by A. E. Rayne
‘I don’t know,’ she admitted, glancing at the door. ‘I don’t know what to do. The book hurts people. Everyone wants to hurt people with it. Jaeger. Morana. Draguta.’
Else frowned, wiping her hands on her striped apron as she took a seat beside Meena, glancing at the door herself, wondering if she should lock it. ‘But while Morana is ill, and with Draguta gone, no one can use the book. You have a chance.’
Meena swallowed. ‘A chance?’
‘To take it,’ Else whispered. ‘Take the book and leave Hest.’
Meena’s eyes were round. She shivered. ‘I... I don’t know how to. I don’t know where to go.’ That wasn’t true. She would go to Andala. To Berard. But Andala was broken, not safe from Draguta. And if Draguta knew she had the book, she would come for her. She would do anything to take it back. ‘They would find me. Any of them. All of them. They wouldn’t let it go.’
‘Could you destroy it?’ Else wondered. ‘Burn it? Throw it into the fire and run away?’
The door swung open, and Jaeger strode in, frowning at Else. ‘What are you doing?’ he glowered. ‘Sitting down like a lady? Why aren’t you working? Perhaps you are of no use to me? There are plenty of servants I could choose to be in my chamber. Why should I keep a slovenly, old crone like you?’
Meena hurried to her feet. ‘I was just asking Else some questions,’ she mumbled. ‘It was my fault. I was asking if she knew of any way to help Morana.’
‘Why?’ Jaeger peered at Else. ‘Are you a healer?’
Else stared at Meena, then turned to Jaeger. ‘I... well, I have been many things in my time, and yes, I have done some healing work. I used to help my mother when I was young.’
Jaeger didn’t care. ‘Then go up to Morana’s chamber. Now! Go and relieve Sitha. See what you can do to bring Morana back to life. And if you can’t, I shall get rid of the pair of you!’
Meena blinked rapidly, following Else to the door.
Jaeger grabbed her arm. ‘You will stay here. Return to the book. Stay with the book. Read the book. Do you understand me, Meena? You need to learn its secrets. You must protect it with your life.’
Trying not to let her disappointment show, Meena gave Else a sympathetic smile and turned back to the table where the Book of Darkness lay open, waiting to claim her.
‘Are you alright, Eydis?’ Edela wondered, rolling over, watching her little face glow in the last embers of the fire.
‘No. I’m worried about Eadmund. And Ayla. And Thorgils. I’m worried about the fort too, and what Draguta will do next. But mostly, I’m sad about Jael,’ Eydis sniffed. ‘I don’t want her to die.’
Biddy closed her eyes, sharing Eydis’ fears. Jael had gone off to battle many times, but she had seen Jael with a sword, and she had confidence in her ability to protect herself. But this was different. It was a test Jael had not faced before, and Biddy didn’t know if Jael had the strength to survive it.
‘You must try to remember her,’ Edela murmured, wanting to reassure them both. ‘Try to remember her voice. Try to see her as you do in your dreams, Eydis. You know Jael. She has been broken before, and she fought back. Many times. She will not let this defeat her. She will fight. I promise. Try to sleep now. You might find a dream. You might find a way to see Jael, so sleep now. Just sleep.’
It was impossible to think about going to sleep.
‘But you need to,’ Astrid insisted. ‘The only thing that will help Jael now is sleep, and you can’t help her do that.’ She bent down to pick up her basket. ‘I will come early tomorrow and see how she is. And remember to give her some of that tincture if she wakes. It will help bring the fever down, and once that is normal, she’ll have a better chance of recovering.’
Thorgils couldn’t help a wry smile. No one hated a tincture more than Jael, except, perhaps, Eadmund, he thought sadly still seeing the glimpse of his friend’s empty eyes in Hallow Wood.
Just before Eadmund had stabbed him.
Aleksander didn’t smile. ‘Alright, we’ll try. But one of us should stay awake. Just in case we need to come for you.’
‘Of course,’ Astrid said, yawning as she headed for the door. ‘The more sleep Jael can get, the more strength her body will have. And her mind. It was a shock.’
Aleksander nodded.
To all of them, he thought.
