Magick (The Dragonfly Chronicles Book 2)

by Heather McCollum

  “Svala, doona do this. Think of yer bairn. He will have a murderer for a mother.”

  Tears washed out of Svala’s eyes. “Don’t speak of my baby. You know nothing about the love for a child.”

  “Aye I do. I love Dalla as my child. She needs my help.” Merewin felt the frozen mud at the edge give way as her foot slipped, almost tumbling her into the pond.

  Svala grabbed at Merewin’s bound hands and moved to slip the knife in. “Don’t struggle now, Merewin. Just be a good woman for once and stop fighting. Hauk doesn’t want you. He walked out on you.”

  Tears ran down Merewin’s cheeks. She didn’t believe it. He would come. He’d released and married her. He’d sworn to protect her. “He loves me, Svala.” Saying the words out loud filled Merewin’s exhausted, poisoned body with strength, strength enough to fight.

  Svala lunged toward her wrists and Merewin twisted, grasping Svala and using their combined weight to send them both into the freezing pond. Needles pricked along Merewin’s skin as the biting water smacked away breath. She kicked toward the surface. The water filled her ears, mixed with thrashing and bubbles. Its stagnant essence filled her mouth and nose as she fought to surface. She broke through, gasping. She circled her bare legs underneath. If Bjalki hadn’t ripped the heavy skirts away, she’d have sunk. With hands still tied her legs churned against the thick water toward the edge.

  Behind her Svala surfaced and resubmerged, then came up again flailing. “Help!” she screeched. “I can’t swim.”

  Merewin’s feet struck solid ground near the muddy edge. She glanced back. Let her die. How could she save Svala with her hands still bound anyway?

  “My baby,” Svala spluttered and submerged again. Merewin stilled in the icy water and slowly turned back to the splashing. The bairn, the innocent child nestled in Svala’s womb would die with the mother.

  “Dear Earth Mother, what am I doing? Insane.” Merewin’s toes squished down into the mud as she lurched off the solid edge, and kicked back out to the floundering Svala.

  Svala grabbed her, dragging them both underwater.

  Merewin fought, using her two hands together to hit.

  The woman’s panic sent her strength, strength that would kill all three of them if Merewin couldn’t subdue the thrashing.

  As they surfaced, Merewin struck Svala’s chin hard with bound fists. It stunned Svala enough that Merewin could grab the long braid with her fingers. As she ducked under water, Merewin realized that her feet could touch the bottom of the pond just a little below them. Merewin anchored her toes into the rocks and hauled Svala by the hair toward shore. Merewin kicked twice to bring her back to the surface for air. Svala continued to flounder and scream but her hair was long enough that Merewin could stay in front. Merewin bobbed under again, catching a foot hold, and towed Svala with every bit of strength she still possessed. With each step, Merewin’s pain numbed along with the rest of her.

  Earth Mother, lend me strength! Merewin’s toes dug into the deep pond mud. A small burst of warmth fed up through her legs to reach the jade stone between her breasts. Warmth and power spread through Merewin’s core. Prickles of feeling returned and she trudged forward toward the shore. Thin sharp ice ringed the lip of the pond. Merewin used her bound hands, still holding onto Svala, to chip through it.

  Svala’s heavy floundering ceased. Merewin crawled up the edge, hefting Svala’s unconscious body half out of the freezing hole. Merewin hadn’t the strength to pull her free completely. Merewin lay on her side, bare feet lodged under one of Svala’s arms to keep the woman from falling back in the pond.

  It felt as if she would freeze to the ground. Merewin could see the fire flickering in the clearing but she couldn’t move to it. Numbness wrapped around her body. She trembled as her eyes shut.

  “Hauk! Help me!” Merewin screamed into the night. But all that came out of her frozen lips was a whisper that the wind carried away.

  ****

  Hauk’s battle cry brought forth several men from the village. They came running with battle axes before them. Gamal reached him first.

  Hauk breathed hard through his nose. Steam rolled off his bare arms. The sight of Bjalki touching Merewin still tortured him. The faces of his dead son, dying parents, and crying Dalla seemed to float before his eyes. Enemies surrounded, and he held his bloodied sword in his uninjured hand.

