by A. E. Rayne
BLOOD OF THE RAVEN
The Lords of Alekka : Book Three
A. E. Rayne
The Furyck Saga
Kings of Fate: A Furyck Saga Prequel Novella
THE LORDS OF ALEKKA
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The Burning Sea: The Furyck Saga, Book 2
Contents
The Characters
Map
Prologue
I. All at Sea
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
II. Orvala
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
III. Father and Son
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
IV. Negotiations
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
V. The Feast
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Epilogue
So… what’s coming next?
Some things about me, the author
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The Characters
At Sea
Alys de Sant (pronounced Alice)
Magnus de Sant, Alys’ son
Arnon de Sant, Alys’ husband
Borr, the helmsman
Ebben, his son
In Torsas
Lotta de Sant, Alys’ daughter
Ulrick Dyre, Hakon’s scout
Bergit Dyre, Ulrick’s wife
In Slussfall
Lord Reinar Vilander (pronounced Ray-nar)
Sigurd Vilander, his brother
Elin Vilander, Reinar’s wife
Jonas Bergstrom, Alys’ grandfather
Vik Lofgren, Jonas’ best friend
Lief Gundersen, Falla’s husband
Falla Gundersen, Lief’s wife
Eddeth Nagel, healer
Bjarni Sansgard, Reinar’s best friend
Stina Arnborg, Alys’ best friend
Ludo Moller, Sigurd’s best friend
Ollo Narp, warrior
Aldo Varnass, Eddeth’s helper
Berger Eivin, warrior
Ilene Gislar, warrior
Bolli Ollsfar, helmsman
Karolina Vettel, Hakon’s widow
Anders Vettel, her son
Borg Arnesson, Falla’s son with her second husband
In Orvala
Lord Tarl Brava
Solveigh Brava, Tarl’s wife
Mirella Vettel, dreamer
Sverri the Small, the master of Tarl’s hall
Alvear and Offa, Tarl’s best friends
Greppa Sunstrom, the brother
Gods & Goddesses
Thenor, Father of the Alekkan Gods
Valera, Goddess of Love & Fertility
Eskvir, God of War & Vengeance
Alari, Goddess of Magic & Dreamers
Vasa, Goddess of Death
Hartu, Goddess of the Sea
Solla, Goddess of the Sun
Omani, Goddess of the Moon
Ulfinnur, God of Winter
Eutresia, First Goddess of the Sun
Prologue
Fire crackled.
Screams rose.
Tarl Brava smiled as he strode away from the hall, the chorus of panicked cries like a song in his ears. A beautiful melody, he thought, listening to the wood catch and the thatch burn, imagining what that hungry fire was doing to the villagers inside the hall.
He walked towards the two women standing in the darkness.
One wore a blood-stained white dress, a simple crown of flowers wrapped around her dark hair. The other lingered beneath the bough of an ancient ash tree, a hood shielding her face.
Tarl reached the woman in white, who was fighting to escape, restrained by two men; screaming and crying, begging for mercy.
Ignoring her pleas, he motioned for his men to release her.
She sprang forward as though freed from a trap, wanting to get past him, but Tarl was big, strong, and fast, and he had her in his arms before she could blink.
‘No!’ she sobbed, pulling against his hold, though his hands wrapped around her arms like claws of stone, and she couldn’t move. ‘I have to help them! No! Please! Please! You must help them!’
Tarl laughed, kissing her roughly, feeling her lithe body through her pretty white dress. And pushing her back, hands in her hair, he smiled. ‘Now, my sweet, we will be married!’
The screams of the dying rose into the night sky as he turned around, dragging the sobbing woman away from the burning hall.
I
All at Sea
1
Eddeth was busy at her table, muttering away to her cat.
She stooped over a bowl, tearing basil leaves, grinning happily. Stopping for a moment, she sneezed before lifting a cup to her lips and drinking with some satisfaction. ‘Oh yes, indeed, but that was an inspired choice, don’t you think?’ The simple joy of working with her herbs while talking to Rigfuss was like being bathed in the glow of a summer’s sun, and she felt a burst of happiness that almost overwhelmed her.
‘Eddeth?’
Eddeth spun around in such a fluster that she nearly toppled over one of the tree stumps circling the fire. ‘What? What?’ Eyes popping open, she stared up at the tall woman, spluttering. ‘I... you... I...’
Valera stepped forward, clasping her trembling hands. ‘You are dreaming, Eddeth. I came to speak to you in your dream.’
Now Eddeth’s mouth simply fell open, and she didn’t attempt to speak at all.