Thorgils sat in a chair by Jael’s bed, thinking about his mother. He shook his head, cross with himself. Jael wasn’t Odda. She wouldn’t just fade away like an old woman at the end of the threads of her life.
Not Jael Furyck.
Aleksander closed the door, and came back to the bed, sitting down with a sigh. The bed creaked.
Jael groaned and opened her eyes; opening them wider in surprise at how dark the cottage was; wondering if it was just her. Her eyes hurt.
‘Jael?’ Thorgils bent towards her.
Jael closed her eyes again, groaning some more as she tried to move.
‘Jael?’ Aleksander edged closer.
Jael could hear them both, but she didn’t want to speak. She felt odd. So cold. And weak. Her eyelids were almost too heavy to lift open again. ‘What’s wrong with me? What did you do with my baby?’ she whispered hoarsely. ‘Where is she?’
Thorgils looked at Aleksander who glanced at the basket on the table. ‘We’re keeping her safe, don’t worry,’ Thorgils smiled. ‘She’s waiting here for you.’
‘Waiting?’
Thorgils felt awkward, fumbling for the right words. ‘To say... goodbye before we...’ He couldn’t find them.
‘What?’ Jael sounded weak, but her tongue was sharp.
‘We were going to make her a small pyre,’ Aleksander said softly. ‘I thought you’d want that, rather than a burial? Unless you’d like to take her back to Andala?’
Jael blinked, trying to keep her eyes open. She didn’t have the energy to move. She couldn’t even reach out a hand as the waves of grief surged in her chest, her eyes filling with tears that felt hot against her cold cheeks.
She remembered her baby daughter’s face.
As blue as the dragur who’d killed her.
The dragur she had let kill her.
‘I want to go home. I need to see Edela,’ she whispered, closing her eyes.
‘Wait, Jael,’ Thorgils said, struggling to his feet. ‘We have to give you some more of the tincture.’ He grimaced at the stinging pain in his thigh, but he made it to the tincture bottle ably enough. ‘Astrid said it will help you, and I know how much you like a tincture.’
Jael didn’t smile, but she did open her eyes.
Aleksander grabbed a spoon. ‘Here, I’ll give it to her,’ he offered, watching Thorgils wobble uncomfortably. And, lifting Jael up with one hand, he held out the spoon while Thorgils dribbled the tincture onto it.
Jael swallowed it, not caring how vile it tasted. Not caring about anything.
She was empty. Lost.
Unsure if she wanted to be found.
The smoke was trapped in the back of Eadmund’s throat, and he couldn’t stop coughing. He could barely see through the thick fug of it. His fingers felt numb, oddly thick, and he was struggling with the drum, unable to maintain a rhythm. He couldn’t catch up with the beat echoing around his head.
The sharp looks Draguta kept giving him told him that she agreed.
‘You will need to stay still if I am to find Evaine,’ she muttered, her voice a low, hoarse whisper. ‘Close your eyes and let the smoke in. Do not fight it, Eadmund. It will take us both to Evaine. Close your eyes now, and let us drift away together.’
Morac wasn’t usually a snorer, but his breathing was so loud that Evaine was tempted to throw something at him. Between her father’s awful noise and the odd smell in his hovel, Evaine knew there was little chance of finding any sleep.
She felt tempted to get up and go for a walk.
But what if Jaeger was out there, roaming the city, searching for a woman to take to his bed, or into those gardens again?
S
ighing irritably, she rolled over, trying not to inhale, clamping her hand over her ear, realising that the only chance she had of seeing Eadmund was in her dreams.
She had to do everything she could to try and fall asleep.
Jael leaned her head back against the tree and closed her eyes.
‘You’ll have to do better than that,’ Ranuf growled. ‘Or perhaps your mother needs to clean out your ears, Jael? How could you not hear me coming?’
‘I heard you.’
‘Yet, there you are, ready to be pounced on by me. A man five times bigger than you. And how do you plan on defending yourself?’
Jael frowned at her father, lifting the flap of her cloak where she’d concealed her sword; her small hand wrapped around its iron hilt.
Ranuf was pleased, but he didn’t show it.
