Aegyir Rises (Guardians of The Realm Book 1)

by Amanda Fleet

  He closed his eyes again. I waited until I was sure he was asleep and retreated to my corner again, wondering if I would manage to kill Aegyir before it was too late.

  Alison Cullen arrived immediately after lunch. I hadn’t had anything to eat since I’d got up so I left her with him and took myself off to the cafe downstairs to grab a bite. On the telly in the corner, a TV showed the news channel, subtitles scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Our town was the main topic after another three bodies had turned up today. Not in the quarry this time – unsurprising since the police had advised people to avoid it – but in quiet areas of the town – the park, an alleyway, a lane around the back of the main church. The police were treating all deaths as suspicious and telling people not to go out alone or after dark. That wouldn’t keep them safe. If Aegyir wanted your vitality, he’d just take it. My sandwich lodged in my throat as I tried to swallow. How many more people would Aegyir kill before I could try to stop him?

  As I ate, I kept an eye on my wrist, half hoping it would glow blue and I could confront Aegyir right there, right then. What exactly I thought I could do, I don’t know, but I wanted to do something. But it stayed resolutely opalescent and I finished my sandwich and returned to HDU.

  Alison was still there when I arrived. Finn was awake again and more alert than he had been earlier.

  “Oh Rea, there you are. I have to go and make Rory’s dinner. Are you staying with Finn?”

  I nodded, flexing my fingers, my nostrils flaring as I breathed. Their only son was gravely ill in hospital and she was too scared to stay with him. I assumed she wouldn’t even tell Rory where she’d been.

  “Yes, I’ll stay. I’ll call you if there’s any change, but the doctors seem to think it’s just flu.”

  “Bless you. Oh, Christ, look at the time. I have to go.”

  The visit from his mum seemed to have taken it out of Finn and I urged him to lie back down and rest.

  “Does Billy know?” he asked, fretful.

  “Yes. I called him a few minutes ago. Finn, just rest. Please?”

  “Are you staying?”

  “Of course I am.”

  “Sit next to me?”

  The chair was still next to the bed after his mum’s visit and I sat, picking up his hand.

  “You look exhausted,” he said.

  “Yeah, you’re no portrait yourself today.”

  He smiled weakly. “Not drawing me today then?”

  “No. Not today.” I lifted his hand up and kissed his knuckles, careful to avoid the needle in the back of his hand. His lips were dry again and I rubbed some more balm on them. Finn shifted slightly, his eyes on mine. “I really want to kiss you, but I don’t think I can sit up again.”

  I leaned over and kissed him fully, taking my time.

  “You should be resting,” I chided as I moved back.

  “Don’t go!” He kept hold of my hand, his grip weak.

  “I’m not going anywhere. Go back to sleep.”

  The doctor came in to check on him at the start of the evening shift, and evicted me to a small waiting room at the end of the corridor. A few minutes later, she found me in there.

  “How is he?” I said, my hands clasped tightly in front of me.

  “He’s deteriorated since earlier. He seemed to be improving once we got some fluids into him, but he’s a little worse now. His blood pressure is low and that’s a concern, but his breathing is fine and he’s a very fit young man so he has a good chance of shrugging this off.”

  My heart rate settled a little. “Can I stay? I won’t keep him awake.”

  “We wouldn’t normally allow that, but he’s been asking for you to stay.”

  “I’ll keep out of the way,” I promised. Going back to the cottage with him still here was unimaginable.

  The doctor relented. I thanked her and made my way back to Finn’s room. He was on the boundary of sleep and wake but smiled feebly as I sat down.

  “You’re back.”

  “Yeah. I’m back. Go to sleep. If they think I’m tiring you out they’ll make me leave.”

  I held his hand, playing with his fingers, watching him sleep, my heart at breaking point.

  This wasn’t flu. And he wasn’t regenerating any of the ball of light that Aegyir had stolen.

  ***

  Finn stirring pulled me out of my nightmares and back into his room. I don’t know which was worse. He opened troubled eyes surrounded by dark circles.

