by A. E. Rayne
Meena gulped. ‘My grandmother’s chest,’ she said quietly, her cheeks reddening with the guilt of her crime. ‘She had it hidden inside an old book. I just... I remembered seeing something like this. I knew I had.’
‘So, Varna can read this?’ Jaeger wondered. ‘She uses it?’
‘I, I don’t know.’ Meena shuffled quickly away from him, tapping her head, then her ears. ‘She has used the book I found this in many times, but... I have never seen her use this spell.’ Her voice was faint, almost disappearing into the loud rain as it battered the solitary window in Jaeger’s bedchamber.
Jaeger felt a surge of impatience rise up into his throat. He didn’t want to wait any longer, suffer his father’s disparaging looks anymore, be at his mercy and watch as he groomed Haegen as his look-alike, do-nothing replacement.
It was time for things to change.
It was time for Hest to be his.
Gisila spat out her wine.
She had taken to drinking wine with breakfast, wine with lunch and dinner, wine before bed. Especially before bed. ‘What do you mean, go to Saala?’ she spluttered, shocked, grabbing the napkin Amma handed her. ‘But you are going to war!’
‘We are, of course,’ Lothar said happily between mouthfuls of warm bread and smoked cheese. ‘Did you never accompany Ranuf to battle? I’m sure you must have.’
Gisila shook her head, searching for air, trying to gather her scattered senses. ‘No, he never wished me to go.’
‘Well, I cannot imagine why,’ Lothar mumbled. ‘Many men take their women along with them. It makes no sense to leave a woman behind, not when she can offer comfort and succour, as Amma reminded me yesterday when she asked to come along.’
Gisila’s head snapped to Amma, who glanced down at her plate, avoiding everyone’s eyes as they frantically sought hers.
‘Oh, did she now?’ Osbert hummed, wondering what his sister’s motivation for that was. ‘So, you will be joining us on the road to Saala, Sister?’ he murmured, watching her squirm beneath Gisila’s obvious displeasure.
‘I shall,’ Amma said quietly, her voice heavy with the guilt of Gisila’s distress, and the anger she knew she would face from Axl. ‘I was so anxious about you all going off to war. I didn’t wish to be left behind, so far away, when I could do nothing to help.’
Lothar drank from his cup. ‘Indeed, we shall all be very grateful for your support, and Gisila’s too, won’t we, Axl?’ He nudged his stepson, whose lips were so pursed with fury, they had almost entirely disappeared.
‘Indeed, we shall.’ Axl forced the words through his teeth, too cross to even look Amma’s way. What was she thinking?
‘Although, we shan’t be going on the road with you and the men, Osbert,’ Lothar smiled at his son, belching violently and pushing his empty plate away. ‘The women will accompany me on Storm Chaser. It makes no sense for them to endure six days on horses, or being jolted about in a shit-heap of a wagon. Much more comfort awaits you ladies on board, I can assure you!’ he smiled cheerfully.
Gisila wanted to demand more wine, but she did not want to give the impression that she was falling to pieces.
But she was falling to pieces.
The sweet respite of Lothar’s coming absence had been all she had clung to for months; the dream of being alone every night without his eager hands pawing at her, thrusting himself into her, crushing the breath from her ever-shrinking frame. Her shoulders drooped as her spirits sunk lower than she could remember. There was only one hope left: that he would fall in battle. But she had her doubts as to whether he would even put himself into a position where that could occur.
Lothar Furyck was not renowned for his bravery.
Axl didn’t bother to finish his eggs. He pushed his plate away and stood up. ‘If you’ll excuse me, Mother, Uncle,’ he nodded and made to leave, ignoring Amma and Osbert entirely. ‘I must finish packing my saddlebags.’ He adjusted his sword belt and strode out of the hall before anyone could protest.
‘You’re awake!’
Jael’s smile was wide as she hurried to her grandmother’s side. Edela was propped up against a wall of pillows, her face drawn and pale, but there was a hint of life about her now. Of hope.
‘That I am,’ Edela grinned, her voice faint, her body heaving with the effort of speaking.
Biddy and Aleksander were sitting on the bed next to her, their own faces reflecting the relief on Jael’s.
‘Her fever has gone,’ Biddy announced with a smile. ‘Completely!’
‘Which means that I am cured,’ Edela decided.