‘I expected you in the training ring. Aleksander is there, waiting with Gant. No one knew where you were. Not even your grandmother. Though, I suppose, it was not hard to find you. Not really.’
‘I didn’t want to train today.’
Ranuf sat down amongst the leaves. Furia’s Tree was wide enough for two, and he rested his back against its broad trunk, sighing. ‘Tell me.’
Jael was eleven. Difficult and joyful. Often morose. Always determined.
Her temper was explosive.
‘Go on,’ he urged. ‘Tell me.’ His voice was softer now.
‘I had a nightmare. I didn’t want to train today,’ Jael mumbled, trying to shut out the images of Tuura.
The nightmares came often. She couldn’t stop them.
‘What can you do about them?’
Jael shrugged. ‘Nothing.’
‘Not true.’ Ranuf leaned closer, his arm brushing against his daughter’s. ‘You can fight. You can train. You can defeat your nightmares.’
Jael didn’t look convinced.
‘We can do no more than the gods allow,’ Ranuf continued. ‘But we can do that. We can do our best to be strong and brave. To fight. To never give in. To never let the darkness win. To protect those we love.’ Jael’s eyes were on him now, he noticed. More alert. ‘You think you can be the Queen of Brekka? Lead our people, when you’re so ready to surrender? To nightmares? You would let mere nightmares defeat you? If that’s the case, how are you ever going to face down an actual enemy? One standing before you, holding a sword? If you’re scared of a nightmare, Jael, what sort of a queen would you be?’
Jael frowned, not convinced that her father really wanted her to be the Queen of Brekka at all.
‘What did you tell me when you asked me to make you a warrior? Do you remember? After Tuura?’ Ranuf shuddered, the guilt of it still fresh for him as well. ‘What did you tell me?’
‘I said I wanted to protect the people I loved. That I wanted to learn how to keep them safe.’
‘You did. And now? You can’t learn to fight by sitting here. Hiding. You can’t keep anyone safe by giving up.’
Jael closed her eyes, trying to shut out the grunting sounds those men had made as they’d torn off her clothing. Their laughter. Her screams.
The sound of Gant cutting off their heads.
She was tired of those sounds.
Ranuf reached out a hand. ‘Come on, now. We have somewhere to be, you and me.’
Jael burst into tears and fell against her father’s chest, wanting so much to feel safe. Wanting to feel his arms around her. ‘I couldn’t save Mother! I couldn’t keep her safe from those men. They hurt her. They hurt me! I couldn’t stop them!’
Ranuf wrapped his arms around his daughter, closing his eyes. ‘I know,’ he whispered, his voice breaking. ‘I know. Ssshhh. You’re safe, Jael. I have you now. You’re safe with me.’
Everything was perfect. Morac was waiting to take her to the hall, muttering to himself as he ran a hand through his iron-grey beard, sharpening its point.
He looked nervous, Evaine thought distractedly.
She had spent all morning having her hair worked into delicate rows of silver beaded braids, pulled back, away from her face to show off her cheeks. They were flushed pink. It was a warm day, but she was shivering with excitement.
This day had been so long coming.
Her wedding to Eadmund.
‘Not yet,’ Draguta purred as she glided forward in her long, silken white dress, her ebony hair shimmering down her straight back. ‘Not yet, Evaine. I have things to do, so many things, and they require your help. And if you wish to be reunited with Eadmund, then you will help me. And quickly.’
Thunder clapped overhead, and suddenly the house was dark, Morac disappearing into the shadows.
‘What things?’ Evaine whispered, her skin prickling with fear. ‘What would you have me do?’
One of them should have been asleep, but they both sat by Jael’s bed, watching her sleep instead.
Thorgils could barely keep his eyes open. He was distracted, his thoughts rumbling around his head, sometimes tumbling out of his mouth. He placed a hand on Jael’s head and frowned. ‘She’s still feverish. We don’t even know if...’
Aleksander glared at him, suppressing a yawn. ‘She’ll be better soon. We just need to wait. She will get better.’
Thorgils dropped his head into his hands, thinking about Isaura. ‘Wait till you see Andala. It’s not quite how you left it.’
‘You mean the dragon?’
