   watch   as   he   sacrifices   their   friends   and   relatives   and   incarnates   Chaos. The  fifth  Book  goes  back  a  little,  to  show  from  the  perspective  of  the  Dragon-born  just  how  they  came  into  being,  how  their  Father  awoke  and  trained  them  in  a  nightmare  Dragon  boot  camp,  and  how  he  sent  them  into  the  Graveyard  of  Dragons. Following  the  perspective  of  a  Catholic  Dragon,  Gerald,  who  travels  back  in  time,  the  ancient  origins  of  the  pre-China  Dragon  kingdom  of  the  East  are  revealed.

The  sixth  book  deals  with  the  aftermath  of  the  rising  of  Chaos,  the  discovery  of  Mjollnir  buried  in  a  local  cemetery,  and  finally  with  the  gathering  of  the  Children  of  the  Road  at  midnight  of  Christmas  Eve  upon  Temple  Fell. Arheled  takes  them  on  the  Road,  revealing  to  them  the  story  of  the  ancient  Stars,  their  decay  and  their  downfall  into  war.

Section heading
Write the first section of your page here.

Section heading
Write the second section of your page here.