Night of the Shadow Moon

by A. E. Rayne

  Teeth glowed in the darkness.

  Hundreds of pairs of teeth.

  Wolves.

  ‘Jael!’ Edela called out loudly.

  But Jael was already out of bed. She stumbled around, trying to avoid tripping over the fire pit, jumping at a booming clap of thunder that shook the house.

  Everyone was awake then.

  ‘Jael!’ Eydis was creeping towards her, hands out, feeling her way across the room.

  The puppies had quickly retreated under the bed again.

  Jael searched for her swordbelt, disoriented, cursing herself for not keeping it close by. Finding it, at last, slung over her cloak, she hurried to tie it around her waist. ‘I have to go and get the book! Axl’s in danger!’ she cried, running to the door.

  ‘What is happening?’ came Branwyn’s frantic cry as she rose up on her elbows.

  ‘I have to go!’ Jael called. ‘Barricade the door after me! And light a fire!’

  More thunder crashed overhead as Jael reached the door. ‘Biddy! Get Eydis. Take her to Edela! Keep them safe!’ She threw away the barricades they had put in place after the raven attack, pulled open the door and froze.

  The house was surrounded by soldiers.

  ‘Wolves!’ Axl screamed. ‘Wolves!’

  The river, Aleksander panicked. Where is the river?

  He was as terrified as his horse, whose nostrils were flaring, smelling what was coming for them all. He tried not to remember Ren, his horse who had been killed by wolves.

  He couldn’t let it happen again.

  But there wasn’t one wolf or even a pack.

  There were hundreds of pairs of eyes; panting, rumbling bodies surging towards them.

  ‘Go! Go!’ Aleksander bent lower, urging his horse on. He couldn’t smell the river, just rain and fear. ‘Go!’

  ‘Left!’ he heard her, at last. There was a calm certainty in that voice. ‘Left! Now!’

  Aleksander tugged on the reins, listening to Axl and Amma, still close behind him. At least he hoped that was the sound he heard. He couldn’t turn around now.

  It was too dark. He couldn’t see.

  He was lost.

  Where now?

  ‘It’s coming!’ he heard her say. ‘It’s coming! You’ll need to jump! Faster!’

  Jael slammed the door.

  Kormac was scrambling about in the darkness, trying to find his tinderbox.

  Aleksander. She could feel Aleksander’s terror.

  Jael stared at the door. There was nothing she could do. There were too many soldiers. Only Kormac could offer her any help to fight her way through them.

  There had to be something she could do!

  ‘Grandmother?’ she cried desperately.

  ‘It’s the same,’ Edela murmured, panicking. Trying not to. ‘Do you remember the symbol?’

  ‘No!’ Eydis called from beside her, where Biddy was keeping her close. ‘It won’t work! They are too far away. We need a different symbol!’

  Jael hurried to her side, gripping Eydis’ hand, remembering Eirik’s words. ‘Eydis, think. See the book. How can we save them? Which page?’

  Eydis shook all over, her head tumbling with symbols; none of which felt right. She shut out all the noise until the only sound she could hear was the rhythmic thudding of her heart.

  She knew this book. It was a book of light, white magic.

  Her grandmother’s book.

  Eydis gasped, surprised by that.

  But there was no time; she had to find the page.

  ‘The wolves are coming,’ Edela said faintly. ‘They smell blood.’

  Then Eydis knew.

  ‘I see it!’

  Axl could hear the rushing of the river, over the rushing of the wolves, over the screaming of Amma, and the pounding of his heart.

  He could hear the rushing river.

  But it was too late.

  Up snapped a jaw and clamped down on his horse’s hind-leg and he tumbled down in a crashing roll of horse and ground and legs and teeth. ‘Arrrhhh!’ he screamed as he drew his sword and slashed into the night.

  Wailing and whimpering.

  ‘Axl!’ he heard Amma’s terror.

  ‘Amma!’ he heard Aleksander’s scream and then the tumbling of more horses and the low growl from bellies and the tearing of flesh and the desperate need to feed.

  And then the pain.

  ‘Cut me!’ Eydis cried. ‘Make me bleed, Jael! I will draw it! I can see it!’