‘What’s left of the dragon,’ Thorgils snorted, lifting his head. ‘The fort is an open door now. The western wall was crushed. No symbols will keep Draguta out, whatever her plans are. There’s nothing to stop her. Just some arrows and sea-fire and a few thousand men. Men. Not monsters. Men.’
‘But we have the Book of Aurea now, so whatever her plans are, she’ll have a much harder time of it. Once we get the book back to Andala. To Edela.’
Thorgils didn’t look convinced. ‘But Draguta has the Book of Darkness, and surely that’s a more powerful book?’
Jael moaned, and they both looked at her, but her eyes didn’t open.
Aleksander wondered if he should try another wet cloth; imagining what Biddy would do. He was too tired to think clearly, though, and he could feel himself panicking again, realising that he needed to get some sleep before he was no help to anyone. ‘All we can do is be here with Jael. She needs us. She will come back to us, and then we’ll go home. Leave Draguta and the Book of Darkness for another day. It’s Jael we need to focus on now.’
Thorgils yawned, looking towards his bed. ‘I’ll get some sleep, unless you want to go first? As you say, we need to help Jael, and I can’t even think straight.’
Aleksander didn’t turn around as he nodded, picking up Jael’s ice-cold hand and holding it gently in his.
Meena fell out of bed, cracking her hip on the flagstones.
Jaeger jerked awake. ‘What? What is it?’
‘Nothing,’ Meena gasped, shaking all over as she hauled herself back into the bed. Her heart was pounding, and she was mostly still asleep, but she had enough wits about her to know that she didn’t want to encourage Jaeger to wake up.
‘You’re sure?’ he mumbled. ‘You didn’t have a dream?’
‘No,’ Meena whispered. ‘No.’
She lay still, almost holding her breath, waiting for her heart to slow down. Waiting to hear Jaeger fall asleep.
And, eventually, he did.
Sighing, Meena rolled over, facing the wall. It was a dark night, but she could still make out the indentations in the stones. It reminded her of Varna’s chamber, and she thought of her grandmother and her aunt, both of whom had been so desperate to get their claw-like hands on the Book of Darkness. And if Morana recovered, the book would be hers. Jaeger would make her use it to cause pain and death. To kill everyone who stood in his way.
Including Berard.
But if she tried to take the book? If she took it and ran, tried to find her way to Andala, what then?
Draguta would see her.
She would watch her, follow her, take it herself, M
eena was sure.
And then no one would be safe.
Draguta was growing impatient with Evaine, and though it was usually no effort to hold a trance, she felt dizzy, struggling to think. ‘You will do it!’ she barked irritably, ‘for I have Eadmund here, with me. And if you want to be with him again, then you will get my book and bring it to me. Eadmund is waiting for you to come, Evaine. But he will not wait long before he turns around and heads straight back to his wife!’
‘But, but...’ Evaine panicked. ‘How? How will I get it to you? I don’t even know where you are!’
‘Flane,’ Draguta said. ‘We are in a town called Flane. Take a horse and leave the city. Ride out past the stones. Turn left once you pass them. At the first village you come to, ask where Flane is. Take your father’s coins. Pay for someone to help you. Guide you. You are not useless, Evaine, despite what everyone thinks. You’re more than capable of completing this journey, as I did. Of bringing me what I need. What will help Eadmund stay safe from Jaeger, and far away from his wife. Remember now, Jaeger wants to kill Eadmund and take you for himself. And Jael Furyck...’ Draguta couldn’t help but smile, almost feeling her life slipping away. ‘You don’t want Eadmund to give up waiting for you, do you?’
Evaine looked around. She was still standing in her father’s house; still wearing her wedding gown, but now she knew that it was all a dream, and if she wanted to make it a reality she was going to have to follow Draguta’s orders.
‘I must go!’ Draguta snapped. ‘You will do everything in your power to get that book to me quickly. Take a knife with you, and use it if anyone tries to stop you. You’re very experienced with knives, aren’t you, Evaine, so I don’t think you will have a problem!’
5
For the first time, Astrid was certain she looked as worried as she felt. ‘The fever has a hold on Jael. It will not let her go,’ she said quietly to Aleksander. ‘Or perhaps...’