  Power radiated through him, pulsing with the beat in his blood. Pent up despair and fury, the beast, had found an outlet. It poured from him now, mixed with the raw energy that he’d always had but had squelched with self control. Control was gone and power surged like a sun burning deep within. He let the blinding power emerge. Throwing arms wide, his chest flexed as he stood over Bjalki’s twitching body. A roar of rage bellowed out into the night, and he swung his sword down to strike against the man who had become the symbol of all Hauk’s enemies.

  “Hauk!” Gamal’s voice barely registered in Hauk’s bloodthirsty mind. A solid hand fell upon his shoulder and he turned toward it, ready to strike. “Hauk, it is me, Gamal.” Gamal’s hand clenched Hauk’s shoulder. “You are,” Gamal started and hesitated at the look in Hauk’s cold eyes. “You’re arm, it’s sliced.” Gamal grabbed a rag from one of the onlookers and wrapped it around Hauk’s shoulder.

  Hauk stood still, breathing deeply, warring against the berserker in him to regain control. But his mind continued to picture the leer on Bajalki’s face. Hauk snarled and raised the sword once more toward Bjalki’s body.

  Gamal’s word came low. “Hauk, it would show weakness to chop up a slain man. Rest your sword. There are more urgent things. You must find Merewin.”

  Merewin. Her name poured through him, drawing him back from the darkness, taming the fire. Hauk took several full breaths, caging the berserker. “He took Merewin.”

  “Where?” Gamal asked and put pressure on Hauk’s arm to get him to point the blood washed sword towards the ground.

  “He said things...what he’d done,” Hauk began.

  “You killed him before you found out where,” Gamal said nodding. “I’d most likely do the same.” Gamal turned to the small crowd held back by the intensity in Hauk’s stance. “Merewin’s been taken against her will. This whole night was a trick on us by Bjalki.”

  “And Svala,” Hauk said. “He said that much before...” he looked around. “Before I lost control.” Hauk wiped the blade on the grass. “We must find her,” he paused as if hearing something. “We must find her now!”

  “Can she heal us then?” One man spoke out.

  “She already has,” Hauk murmured, and ran to Gamal’s house to retrieve his war horse.

  Gamal followed Hauk into the sacred trees, watching the ground for tracks. They walked, leading their horses behind them.

  “This is taking too long,” Hauk growled, as he held a burning torch over Bjalki’s tracks. “I need to get to Merewin now. I feel,” he looked at Gamal. “She needs me.”

  A screech pealed out from the bushes as an animal hurled toward them. Hauk held the torch higher as Gamal pulled his short sword. Merewin’s pet stopped before him chattering and jumping.

  “What is that?” Gamal asked, bringing his sword around. Hauk stayed him.

  “It’s Merewin’s mink.” He bent down. “You know where she is.” The little beast continued to leap and chatter. “We follow,” Hauk said, and jumped upon his horse.

  The small black fur darted ahead amongst the trees. Hauk pushed his horse after the animal. They dodged branches and flew over fallen logs. Whenever he’d lose track of the mink, it would chatter loudly. Hauk used attuned senses to track it. As they approached a large outcropping of stone, Hauk smelled the fire. He leaned forward, horse bursting through the brush.

  “Merewin!” he yelled as they plunged into a clearing lit by a small fire. “Merewin, where are you?” Hauk jumped down, and pivoted in a tight circle searching the space, but it was empty.

  “Hauk, ye came.” The small voice caught him, and he d
ropped to his knees before the edge of a black pond. He felt more than saw, lifting Merewin’s bound arms up and hauling her away from the frozen water. Her body was stiff and cold, like the dead.

  “Nay, Merewin!” he yelled. Frantic lips moved over her pale face as he wrapped her in his arms. She was too cold, stiff. Was he too late? Hauk carried her over to the fire, rubbing arms and legs, turning her this way and that so the fire heat could sink in. The fire rose as he wished it, bigger, stronger. Sweat beaded on his forehead. “You are ice,” he whispered into her hair.

  Gamal charged up behind him. The little mink chattered and leapt up Merewin’s clothes to nuzzle the back of her neck under the wet tangle of hair. With a quick slip of a dagger, Hauk cut through the leather bindings around her wrists. “My love, Merewin,” he said as he rocked them. “Do not die.”

  She sighed against Hauk and began to shiver. “I’m alive, and ye are here.” The happiness in her voice tugged at his guilty heart. The mink jumped down from Merewin and ran chattering toward the pond.