  Eydis pulled herself away from Biddy and dropped to the ground, feeling around, pushing the rug away until she felt bare floorboards.

  Jael grabbed Eydis’ hand, unsheathed her knife and sliced it across Eydis’ left palm. She rolled her fingers into a fist, squeezing them together. Dropping the knife, she dipped Eydis’ finger into the bloody wound. ‘Draw!’ she urged, pushing her finger to the floorboards. ‘Draw!’

  Eydis knelt there, closing her eyes, seeing the symbol glowing in the darkness, burning like white flames. She began drawing, listening as the words echoed around her head like a howling wind. And she repeated them loudly.

  ‘Wait! You need more blood!’ Jael dipped Eydis’ finger into her bleeding hand again, then placed it quickly back on the floor.

  And Eydis kept drawing the symbol as she chanted, while everyone around her held their breath.

  Aleksander staggered, panting, his sword out.

  The river was there.

  The river was there!

  He’d pushed his injured horse into the water, and she was trying to swim, but Axl and Amma were underneath a pile of furious wolves, trapped with their own horses.

  Aleksander stepped forward, bellowing, trying to draw the wolves away.

  Jaeger knocked everyone else out of his way as he fought towards Axl Furyck. He could see him. He could feel his body shuddering with need to dig his teeth into his flesh.

  To tear him to pieces. To end him.

  And then his bitch wife.

  He could smell her terror as he leapt over her, surging towards Axl Furyck, jaw extended, ready to sink his teeth into him.

  And then a searing stab of pain.

  And he was whimpering, awake, panting, back at the stones, sitting up, confused.

  Jaeger looked around at the bodies collapsed in a circle. No one was moving. The storm was still raging, and they were still in their trance. He screamed in frustration, hoping that The Following could finish what he could not.

  Aleksander dragged Axl away from the dead wolf, searching for Amma. He followed her wails of fear in the darkness, his bloody sword extended, his head swivelling with speed.

  The wolves crept closer and closer, enclosing them as they backed up slowly towards the river. Low growls rolled through their bodies to the backs of their teeth. Salivating. Ready to launch.

  Blood dripping from fangs.

  ‘We have to run,’ Aleksander said calmly, pulling Amma to her feet. She stumbled against him, shaking all over.

  Axl had drawn his sword. He could barely stand. His head was buzzing as he swayed next to Aleksander, panting.

  Two against how many?

  They kept backing up, hearing the river; sensing how close it was.

  ‘On me, Axl,’ Aleksander said. ‘I’ll take Amma.’ And then, before another heartbeat. ‘Now!’

  And the three of them turned, running, stumbling as fast as their bleeding limbs would take them towards the water; listening to the thunderous pounding of paws and claws and blood-thirsty fury behind them.

  ‘Jump!’ Aleksander cried, and he threw Amma into the water, plunging in after her.

  Axl, staggering, limping, had one foot in the air, ready to follow them. Then he felt the fangs pierce straight through his leg.

  He screamed.

  Morana was victorious.

  She had the King of Brekka in her teeth. She could smell his fear, taste his blood, and her body vibrated with victory as she tore at him, shaking her head from side to side.

  She wou
ld devour him whole.

  And then he was gone.

  And she was gasping, falling back to earth.

  Eydis slumped forward, exhausted.

  ‘Eydis?’ Jael swallowed. ‘Eydis?’

  No one knew what had just happened.

  The flames were glowing now, and Kormac was creeping around lighting lamps as Jael pulled Eydis into her arms. ‘Eydis?’

  ‘The wolves have gone,’ Edela said breathlessly from her bed. ‘The symbol worked, Eydis. They are gone. I feel that. Do you?’

  Eydis nodded against Jael’s chest.

  Gisila was beside herself. ‘What has happened? Mother? Jael? Somebody tell me!’ she cried.

  ‘Axl!’ Aleksander screamed, reaching for his arm again.

  The sky was bright with stars now, glimmering reflections on the dark water, but Axl had drifted away from them as they weaved down the cold river on a steady current. Aleksander had a firm grip on Amma; one arm around her chest, pulling her close to him.

  But he couldn’t reach Axl.

  And Axl didn’t appear strong enough to reach him.

