“Please, I have to speak with Erin. Apologise for whatever I did,” he pleaded.
“You might want your handprint on her face to fade before speaking to her,” Magnus’ voice was ice cold.
“I struck her?” Wilhelm was horrified even at the thought.
Magnus nodded.
“I could never hurt her. I care deeply for her.”
Magnus needed only to see the look of pain and confusion in Wilhelm’s eyes to know he was telling the truth. He was truly devastated by what he had supposedly done. But right now Erin needed time to herself. Her faith in Wilhelm had been shattered and it would take time and space to heal it.
“There is nothing you can do right now, Wilhelm. She is likely to turn you to dust the minute she sets eyes on you. Give her time. Perhaps in a few weeks she might be willing to discuss what happened.”
“Will you give her my apologies? Tell her if there is anything I can do that will win her forgiveness, then she need only ask.” Wilhelm could not control self-loathing that was washing over him.
“I will,” Magnus touched his shoulder. He felt a tad conflicted. Wilhelm was obviously suffering with guilt, yet he had attacked his charge, albeit unknowingly. However, he had to act on Erin’s wishes.
Sasha was riding out to meet Erin. She was keen to meet up with her friend, she needed to talk. Girl stuff.
“Hey,” Erin appeared at their meeting point. She was forever late. “Sorry, just crap with time. You must be excited, only two more weeks until you’re off to Edinburgh.”
“Yeah,” Sasha responded slowly.
“Okay, not so excited?”
“I am but, oh hell, life’s just too complicated at times.” Sasha puffed out her cheeks as they started along the bridle path.
“Tell me about it,” Erin snorted. She was the mistress of complicated. “So come on, spill the beans. What’s up?”
“I still want to go to Uni, but then there’s Heinrekh. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t pose too much of a problem as we would have a hundred different ways to talk to each other. I know Edinburgh is not far, but I’ll only be able to come back every few weekends or so.”
“And the Dark One is kicking off?” Erin did her best not to laugh.
“Yeah. He wants me to live in Vasmaar, which is obviously not going to happen. Spending two to three weeks apart at a time seems torture.”
“That’s during the term. Uni students seem to spend half their life on holiday.”
Sasha poked out her tongue. “That is not true.”
“Just a radical thought. But Heinrekh could contact you if he got a laptop or phone.”
Sasha laughed. “Are you going senile with old age already? Hello? Inter-realm reception isn’t great.”
“No, you batty Scot, I meant he could use a phone or laptop here. Not from my house of course as I would be honour bound to turn him to dust. But as he is very good at sneaking unseen into places, he could call you from McBrides.”
“You know, you’re not as thick as you look.”
“He is also rather skilled at projecting himself. He might have to work at it, but with his powers, he should be able to reach Edinburgh from your estate.”
Sasha started to giggle.
“Did I say something amusing?” Erin scowled.
“No, it’s just the irony of our conversation, of the whole situation, in fact. You are trying to help me manage my relationship with someone who is your arch nemesis.”
Erin chuckled. “It is a bit bizarre, but then I have nothing against Heinrekh. Sure, he wants me to either join his camp or he will kill me, but at least I know where I stand with him. He is honest.”
“And rather hot,” Sasha signed dreamily. “In an icy kind of way.”
“So what’s it like?” Erin grinned. “With a sorcerer?”
Sasha blushed. “We’ve not yet, you know….”
“Oh no, he’s not impotent, is he?”
“No,” Sasha laughed. “He’s more than capable. I didn’t want to just jump into bed with him. I needed to be sure this is what I want.”
“And is it?”
“Yes. Definitely. I’m going to Vasmaar tomorrow evening.”
“You hussy,” Erin beamed. “Do you want those condoms back?”
Sasha descended into a fit of giggles. “How do you explain safe sex to a Viking?”
“It’s not in their vocabulary.”
“I guess I’ll cross that bridge tomorrow. How’s Wilhelm?”
“I’m not sure. We kind of had a falling out after my birthday dinner,” Erin winced.
“What happened? Other than him getting rather drunk.”
“He also got rather Viking, and Magnus had to knock him out.”
“Rather Viking?”
“As in taking what he wanted.”
“Ah,” Sasha responded knowingly.
“Yeah. So we parted on not very good terms. Actually he was unconscious.”
“That sounds so unlike him though, he’s normally so sweet.”
“Exactly, which makes me suspect foul play somewhere.”
“Hey, Heinrekh was safely in Vasmaar and I’m certainly neutral in all of this.”
“I’m not accusing anyone. Not yet at any rate.” Erin glanced up at the sky. “I guess we’ve had our few hours of decent weather, now it’s back to the rain.”
They turned the horses back and headed for home.