  “Merewin, I am so sorry.” Hauk brushed soaked hair back from her forehead and looked into half open eyes.

  “But ye came for me. There is no need to be sorry.”

  “I left you there, for that bastard to take. I doubted...” Merewin put a finger against his lips.

  “Later. Now we need to save Dalla.”

  Gamal dragged Svala from the water. “What should we do with her?”

  “She was going to kill you, wasn’t she?” Hauk asked, his face once more of stone. “She’s responsible for the sickness, too. For Dalla.”

  Merewin nodded.

  “We leave her, then,” Gamal said, stepping away from where she lay on the cold ground. “Justice.”

  Merewin grabbed Hauk’s arm. “She carries a bairn, Hauk, an innocent life. It is why I saved her from that pond. Don’t condemn the child for the insanity of the mother.”

  Hauk took only a moment and then nodded toward Svala. “Take her.”

  Gamal wrapped Svala in a blanket and mounted his horse. “I’ll take her to Ragnar’s. She can see the sickness she’s caused.”

  Hauk settled Merewin before him on his horse. The little mink jumped from a branch and climbed up Merewin’s hair to crawl close. “Take me to Dalla,” Merewin murmured. “There’s no time.”

  Chapter 13

  “By the love of Freyja, you are frozen through!” Bera cursed and ranted as she stripped Merewin down and cocooned her in warm blankets.

  “Where is Alrik?” Merewin asked, as she glanced between Dalla and Bera. “Was he poisoned?” Needles of pain stabbed along Merewin’s extremities as the warmth battled the sharp cold still claiming her skin. Hauk set Merewin down next to Dalla’s bed so she could lean against the wall.

  Bera’s eyes teared slightly. “Nay, he was not. I sent him to a girl in town who watches after him for me sometimes. I thought he would sleep better there.”

  Merewin nodded, head feeling twice as heavy as it should. Some of the potent poison still sat within, muting her own powers. The fight for survival, even with the gift from the Earth Mother, had drained her strength. But she must help. Merewin’s eyes searched Dalla’s white face. Tremors ran through the young girl. Merewin glided fingertips along Dalla’s forehead and cheeks. “Dalla,” she whispered.

  Dalla’s eyes flitted open. “Merewin. You came.”

  Merewin smiled reassuringly. “Everything will be fine now.”

  “Even if you can’t heal me, I just want you here.”

  Merewin glanced around. “Even if I canna heal ye?”

  “Svala said you couldn’t heal anyone,” Bera supplied, but glanced at Hauk.

  Merewin’s gaze followed.

  The apology, the guilt lay there amongst the gray in his eyes, muting the usual spark. Hauk had believed Svala.

  Merewin’s eyes teared up. A heavy pressure sat in her chest making it difficult to breathe. Her voice was small and laden with emotion. “Yet ye still came for me.”

  Hauk looked startled, but he nodded.

  Merewin squeezed her eyes and then wiped at the two beaded tears. She nodded and drew in a deep breath. Merewin smiled at Dalla. “Yer papa loves me, not my power.” Merewin’s eyes remained on the girl. “But I do have power, and I will make ye well.”

  Gamal rushed in. “Aslaug’s heart is pounding so hard, she can’t stand. Ragnar is purging but refuses to leave his wife’s side.” Gamal looked at Hauk. “If Aslaug dies, I don’t think anyone will be able to save Svala or her babe from Ragnar’s wrath.”

  There was too much for Merewin to do to succumb to Svala’s deathly mischief. Merewin’s voice rose stronger. “Bera, grab my bag of stones. Hauk, ye must carry me to Ragnar’s.”

  Bera ran across the room to grab the bag tucked away in a bucket near the pallet where Merewin had slept. “Gamal, bring Dalla,” Merewin ordered softly. She looked straight in Hauk’s eyes. “Svala lied about everything.”

  “I know…” he tried to interrupt, but Merewin held up a hand.

  “I am a powerful healer, regardless of the outcome. I will not fail to save yer people.” She squeezed his large hand near her shoulder. “Our people.” I will give my life to save them, she added silently.

  Hauk’s stare was intense. “It is too dangerous for you.”

  Merewin’s face hardened into the mask of a warrior. “I will not fail, Hauk.” She pointed to the door. “Take me.”