  ‘That book! That book!’ Morana seethed as she crawled around in the darkness, heaving air into her lungs. ‘Gerod has to get that fucking book!’

  Jaeger didn’t care what she was saying.

  He didn’t care that she was irate.

  He was irate!

  He launched himself at Morana as she struggled to her feet, knocking her to the ground. ‘You bitch!’ he screamed. ‘You useless bitch!’ His teeth were bared, glowing white before her eyes, his spittle flying in the wind. ‘You had me kill your mother! For what? What have you done? With the most powerful book ever written? You’ve done nothing! Nothing but failed me! And they still live, don’t they? They all still live because of you!’ He was roaring, his eyes bulging, shaking off the hands he could feel pulling on his arms.

  He wrapped his fingers around Varna’s throat.

  He shook his head.

  Morana’s throat.

  He squeezed and squeezed and then stopped, dropping her back to the earth.

  ‘Stop it!’ Yorik bellowed furiously. Anger burned in his mismatched eyes as he clung to Jaeger’s arm.

  ‘You need me!’ Jaeger yelled, throwing them all off as he stood. ‘You need me, and you will remember that! Without me, this book means nothing, and you know it! Without me, you cannot bring her back!’

  Jaeger blinked as he stared at Morana.

  Morana blinked as she turned to Yorik.

  How did he know that?

  Amma clung to Aleksander’s chest, so he had his arms free as he stretched for Axl with everything he had.

  Axl, who had been his annoying little brother since he could remember.

  Axl, who was hopefully now his king.

  And on his eighth try, Aleksander finally caught him, just by his fingertips but he wasn’t letting go.

  He gritted his teeth and held on as the river ran and the sky lightened, and they were nowhere near shore, and all of their horses were lost, and Amma sobbed, her head buried in his chest.

  But the wolves had gone.

  31

  Morana could barely control the fire burning inside her mouth. She stomped along with her staff, ready to shove it down Jaeger’s throat as they all walked back to the castle.

  That he would dare touch her? Threaten her? She shuddered, and her hair shook like a tree in a storm, vibrating with intensifying rage.

  Yorik reached out and gripped her arm, his face once again a mask of calm. Jaeger was right, he knew, and there was little they could do except continue to keep him on side. ‘Perhaps it is time that I had a look at the book,’ he announced.

  Jaeger came to a halt.

  Morana’s mouth fell open as she stumbled to a stop beside him.

  ‘You?’ Jaeger said slowly. ‘Why you?’

  ‘I do not doubt Morana’s skill,’ Yorik said diplomatically. ‘But I understand your desire to advance things more... quickly.’ He avoided Morana’s eyes, which he was certain were popping out of her head in fury. ‘I have my own knowledge of these things. I may be able to help.’

  ‘Help to do what?’ Jaeger wondered.

  ‘As you said yourself, we need you to raise her. And we cannot do that until we translate the ritual spell. Morana understands much of it now, but one passage remains a problem. With my help, perhaps she can finish the translation, and we can make a start? A shadow moon is coming. It’s an opportune time. We must be ready.’

  Yorik spoke so commandingly that both Jaeger and Morana held their tongues.

  ‘And what can she do, this woman? Why do we need her?’ Jaeger asked.

  ‘The book was hers once,’ Yorik explained. ‘She, and only she, can bring Raemus back from the Dolma.’

  But Jaeger had stopped listening. He was suddenly ravenous, noticing Meena for the first time as she jiggled beside him, tapping her head. ‘Come to my chamber then, tonight. Both of you. We shall see what use you are then, Yorik Elstad.’ He turned to walk away. ‘But don’t be seen coming into the castle. Take the back entrance. I don’t want to draw any attention to what we’re doing.’

  Yorik tried not to smile, which was easy when he looked at Morana’s scowling face. ‘Of course. Perhaps it is best if you go on ahead then? We’ll wait and find our own way.’

  Jaeger didn’t even acknowledge him as he dragged Meena away.

  Most of The Following had already passed them, but Yorik waited for the last stragglers to disappear, wanting to speak to Morana alone. He held his finger to her lips, sensing her need to burst into flames. ‘Patience, now,’ he urged. ‘Think of how long we have waited. Think of those who came before us who never had the opportunity we have now. It is not about who translates the ritual. It is about being able to use it at all!’