CHAPTER 7
Erin was back with in the library again. Something was bothering her about Frejboren but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She summoned down any book relating to the small town; only three came. That shouldn’t take too long to scan.
Curling up in a large leather armchair, she zapped the fireplace with a bolt of energy and the dry logs leapt into flame. She was getting the hang of this energy thing pretty well. Scanning the books quickly, she was looking for anything about Frejboren or the gateway, something to give her a clue as to what was niggling away at her subconscious.
Frejboren was an unusual town, set high on a cliff top, seemingly stuck in another century. It was an ancient town that had long seen better days. It appeared to be stuck further in the past than Lokranor. At the centre of it was Voktere Castle, built by Isafor Voktere many millennia ago. He had been a supporter of Valkarin before the rift. After the realms split, he continued his support of the sorcerer until his demise. He gave up his castle to his support network, forever to be used by the Vokteren until Valkarin was raised once more.
Erin shivered at the thought. Who in their right mind would raise such a monster? Heinrekh certainly wouldn’t, he wanted power for himself. Moreover, he wanted Lokranor. Her thoughts drifted briefly to Wilhelm. She’d tried not to think about him, but it was hard, not least because of the faint bruising on her face. Deep down she knew it was not him that night, but until she could identify what had caused him to behave so abhorrently, she needed to keep a safe distance.
Twisting the Lokranor medallion in her hand, she continued reading through the books. It was as she suspected. Voktere Castle was still a strong hold for the Vokteren. The castle was now ruined, but was considered to be sacred ground for them. The majority of the Vokteren were rumoured to be living amongst the villagers of this strange town. If the Castle contained a gateway, it was likely to be guarded by the Vokteren. So she would need to find out more about them. Perhaps a cappuccino from her new machine was in order if she was to continue.
“Where’ve you been hiding?” Magnus grumbled. “We’re supposed to be practicing.”
“I’m researching,” Erin yawned.
“Has the book got words?”
Erin gave him a rude signal and continued making her coffee.
“OK, I’ll bite. What are you researching?”
Erin shoved a ginger nut in her mouth. “Vokteren,”
“There’s no need to swear,” Magnus responded.
She sprayed biscuit crumbs everywhere. “I said Vokteren, you numb scull.”
> “Sorry, the biscuit you crammed into that large cavern got in the way.”
“You’re loathsome.”
“Handsome was that?” he grinned.
She rolled her eyes and stalked out with her coffee. Magnus appeared in the library behind her.
“What about the Vokteren are you wanting to know?”
“I’ve done some reading up about Frejboren, as I had loads of warning signals firing off in my head. It was the home of the Vokteren and still is. I imagine they don’t just let anyone through the gateway, so it is probably best to find out all we can about them before we openly engage them in a fight.”
“The person who would know most about the Vokteren is probably Ajax at the Lokranor Archives.”
“Perhaps Birdie might like an errand,” Erin giggled, remembering her aunt’s rather brief liaison with Ajax.
“Or perhaps I’ll go. I won’t arouse suspicion.”
“You will, going to the Archives.” Erin gave a loud sigh. “Wilhelm goes frequently. If he wants my forgiveness, he can dig up everything he can on them. And if Ajax still has a thing for my aunt, he’ll keep quiet about what Wilhelm is looking for.”
“Fine. I shall get on my way shortly.”
“Can we delay your trip until later, just in case I need other information?”
“I am yours to command, my lady.” He gave a gracious bow and left before she could hurl a book at him.
By the time she was half way through the second volume, she was going cross-eyed. But she might have uncovered another trail. Twice now she had picked up mention of a small village called Grunfeld. Could this be another gateway? It was also located on the south east coast of Norway. Reading what little there was, it appeared to be no more advanced than Frejboren, and there was no mention of Vokteren there. Another question for Ajax perhaps?
She spent the next few hours trying to discover the exact location of the gateway. Grunfeld, like Frejboren, had the ruined remains of a grand house, and the gateway was located in what looked like the old walls of the estate.
Being a modern girl, Erin grabbed her tablet and looked up Grunfeld online. There wasn’t a great deal to find. The place did have a pub which rented out bedrooms. She had a much better feeling about this village over Frejboren. At least they weren’t walking into a Vokteren strong hold.
She tracked Magnus down before he left for Lokranor. “There is another gateway in Grunfeld. Can you ask Ajax what he knows about that village? It looks far less hostile.”
“We have been industrious today,” Magnus looked impressed. “But that doesn’t get you out of practice.”
“But my brain is like mush now,” Erin whined.
“So if Heinrekh and half his army came marching through that door, you’d just give up?”
“Yup, the man can be quite persuasive at times.”