  “Hey, Munchkin,” I said, stroking his hand.

  He laughed lightly. “God, you haven’t called me that in years.” His voice was little more than a breath.

  “Yeah, well. It was barely apt when you were only six foot, never mind now!”

  His smile melted. “Rea. I’m scared,” he whispered. I felt my heart crack.

  “What are you scared for? You just need a bit of time to get your strength back,” I lied, desperate to reassure him.

  “I don’t think I will get my strength back.”

  “Sh. Just rest.”

  He wept, his tears flowing freely.

  “Hey, hey. What are these for?” I said, stroking them away, using almost all my might not to look distressed.

  “I’m so scared. Don’t leave me?”

  “Finn, it’s after half ten at night. If I was going to leave, I’d have done it before now. Shh. Shh. You know I’ll never leave you. Never.”

  I wanted to bawl but I fought my tears down and stroked his cheek.

  “You need a shave.” I rasped my fingertip against his stubble.

  “I thought it looked sexy.” His voice was still hiccupy with tears.

  “Yeah. It does.” I smoothed his hair back from his brow. “You’re the sexiest man I’ve ever met.”

  “Rea, do you know how much I love you?”

  My heart started to splinter. “Probably. But you can tell me anyway. Just in case I don’t.”

  I ran my finger over his cheekbone, wiping away a stray tear.

  “I love you to the moon and back,” he said quietly. “And then all the rest.”

  “That’s handy. That’s exactly how much I love you.”

  He closed his eyes, his breathing slowing, his face relaxing.

  One by one, all the monitors started screaming.

  Almost instantly, the room filled with medical staff and I was bundled out of the room and into the corridor.

  Oh, Christ, I was losing him.

  I caught a sob in my chest, struggling to breathe. There was a window into the room and I stared through it, my heart in my mouth as someone began chest compressions on him. Another person put a mask over his face, attached to a big balloon thing.

  “Clear!” called one of the medical staff and everyone stepped back a pace.

  I gasped as Finn’s body jerked as they tried to shock him back to life.

  “Finn!” I cried, my fists clenched against the glass, tears pouring down my face. “Finn.”

  But however many tears I shed and however hard they worked on him, the monitors didn’t change. I rested my forehead on the glass, sobbing, pleading with them to save him.

  “Perhaps now you will open the portal. Or I will kill everyone.”

  I whirled around to see who it was who had whispered in my ear but all I saw was a pair of glowing eyes fading to nothing. I turned back to the room, just in time to see the doctors call the time of death as 22:53.

  My world ended.

  22

  “I love you to the moon and back.”

  “And then all the rest.”

  Monitors flashing and beeping.

  “We need you to leave.”

  “Time of death is 22:53.”

  I woke, sobbing, clutching the pillow. It still smelled of him, amongst all the tears and the snot.

  “Finn, I miss you! Come back!”

  I knew he couldn’t.

  I burrowed back into the pillow, not sure if I wanted to sleep and be haunted by nightmares or awake and haunted by loss. E
xhaustion was going to get me, one way or another.

  “You must return. You do not belong here any more. You must protect The Realm.”

  I shook my head. “Lilja, they will hang me if I return.”

  She grasped my hands so hard it hurt. “They will have no choice. They need you, or The Realm will fall.”

  “But…”

  Tears shone in her eyes. “Come home. You are needed.”

  The mist we were standing in cleared. I could smell blood. Death.

  All around me were the sounds of battle – clashing swords, screams of terror. Where was Orian? Everyone should have been prepared.

  I turned to look at my husband. He had to believe me. He had to. I would never betray him. I would never do this. But his face was full of hatred and his lip curled.

  “Where is your father?” I asked. We needed all three of us to be able to end this.

  “Here.” Lord Eredan emerged next to my shoulder, his face hard, his eyes narrowed.

  “Aeron!” Aegyir roared, eyes blazing.