‘Cured but weak,’ Biddy insisted. ‘Very weak, so you must try not to rush about.’
‘Oh, I don’t think you will have to worry about that,’ Edela croaked. She wasn’t sure she even had enough strength to move an eyebrow, let alone take herself out of bed.
‘It’s good to have you back!’ Jael said happily as she kissed her grandmother’s head, which felt cool for the first time in days. ‘I was so worried.’
‘You?’ Edela snorted. ‘I must have been in a bad way to make you worry about anything!’ She glanced behind Jael. ‘But where is that husband of yours? Is he still asleep?’
Jael looked around, but there was no Eadmund, just Ido and Vella, who were sniffing around the kitchen floor, hoping for crumbs. ‘No. I imagine he’s down on the beach with Thorgils, working on the ships.’
Edela frowned, noticing the tension on Jael’s face. ‘Now that I am well –’
‘You are not well yet, Edela,’ Biddy reminded her.
Edela rolled her eyes. ‘Forgive me. Now that I am better, we can talk about why I am here. Why we have both come.’ She reached out for Jael’s hand. ‘Aleksander tells me that he hasn’t said a word yet.’
‘No, he hasn’t,’ Jael grumbled, glaring at Aleksander. ‘Annoyingly.’
Edela smiled. ‘I have trained him well, it seems. It is not just your temper he has learned to be afraid of!’ She yawned, and her shoulders sagged.
‘I think it’s best that you take your time, Edela,’ Biddy advised. ‘You need more strength. I shall make a bone broth. It will give you some energy.’
‘Mmmm,’ Edela sighed, feeling the heaviness of her eyelids as her head sunk more deeply into the pillows. ‘I am far too weary to argue. So, perhaps I need just a little sleep to strengthen my tongue?’
‘That’s a good idea,’ Jael said, squeezing Edela’s hand. ‘It will give me a chance to check on everything down on the beach. It’s not long until we leave and I’m supposed to have some idea about what we’re going to do once we get to Saala. Now that you’re not near death, I can finally turn my mind to it!’ She smiled, but it was forced, because, although she was relieved that Edela was better, she couldn’t help wondering what had happened to Eadmund.
‘Eydis!’ Fyn cried. ‘Are you alright?’ He hurried down the hill after her, watching as she pulled herself out of the mud.
Eydis’ small face quickly turned pink. She could feel the heat on her cheeks as she dropped her head to her chest. ‘I’m fine,’ she muttered crossly. ‘I just stumbled.’
‘Here, let me help you,’ Fyn offered, grabbing hold of her arm.
Eydis, mortified that he was touching her, cringed away from him. ‘I, I can manage on my own, thank you,’ she huffed. ‘It was only a stumble. I am perfectly able to walk, you know!’
Fyn stepped back, not wishing to make things worse. He felt like a clumsy fool around Eydis; always caught between wanting to be helpful and not knowing how to achieve it. ‘I’m sorry,’ he tried. ‘It’s just so muddy with the men going up and down to the ships all day long. You really need your stick to get down the hill safely.’ It sounded like a reprimand, and Fyn hadn’t meant it to, but he could see from the vexed expression on Eydis’ face that she had certainly taken it as that.
‘I cannot find my stick,’ she said stiffly. ‘But I don’t need it. I only use it to please my father.’ And with that, she took a deep breath and started walking
towards the edge of the hill.
‘Eydis!’ Fyn called out and hurried after her again, this time grabbing her shoulders. ‘Here, at least let me point you in the right direction.’ He turned her gently towards the beach. ‘There you go, that’s better.’
His voice sounded so kind and soft that it dampened Eydis’ ire. She turned to him, conscious of the thick mud clinging to her ankles. ‘I think you are right,’ she said boldly. ‘Some help down to the beach would be useful. If you wouldn’t mind?’
Fyn smiled, suddenly as flustered as Eydis as her eyes sought to focus somewhere near his voice. ‘Yes, of course,’ he mumbled, slipping her delicate arm through his.
‘Well, what’s this, then?’ Thorgils snickered behind them. ‘I wouldn’t let the king see you walking hand in hand with his daughter. She’s not of marrying age yet, you know. And when she is, I doubt he’d want a nothing weed like you for a son-in-law!’
Fyn blushed, annoyed, and not for the first time because of Thorgils’ giant-sized mouth.