‘Come, come sit on the bed, for there is much we need to discuss.’
Reinar couldn’t sleep.
He’d slept for a time, he was sure, but now he couldn’t keep his eyes closed. His body was weary after the journey from Ottby, the climb and the tunnel, the battle to get into the fort and defeat the Vettels.
His body was weary.
But his mind?
Elin lay curled up beside him, her back against his chest, but he didn’t want to touch her. He felt disloyal to her, angry at her, confused by his feelings for her.
He kept kissing Alys whenever he was near her.
Why did he keep kissing Alys?
Reinar frowned, lying perfectly still, not wanting to wake Elin, though his mind jumped around like an impatient child.
In the morning, Alys would be gone.
It was for the best, he knew. It would give him a chance to focus on Elin, the woman he had loved from the first moment he’d seen her all those years ago.
He just needed time to see the truth again. Time for everything to go back to how it had been.
Sighing, Reinar closed his eyes.
It would be good, he decided with a yawn.
Good, when Alys was gone.
Eddeth was trying to listen to Valera, but she felt so shocked that a goddess had entered her dream that her focus was scattered. And then, suddenly, a word jumped out at her, and she shook her head. ‘Dreamer? What? What do you mean? Who? Me?’
Valera, standing before her, dressed like an ethereal queen in a shimmering blue dress, smiled, her golden hair coiled into a braided crown. ‘Yes, you, Eddeth. You are a dreamer. Have you not been listening at all?’
Eddeth blinked. ‘No, I don’t think so. No!’
‘Why don’t I start again,’ Valera said patiently. ‘You were born a dreamer, Eddeth, though your mother did her very best to knock it out of you from a young age. She was not a kind woman, was she?’
Eddeth twitched uncomfortably, reminded of her cruel mother with her florid face and pock-marked cheeks; her penetrating eyes, so dark and cruel.
‘She wasn’t, no, but... but I was never a dreamer! I wasn’t. I didn’t have any dreams!’
‘Are you sure about that?’
Eddeth tried to remember, though she was nearer to death now than her childhood, and her memories were mostly lost to her. Those few she retained were wrapped in layers of pain and sadness; old, hidden memories.
Eventually, she shrugged.
‘You were always a dreamer, Eddeth Nagel. Your grandmother was my dear friend, a good woman with a kind heart. She never approved of your father marrying your mother, I know, but even painful, difficult things happen for a reason, for if your father hadn’t married your mother, you wouldn’t be here. And you being here is so important now, Eddeth. Important to the future of Alekka itself.’
‘What? Me?’ Eddeth picked her wart, wobbling from side to side. ‘But I... well now, this is all rather shocking. Perhaps... perhaps I’m just dreaming? Maybe you’re not here at all? Not really. A dream is just a dream, isn’t it? Surely I’m just dreaming!’
Valera squeezed Eddeth’s trembling hand, trying to still it. ‘You are, of course, but it is the most important dream you could ever have. It is the one where I remind you of who you are. The one where I tell you of what you must do.’
‘Do?’
And now Valera’s smile was gone. ‘Oh yes, Eddeth, for something terrible has happened to Alys, and you must do everything you can to save her.’
They filtered into the hall, aching bodies and thick heads making everyone move with a lack of urgency, feeling a sense of dread, knowing how much work lay ahead of them. The fort was a mess, the wounded needed care, bodies had to be retrieved and placed onto pyres, and those pyres needed to be built.
And then there was the matter of what would happen to the fort itself.
Sigurd slurped his way through a bowl of porridge, just wanting to get on. He needed to leave Slussfall. He’d dreamed of Tulia, and he knew it was time to head for Kalmera. Lying awake for much of the night, thinking about his future, he’d decided to head straight to Varis.
He wouldn’t return to Ottby.
There were merchant ships on the piers, likely a helmsman needing coins. He didn’t want to take Dagger, for Reinar would need the men, and besides, this was something he wanted to do on his own.
Ludo yawned opposite him, draining a cup of small ale. ‘I could sleep all day,’ he decided, leaving the cup on the table and dropping his head to his hands.
Sigurd grinned. ‘You’re not alone there.’ He scanned the hall, where the wounded lay on flagstones, some with a blanket or fur beneath them, though there were so many squeezed into whatever space was available that most were resting uncomfortably, desperate for help. Some water. Some warmth. ‘Better we get on, though. Sort the fort out quickly. We have to leave it secure for whoever Reinar decides to put in charge.’