  I flinched. Blades whirled, a head rolled and the air was filled with smoke that disappeared into the vessel. The vessel sealed, the calligraphy on its sides swirling and writhing as it did. I leaned on my sword, catching my breath before straightening.

  Lord Eredan’s fist cracked my cheek, whipping my head around.

  “Slut! Traitor!”

  I sat up, hyperventilating before flopping back, sweat clinging to me. The room was light and I tried to work out what time it was. What day it was even. I had fuzzy recollections of people coming to see me. Alison, weeping. With a shiner. Billy had been here and held me tight, almost as distraught as me. Almost. I scraped a hand through my hair, trying to remember. After Billy had gone, I’d come up here to hide from everyone and ignored the doorbell and the calls. How long had I been up here? I rolled on my side and peered at my phone. Sunday. Just after one in the afternoon.

  I couldn’t remember getting back from the hospital. Did Alison bring me back? Christ, she must be in hell too.

  I was such a selfish cow. While I was disintegrating into a million pieces, Alison was presumably organising her only son’s funeral, with no help from me and in all probability, no help from her husband either.

  I stared unseeing at the ceiling, tears tracking from the corners of my eyes to dribble down my temples.

  “Hey.”

  My head snapped to the side. Blue eyes framed with dark lashes peered at me from the other side of the bed.

  “Finn?”

  I reached out to touch him but he shook his head.

  “How are you here?” I said, the words lumpy in my throat.

  He bunched the side of his mouth. “I don’t know.”

  “But you are here?”

  “Feels like it. But it feels weird.”

  He couldn’t really be here. I knew that. I’d watched him die in the hospital. His body must surely be in a funeral home. His vitality was obviously in Aegyir. If so, his character would be lost to Chaos.

  Or lying in bed with me. Is that what ghosts were? Characters lost in Chaos until another Guide could reunite them with their vitality?

  I drank in every millimetre of him. I loved him so much.

  “You shouldn’t have been there. If you’d stayed here, he wouldn’t have killed you,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. My mind replayed the scene, frame by frame. Aegyir moving towards me; Finn stepping in to protect me.

  “Maybe not then. But he would have killed me eventually. The deal was, you opened the portal or he killed me. And you don’t know how to open the portal.”

  He was right. If he’d stayed here, Aegyir would have attacked him at work or on the street. Looked like Alison. Or Billy. Or me. Rage boiled inside me, but a thought soothed me.

  I also had the daggers and the vessel now.

  “I’m going to fucking kill him!”

  Finn’s eyes widened. “You’re not going near him.”

  “I’m going to hack that bastard into a thousand pieces, stick all the daggers in and stuff him in that fucking pot! I’m going to get him back up to that rock and rip him to bits!”

  “Cool it,” he said softly. “He’ll kill you if you try.”

  “Do you think I care? I don’t want to keep living without you and if I can kill that monster in the process, all the better!”

  “Cool it.”

  I stared at him for four full breaths before dipping my head. “I’m cool. But I’m still going to kill that fucking monster or die trying.”

  He smiled lopsidedly. “That’s my kind of definition of ‘I’m cool’.”

  I peered at him. His amusement faded and he turned serious. “Please. Don’t go near him. Please?”

  I wasn’t about to make a promise I had no intention of keeping.

  “Where’s your bike?” I asked, frowning. I could remember taking it to the hospital but I was sure I hadn’t ridden it back.

  “It’s still at the hospital. Mum brought you home.”

  Alison. I couldn’t wallow in self-pity and grief any longer and my anger was no use to her either. I should be over there, helping her.

  “I should go to her,” I said.

  “Yeah.”

  As I watched, he dissolved into nothing and I sat up sharply, searching frantically for him, breathing hard. Would he come back again? Had that been our last conversation? There was so much I hadn’t said.

  ***

  As Finn had said, the bike was at the hospital where I’d left it. I rode it over to Alison Cullen’s. Technically it was hers now and anyway, my visit was long overdue.