  Morana sighed, her temper receding slowly.

  Yorik had always been calm in the face of her fury. He would watch her spark and explode and barely blink. ‘Fine!’ she spat, at last, banging her staff onto the ground before shuffling away into the darkness.

  The hammering was insistent.

  Jael frowned and strode to the door, Toothpick’s hilt exposed, her hand hovering near his pommel, considering what was possible.

  Kormac had a sword, but there was no one else. Fyn, Aron, and Aedan were far away. Beorn and the Osslanders were in the stables.

  It was possible, but...

  Jael reluctantly pulled open the door.

  Gerod was there, black-robed, striding into the house. ‘Take the girl!’ he ordered to the temple guards behind him.

  Jael was surprised. ‘No!’ She moved to block his path. ‘You will not take her!’

  ‘Take the girl!’ Gerod repeated sharply as the guards rushed towards Eydis, who clung even tighter to Biddy.

  ‘Wait!’ Jael yelled. ‘Why?’ She drew Toothpick from his scabbard, holding them all back. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to for long.

  ‘You won’t give me the book, so I am taking the girl. Perhaps it will encourage you to change your mind?’ Gerod growled, nodding to his guards to get on with it.

  ‘Wait!’ Jael tried to think. ‘What will you do to her?’

  ‘Whatever we like until you give us the book,’ Gerod snarled. ‘You think you can come here? Use that book against us?’ He shook his head, clicking his tongue. ‘You are not welcome here, Queen of Nothing. And that book is not yours. Give it to me, and we will allow you all to leave. Don’t and...’

  He stared at Eydis, his eyes glinting angrily in the flames.

  ‘I will go!’ Eydis insisted boldly. ‘Let me go, Jael! You cannot give them the book!’

  Eighteen years ago, when Jael had been younger than Eydis, men with swords – angry, seething men – had burst into a cottage and attacked her and her mother, raping them both. Repeatedly.

  She glanced at Gisila who looked terrified.

  Everything Jael had done in those eighteen years was meant to take her as far away from that
moment in her life as possible. And she would never consign another person to that torturous fate.

  Not someone she loved.

  Not Eydis.

  ‘I’ll give you the book.’

  They had floated down the river as it frothed and rolled, and then, thankfully, calmed to gentle ripples, and eventually, they had crawled onto the bank, half drowned and so cold that they could not feel, nor think.

  But they appeared to be safe for now.

  Aleksander dragged Axl to a small huddle of bushes surrounding a solitary tree and leaving Amma with him, disappeared to find twigs and branches to make a fire. His hands were shaking, and his body was wet and weak, but somehow he managed to find an armful of most of the things they would need. His tinderbox was still in his pouch, which had remained attached to his belt, but everything was sodden, and it had taken some time to get his flint to work with the sodden tinder and the sodden twigs to make flames.

  Amma’s teeth were chattering as she tore off another strip of her dress and tried to tie it above Axl’s gaping leg wounds. He hadn’t stopped shivering. He looked so pale and exhausted. They all were, she supposed, but the teeth marks in his legs were particularly deep, gushing a never-ending flood of bright blood down his mottled skin. She needed to stop it, but her hands weren’t working, and she couldn’t tie a very tight knot.

  ‘Here,’ Aleksander said, his own teeth chattering just as loudly as Amma’s as he took the cloth and pulled tightly. ‘That’s good. Now we just need some more to cover it.’ He reached down and ripped off a strip of his own tunic. His legs were bleeding, but his wounds were not that deep. They would heal.

  So would Amma’s.

  Axl’s were a worry, though.

  Axl groaned. ‘Where are the horses?’ he asked, trying to keep his eyes open; worried by how light-headed he felt. ‘Where are we?’

  The sun had risen now, but it was a cold morning. Grey clouds rolled above their heads and it looked like more rain would come soon. ‘The horses are gone. I don’t know where we are. When Edela and I went to Tuura, everything was frozen. Nothing looks familiar here. Not yet. But all you have to worry about now is lying there while we get you warm.’