Eydis spun around, and Thorgils closed his giant-sized mouth and didn’t say another word as he followed them down the hill.
The beach was full of men and ships and noise as the shipbuilders, and their crews hurried to erect small catapults and storage boxes for the sea-fire jars on five of Eirik’s ships.
Beorn was gesticulating at Jael as they walked carefully across the stones, Eydis still with her arm through Fyn’s.
‘I don’t see how we will have time!’ Beorn exclaimed with wild eyes, his short grey curls bouncing about in the firm wind.
‘There is no choice but to find the time!’ Jael insisted just as strongly. ‘If you need to work under torch-light, we can organise that, Beorn. Whatever you need. These jars cannot roll about, even a small way, not with fire on board. We can’t have any leaks, any accidents. You need to copy what they have on the Brekkan ships, the way the jars are so tightly packed together.’ She glanced at Aleksander, the line between her dark eyebrows deepening with every moment.
‘Well, perhaps we should go and look at my ships again?’ Aleksander suggested calmly to Beorn, sensing that Jael was ready to lose control of her temper. He looked at her to join them, but she shook her head, seeing that Eydis had come.
‘You go,’ she said shortly. ‘It will be easier without me there, I’m sure.’
Aleksander shrugged and led a muttering Beorn down to the farthest end of the beach where his men were carefully unloading the jars from their ships.
‘Eydis,’ Jael smiled, trying to shake off the irritation that was sharpening her tongue. ‘Are you alright?’ She looked down at Eydis’ mud-covered cloak. ‘Did you fall over?’
Eydis looked embarrassed and said nothing.
Fyn felt sorry for her. ‘It’s very muddy on the hill after all the rain,’ he said quietly.
‘Well, best you use your stick then, don’t you think?’ Jael said firmly. ‘Have you seen Eadmund this morning?’ She turned to Thorgils, with barely a breath, her eyes darting about, unsettled by the continued absence of him.
‘No.’ Thorgils shook his head. ‘I thought he’d be here. The archers aren’t training, so I assumed he was with you.’
‘Jael.’ Eydis looked pained as she gripped Fyn’s arm to steady herself on the slippery stones. ‘That’s why I’m here. I had a dream about Eadmund.’
Jael felt her throat tighten. ‘About Eadmund? What about Eadmund?’
Eydis took a deep breath, feeling her little heart thudding with urgency. ‘He has gone to Rikka.’
The girl sat alone, sobbing. Her long black hair blew across her beautiful face, tangling in the wind. She didn’t notice. The sobs rose up out of her chest like waves of heartache heaving through her lithe body. She fell to the ground, screaming into the snow, begging the gods to come and claim her; demanding they tell her why they had done this to her family? Why they had let the Brekkans and the Tuurans do this?
Was there no justice? No one who had the power to right this wrong?
He stepped out of the shadows then.
She didn’t notice him. He was silent, and her crying had filled the secluded grove of ancient trees with overwhelming pain and noise.
She was lying there, so lost, and yet so desperately mesmerising in her sadness. He had been transfixed by her for a long time. From a distance. She was, after all, the most beautiful girl in Tuura; more beautiful than any goddess. And she was broken, her heart ripped into little pieces. Let down. Abandoned.
He couldn’t stand back and watch her suffer anymore. Not her. The one he loved. ‘I can help you,’ he murmured.
She didn’t hear him, but suddenly felt his presence behind her, and she jumped, frightened. He was dressed in a simple, grey linen tunic, but there was snow, thick on the ground. Where was his cloak?
He was young, handsome, timid, with short dark hair and a kind smile. But his eyes were full of something she had seen before. She looked away, not caring, not wishing to hear what he had to say.
‘I can help you,’ the man tried again.
‘How?’ She turned to him, her dark-blue eyes sharp on his. ‘Why?’
He came to her, kneeling before her, taking one hand, his eyes never leaving hers. He was gentle. Warm. ‘Because I know how. Because I love you.’
She frowned but didn’t pull away. He had drawn her into him with those eyes of his. They were hypnotic. ‘What can you do to help me when no one else can? When no one else will?’
He looked at her, unblinking. ‘I know of a book.’
Edela awoke, gagging. It was as though something was stuck in her throat, or perhaps it was just that she was so parched after days of sleeping that she could no longer swallow properly.