  Dalla moaned low, pushing Hauk into action. He whisked Merewin up into his arms and strode out into the night toward Ragnar’s. His lips whispered hot breath near her ear. “I believe in you, Merewin. I believe in your magick.”

  “Good,” she said. “I will need yer faith, every bit of it.”

  Hauk’s body tensed around her as if he feared she may slip away from him, but he continued to walk.

  Gamal followed with Dalla wrapped up in his arms.

  The tang of curdled vomit filled Ragnar’s hall. “Throw open the doors and windows,” Merewin called as she was carried inside.

  Several kitchen maids looked to Ragnar where he sat doubled over beside Aslaug on the ground by a wall.

  He nodded at them as he labored to take in breaths.

  The maids lifted flaps along the walls to circulate the air.

  “Everyone has been poisoned,” Merewin said to the room from her perch in Hauk’s arms. She looked to the scurrying maids. “Get rid of the rest of the food. Doona eat any of it.” Merewin took a deep breath, and looked around. “Hauk, I need to be in contact with the earth.”

  “Move the rushes and the rugs out of the way,” he said and several people who had not eaten the poison cleared the middle of the room. Some of them were children who hovered near their parents on the floor. Merewin’s heart cried for them. She couldn’t fail.

  “Sit me on the ground there.” She pointed to the middle of the room. Merewin cradled her stone in the palm of her hand. She felt the heat from the jade pulse strong.

  “Bera, pull out the green stone, moss agate, and give it to Aslaug. Have her lay on the ground near me,” Merewin instructed, as Hauk set her down. Merewin let her bare calves and feet rest on the dirt. She closed her eyes. “Pass out the grayish-silver, long crystals to those very ill and have them lie down. Keep one for Dalla.” Merewin began to breathe deeply. Tentatively she pulled at the energy beneath, from the earth. It came slowly, sluggishly. After several moments of breathing she said, “place Dalla on me, her back against my chest.”

  Dalla’s slight weight pushed into Merewin and she inhaled the sweet smell of youth and innocence in her hair as it rested under her chin. Panic began to well up. Dalla was still young, and she was still so weak. What if she couldn’t heal her?

  “I will not fail,” Merewin enunciated softly through gritted teeth.

  “Aye, Merewin.” Hauk’s voice was close, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. “You will not fail.” His words were intense, solid, as if they held substance she could grab onto. His trus
t shot another wave of heated energy up from the ground to engulf her and Dalla. Magick.

  Merewin opened her eyes to look into his. “Ye have yer own magick, Hauk. I feel it.”

  Silence hung between them as he stared back into her eyes.

  “Help me save her.” Merewin studied his eyes.

  “Tell me what to do.”

  “Take the purple amethyst and put it into one of her hands.” She waited until he found it. “Place the yellow citrine in the other. Close her hands around them. Aye, like that.” She watched around Dalla’s hair. “Lay the long silver one that Bera saved, lay that on the hollow of her throat.” Merewin closed her eyes and drew at the energy trapped in the earth. It came easier, up through the stones. The jade that lay between them grew hot. A chattering sound came close. Bela crawled into a ball near her ear, sending another jolt of earth energy. She smiled. “Even ye have a bit of magick, Bela.”

  Merewin tested the power, channeling it softly into Dalla, feeling for the poison. It lay along the conduits throughout her body that controlled all body functions. The damage was extensive. Merewin tugged at the poison around her lines of energy. It shifted, lessened, but did not leave the girl. Merewin squeezed her eyes tighter. Her hands fisted so hard that nails dug into her palms.

  Merewin concentrated, pulling desperately through the stones at the power from the earth beneath her body. “Dearest Earth Mother, lend me yer strength. Use me to flow into this child.” Merewin felt a rush of heat as she opened herself to the earth’s power, but her own body wasn’t strong enough to hold it all. She felt it drain away back into the ground.

  “Nay!” she yelled. “I will not fail ye.” Tears trickled out from beneath her shut eyes.

  She felt Hauk’s warm, strong hands grip her shoulders on either side of Dalla. He kneeled over them, straddling them. “You will not fail us, Merewin. We will save her.” His voice, deep with raw emotion, shook Merewin. She opened her tear-blurred eyes. His eyes, stormy gray, narrowed with concern and something more. “I will roll you two to your sides so that we both touch the ground.” He rolled them gently over.