“Go practice your summoning commands now, young lady. I want at least five different ones called. And I will be watching,” Magnus barked.
“Norse git,” she muttered and headed off into the garden.
Magnus was quite glad for an excuse to go back to Lokranor, he wanted to spend a few hours with Ingrid. But first, he needed to track down Wilhelm. He found him in the practice hall, it looked like he hadn’t slept in a while.
“You look like death,” Magnus grunted.
“I find sleep does not come easily at the moment,” Wilhelm replied. He was tormented by guilt over hurting Erin, guilt which was magnified two fold because he could not even recall doing it.
“I have a task for you from Erin.” Magnus hoped that would put a faint smile on the young prince’s face.
Although he did not smile, his eyes definitely had more light. “Erin needs my help?”
“Yes. We are looking at the gateways to Vasmaar from the Third Realm. She needs to know everything there is about the Vokteren as it is likely we will meet some of them. Also, as much as you can find on Grunfeld.”
“Grunfeld?”
“Yes, she’s found reference to another gateway. This one might be less guarded.”
“I will visit Ajax later. I presume this is all to be kept from my father?”
“Yes. The fewer people who know, the better chance we have of launching an unexpected rescue.”
Magnus was just leaving when a guard tracked him down. “Selvig. The King has asked for you.”
Great, Magnus thought. What does he want now? He duly followed the guard to the Royal Chambers and was shown into Olav’s study.
“Magnus,” Olav indicated for him to take a seat. “Sorry to drag you away from your business, but I need an update.”
“On what, Sire?”
“The child. Well, not so much of a child any more. Erin.”
“She is well.”
“I have heard she is not taking up her role as Priestess of Lokmuir.”
“That is correct. She has decided to devote the next few years to study. Birdie will continue acting in her stead. She obviously cannot take up her position here as her mother still lives.”
“She is not planning some rash attempt to rescue her mother?”
“Not that I am aware of.” Magnus was not lying, the attempt would not be rash but very well planned.
“Good. I understand Birdie has kept you on as Erin’s guardian.”
“Yes. She needs guidance and tuition, so Birdie has asked me to instruct her.”
“I would be grateful if you would keep me informed of what is going on in Muirhead. Now on the subject of my niece,” Olav changed topics, “I believe you are interested in renewing your betrothal?”
“Nothing would give me greater pleasure.” Magnus did his best not to smile at the King’s blatant attempt at blackmail.
“Consider it done.”
“That is very noble of you, Sire. As I am assigned to Muirhead for the next year, is it possible for Ingrid to live with me there?”
“No. She will remain in Lokranor. It is best for all.”
Best for Olav, Magnus thought. Ingrid was clearly being used as bait. If he did not help them out, she would be married to someone else. At least he had Wilhelm on his side if anything went wrong. Maybe Ingrid would now contemplate absconding with him to Muirhead.
CHAPTER 8
Sasha was a bundle of nerves as she walked through the barn into Vasmaar. She’d only ever slept with one guy before, Damian. They’d been going over for nearly a year, so it was kind of the next step in their relationship. He was a year older than her and it all ended when he moved away last year.
Heinrekh was different though, not because he was a sorcerer. The chemistry between the two of them was incredible, so the sex had to be outstanding. She felt all shaky just thinking out it. Heinrekh was waiting for her on his horse just the other side of the gateway.
His smile made her go weak at the knees as he held out his hand to swing her up onto the back of the horse.
“I have a small hunting lodge near here. It will give us more privacy than the castle.”
Sasha increased her hold around his waist. Privacy was good.
The hunting lodge was just perfect, with only two main rooms and a bedroom. Fires were already roaring, but there was no sign of any servants. It really was just the two of them.
The inside of the lodge was anything but simple. It was draped in heavy furs and sumptuous fabrics, with plenty of pewter and gold. It could have been fit for a king. The butterflies in her stomach were multiplying by the second. She gratefully took the goblet of wine that was offered. The wine would help get her rampaging nerves under control.
“I have long awaited this moment, Sasha,” Heinrekh brushed his mouth over hers. “Come, let us eat first.”
Sasha had other things on her mind than food. Did he really think she could stuff her face before stripping off? Perhaps that was the Viking way, but certainly not hers. She took a large gulp of wine.
“I thought maybe we could eat later. There is only one thing I wish to do right now,” she murmured in his e
ar. She felt his body respond immediately. At least they were on the same wave length.
“As you wish, my dear,” he purred seductively.
She headed into the bedroom, leaving a trail of clothing. If she was going to be a complete hussy, she might as well give it the full works. The smouldering look in those icy eyes told her everything she needed to know. This was going to be glorious.
Realms Gate: A Realm Divided Page 5