The Hollow Hills

The sword isn’t anywhere on her person, that he can see. But then this sickly form beside him is just one aspect of what Nimue actually is. She’s every river in the realm, every stream or limpid pool. The sword could be anywhere or everywhere. Hidden in an underwater cave. Spread finely in the morning mist. Raining down on the mountains in the old

This is what happens to Macsen, and Elen is the Otherworldly guide who reels him in along the thread of her dreampaths, bringing him to her so that he can serve the land as its king.

‘People wanted him back when the Normans landed,’ he says. ‘And again, in Maud and Stephen’s war. And in Cromwell’s war, and every war since. We did all right without him. Managed to keep things ticking over. We’ll manage this time as well.’ ‘Ah, but this time it’s the realm that’s suffering, not just the people,’ says Herne. ‘And I don’t care abou