  When she answered the door she had a bruise encircling her wrist to go with the black eye. I hoped Finn wasn’t looking down on us and could see. I stood awkwardly in the hallway. Alison looked even skinnier than usual, her loose-fitting shirt swamping her. Her blonde hair, normally so neatly clipped back, fell around her face. Trying to conceal the shiner?

  “Alison, I am so sorry.” That was all I could manage before I was in pieces.

  She pulled me into a deep hug and I could feel her bones through her clothes. “Oh, Rea. Rea.”

  I sobbed hard on her. I knew I shouldn’t – she’d lost her only child – but I couldn’t stop. She propelled me through to the lounge and the two of us wept buckets over the man we loved. When I could finally speak coherently, I thanked her for bringing me back from the hospital and apologised for not having been over before now.

  “You must think I’m dreadful,” I said.

  She had the same lopsided smile her son had. “I don’t think you’re dreadful at all. Just heartbroken.”

  Tears welled again. “Is Rory here?”

  She shook her head, self-consciously touching her face. “No. It’s Sunday. He’s at the pub.” Her answer implied it was a stupid question.

  His only son was dead and he was at the pub. Bile crept into the back of my throat.

  I drew in a deep breath, blew my nose and squared my shoulders. “What can I do to help? When did you want to hold the funeral?”

  She squeezed my hand weakly, blue veins showing through her thin translucent skin. “It’s organised for Friday.”

  I felt awful. While I’d been weeping and wailing and ignoring everyone’s kind words yesterday, Alison had been her usual, practical self.

  “Father O’Keefe came over yesterday. He helped,” she said, as if she’d read my mind.

  I wondered if this was before or after Rory had hurt her but said nothing.

  “Would you come to the florists with me? Tomorrow? And see Father O’Keefe so we can choose the hymns?”

  “Mm.” I wiped a tear away and sniffed.

  “It’s easier if you keep busy,” said Alison in a small voice and I remembered that Finn’s grandfather, her father, had died the year before. “Shall I come to the cottage and help pick out some clothes?”

  Her question floored me for a moment. When I realised that she meant choosing something for Finn to be buried i
n, I broke down.

  “He’s only got one suit and I don’t know if it fits him any more.” My voice clotted in my throat and my fingers picked at the piping on the edge of the chintzy sofa cover.

  She squeezed my hand again. “Well, we’ll find something. The funeral directors also wondered if you had a good picture of him for the service booklet and to show in the church?”

  I had thousands of pictures of him.

  “Did you want to say something? On Friday? You knew him better than anyone,” she said, and I swallowed hard and stared at my lap.

  “Yes… yes… Oh. I’ve brought his bike over. It’s yours now of course,” I scrambled out, desperately needing to think of something other than Friday.

  Alison laughed, a light tinkling bell of a laugh, so different from the deep, rumbling belly laugh that Finn had. “What use is it to me? I can’t ride the thing and I always hated him having it.”

  “Oh. Perhaps Rory…?”

  “He doesn’t even know Finn had a bike. You keep it. We can sort out the paperwork later if you need to. Finn would have wanted you to have it. He certainly wouldn’t have wanted his father to have it.”

  I didn’t really know what to say. My gaze fixed on a loose tuft in the taupe carpet in front of me.

  “Will you stay on at the cottage?” Alison asked, head tilted to one side, bird-like.

  I sucked in a long breath and shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose so. I don’t have anywhere else. I don’t know if I can afford to pay the rent and the bills on my own, even with the new job coming. I don’t have anywhere else though.”

  “Well, maybe see what the benefits office says? I would say you could stay here but I don’t think Rory would agree to it.”

  I didn’t want to think how much Rory would batter her if she asked. Without Finn around to exact retribution, I shuddered to think how much Rory might beat her, even without that kind of provocation.

  I smiled thinly. “I’m sure I’ll work something out. The rent’s paid for this month and I have enough for next so I’m okay for a few weeks at least.”

  Did it matter? I assumed I would be dead long before that.

  A thought struck me. “Oh. Do you need money for the funeral?”