‘You think he’ll pick that Lief Gundersen?’ Ludo lifted his head, glancing around, though he couldn’t see Lief or his pretty wife, Falla, anywhere. ‘Seems like an odd choice to me.’
‘Me too, but I suppose it’s one way of keeping everyone happy.’
‘Or giving them another lord to unite behind. Another enemy we’ll have to come back and defeat one day.’
Sigurd finished his porridge with some regret, wishing he hadn’t even started the bowl. He felt sick, and stretching his hands above his head, he groaned loudly. ‘Lucky for us, we can leave that for Reinar to worry about.’ And seeing his brother approaching with Elin, he straightened up. ‘Get any sleep?’ he wondered, peering at Reinar’s crumpled face.
‘Not much. You?’
‘Not much, though better than some,’ Sigurd realised, hearing the urgent pleas of the injured rising as more people filed into the hall.
Elin started unpinning her cloak. ‘I’ll see what I can do to help.’
‘Why not have something to eat first?’ Reinar suggested, looking around. He saw no sign of Alys. No Eddeth or Stina. No Jonas and Vik. Though it was early, he realised, only just past dawn.
Perhaps they were still here?
‘I’m not sure I have any appetite,’ Elin admitted, trying not to inhale. ‘The best thing I can do is help these men. It’s freezing in here!’ She saw Ilene stumble inside with a sleepy-eyed Berger, and smiling, she headed towards her.
Reinar watched her go, noting the annoyance in his brother’s eyes as he fixed them on Ilene, and helping himself to a cup of ale, he sighed. ‘We’ve a long day ahead of us.’
‘I imagine we do.’
‘I’d like to say goodbye to Alys and Eddeth first, though. See if they need anything. I know Jonas will be there, Vik too, but there might be something I can do to help.’
Sigurd didn’t think that was a good idea, but he shrugged, eyes snapping to the hall doors, which were creaking back and forth with greater frequency now as everyone made their way into the hall, looking for breakfast.
Eddeth bounded inside like a frightened rabbit, rushing towards them, Stina struggling to keep up with her.
Reinar spun around as Eddeth reached him, grabbing his arm, panting. ‘What? What’s happened?’
‘I... I...’ Eddeth couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t speak.
‘Alys has gone!’ Stina was too shocked to cry, though she very much wanted to. ‘Eddeth dreamed it. We looked in the cottage she slept in with Magnus. They’re both gone!’
‘Gone?’ Reinar shook his head, not understanding. ‘Without you?’
Jonas and Vik ambled into the hall, grumbling at each other, neither man having enjoyed a comfortable night in the barn.
‘You mean they’ve left already?’ Reinar’s heart started pounding. ‘By themselves?’ That made no sense.
‘Someone’s taken them. That’s what Eddeth said.’ Stina was trying not to panic, but she hadn’t been able to get Eddeth to explain anything properly. The healer had been rambling and scattered, and now, too breathless to speak.
Jonas saw the worry in Reinar’s eyes as he stopped before him. ‘Is something wrong? Surely not this early? Not before breakfast,’ he chuckled.
‘Alys has gone!’ Eddeth blurted out. ‘Oh, I must sit down. Can’t breathe!’ And she couldn’t. It wasn’t just the running. She was overcome with panic and fear and confusion, her thoughts more tangled than they’d ever been.
Vik grabbed hold of Eddeth before she toppled over, and slipping a strong arm around her back, he ushered her towards a bench near the fire. The sight and sound of those bright flames crackling slowly calmed Eddeth, and taking a deep breath, she looked up, meeting Reinar’s eyes. ‘I had a dream. Valera came to me! Valera herself!’ And now she was panicking again. ‘Oh my!’
‘Valera? Why?�
�� Ludo wondered.
‘To tell me about Alys. To reveal the truth. The truth about... me.’ Valera had dug into the buried chest of Eddeth’s past, and the mere opening of that chest had undone Eddeth entirely. Painful memories surged through her body, and she started shaking, feeling as vulnerable as a small child. ‘She told me that I was born a dreamer. That I’ve always been one. It’s just...’ There were too many people watching her; she didn’t want to go on. Shaking her head abruptly, Eddeth tried to stand, but Vik placed a hand on her knee, keeping her still.
She almost smiled.
Then remembering her dream, she almost cried.
‘They’ve been taken. Kidnapped! Oh, the horror of it! Poor Alys and Magnus. They’ve been stolen away!’ Eddeth’s voice echoed around the hall, which immediately fell into silence.
‘What?’ Jonas froze, terror charging through his body. He leaned forward, grabbing Eddeth’s arm. ‘By who? When?’