‘Grandmother!’ Jael grabbed her hand as Aleksander helped her to sit up. Biddy hurried away to get some water. ‘Take a deep breath. You were having a dream.’
Edela blinked, unsettled, confused, her head slowly tumbling back into place. She was on Oss, with Jael. And Aleksander.
Her breath started flowing more steadily now, and she felt her chest loosen as she reached for the cup Biddy held out to her. ‘Oh,’ Edela sighed. ‘Oh...’
‘Was it a bad dream?’ Aleksander wondered.
Edela frowned, brushing strands of silvery hair out of her eyes. ‘Bad?’ She stared at him, uncertain. ‘No, I wouldn’t say so.’ She took a long drink of water. ‘No, not bad. Perhaps helpful. Another breadcrumb, but I can’t quite make sense of it yet.’ Edela peered around at the worried faces, unsettled anew. ‘What is it?’ She noticed Eydis for the first time. ‘What has happened?’
‘I think it’s time to tell Jael everything, Edela,’ Aleksander said somberly. ‘Eydis has had a dream. I’m afraid we might be too late.’
8
‘But why?’ Axl asked for the third time. ‘Why put yourself in unnecessary danger? If you don’t think I can protect myself from Osbert, what hope do I have against Haaron and his sons?’ He paced about anxiously, too irritated to stand still. It wasn’t only Jael who had inherited the Furyck temper.
‘You don’t know Osbert,’ Amma tried. ‘He’s not normal!’ She reached for Axl’s hand, trying to calm him down. ‘I’ve seen him watching you. He thinks Gisila is pushing you forward to be his heir, to take Osbert’s place!’
Axl laughed. ‘How can he possibly think that? How?’ His eyes darted amongst the trees, checking for intruders upon this, which was supposed to be their goodbye. ‘But even if that were true, what did you think you were going to do to stop him?’
‘Oh, I can stop him,’ Amma said with determination. ‘He’s a bully, but he’s also a coward. And I’m not about to let him hurt you.’
Axl looked down at his cousin, at all the fire in her usually calm, gentle eyes, and he burst out laughing. She looked cross as he took her face in his hands. ‘I’m not sure I have ever been happier,’ he smiled. ‘To know that there is someone who thinks I’m worth saving. With her own two hands.’ His face was suddenly serious as he le
aned in. ‘Thank you, my sweet Amma, for wanting to save me.’ He kissed her softly.
‘What do you mean?’ she wondered when he stepped back. ‘Your mother, Edela, Jael... they all think you’re worth saving! Aleksander, Gant...’
Axl shook his head and walked away from her to where his horse stood nibbling on tall stalks of grass. He reached out and stroked her smooth, dark mane. ‘I’m not sure that’s true,’ he murmured. ‘Not really. You see, I’m not Jael.’ He turned to face Amma. ‘My father never saw any value in me. All his attention was on her. As though she were his prize. He barely even noticed I was there. My mother and grandmother felt sorry for me, and Jael ignored me because I was her little brother, because of Tuura,’ he shuddered. ‘And Gant and Aleksander just put up with me, because what else were they to do? I was the son of the king, the heir to the king. But no one knew why!’ He looked at her sadly. ‘I don’t even know why! When he had Jael? Why did he choose me?’
Amma could see the pain in his eyes. She didn’t know what to say.
‘But he made a mistake, didn’t he? Because when he died no one believed in me. No one wanted me to be king. None of his men, not even Gant! They turned their backs on me and went to Lothar. Lothar!’ he cried. ‘Lothar over me! And you love me, Amma, but you think that you need to come to Saala to protect me from Osbert. Osbert, who is a spineless coward, just like his father. Who will be king over me, just like his father, unless I do something to earn everyone’s respect. To show all of them that I’m a Furyck. Ranuf’s son. Not just some spare, accidentally made his heir. But that there was a reason behind his choice.’ His voice trailed away into the silence of the forest. ‘Not just a mistake...’
Amma hurried towards Axl and wrapped her arms around his waist, clinging to his shaking frame. ‘I’m sorry.’
He stroked her hair absentmindedly. ‘No, I’m sorry,’ he sighed, bending his head towards her. ‘I just want a chance to prove myself. I’ve never had a chance to step away from all their long shadows before.’