Aegyir Rises (Guardians of The Realm Book 1)

by Amanda Fleet

  I reeled. A cadaverous face contorted with anger loomed before me, leathery skin stretched over the skull, red eyes burning. “I accept.”

  Every fibre of my being screamed with rage and injustice. I wanted revenge. I demanded revenge. I would cause death, the like of which neither realm had seen before.

  “Together we can overthrow Eredan and rule together.” The demon grinned at me.

  More bodies. More blood. Then smoke.

  I sank back on the bike, crumpling like a rag doll, stunned. I peered cautiously at the hillside. The black mist had passed and I squirmed around in my seat to see where it was, but it had vanished. Puffing my cheeks out, I stared at the valley. All I could see was what had been there before – rural tranquillity. The sensation of malevolence and resentment ebbed away, letting me breathe freely again, and I dragged in deep, cool lungfuls, trying to cleanse the last traces of fury from my body.

  The height of the sun made me check my watch.

  “Shit!”

  Finn would be expecting me any minute and I was at least quarter of an hour away. I yanked my phone out and called him.

  “Hi, Finn. Sorry, I’m going to be a bit late picking you up.”

  “You okay? You had an accident?”

  I snorted. Finn rode the bike far faster than I did but he was always sure it would be me who would crash it.

  “No, I’m fine. Time ran away with me, that’s all. See you soon.”

  I could have sworn the visions that had overwhelmed me had lasted mere moments but, somehow, I’d lost more than half an hour. I tugged my helmet back on and rode down the hill to the gym, trying to work out what the hell had happened.

  And why I recognised the monstrous face.

  ***

  “What time are Rick and Billy coming over?” I asked when we got home.

  “Soonish. They said they’d call on their way and find out what pizzas we wanted.”

  Finn took my helmet and disappeared off to tidy it away, leaving me thinking about what had happened while I was out on the bike. It had felt more than real. It had felt like I was remembering what I’d seen.

  It was the Realm. With a lot of blood. But I wasn’t remembering any of it from a dream, I was sure of that.

  Finn’s phone beeped as he re-joined me in the kitchen.

  “Hi, Rick.” He chatted for a moment then looked across to me. “What pizza are you wanting? And don’t you dare have anything with anchovies on it.”

  “Ha. I might, just for that. Er, pepperoni? With extra green peppers since Rick’s buying.”

  Finn relayed our order to Rick and slid his phone back into his pocket. “Can I see your updated designs before they get here?”

  “Sure.”

  In the lounge, Finn sat next to me, flipping through the sheets I’d been working on earlier. “I like these colours better. What did Maggie say?”

  “She liked those colours better too.”

  He passed all the sheets back to me and picked up my other sketchbook. “Ah. Your dreams. And another drawing of your hunk.” He pulled a face as he turned a page.

  “I know. Even in my dreams I have gorgeous boyfriends!”

  “Good save.”

  He looked over all of the pictures, closed the pad and rested his head against the back of the sofa. Shadows pooled under his eyes.

  “I’m sorry about last night,” I murmured. “You’re exhausted.”

  He cracked one eye open to peer at me. “It’s okay. Who did you think was coming to get you? Stephen?”

  “Not this time. I don’t know who. Or what. Something evil. It honestly felt like it was in the room with us.”

  “Like the thing you thought you saw with the guy who was hit by the car?”

  I hesitated. “Mm. Very like the thing I saw at the gym. Except whatever it was last night wanted to kill me.”

  He closed his eye again. “They’re just dreams, Rea. Dreams can’t hurt you.”

  I wasn’t so sure.

  “I had a really weird experience when I took the bike out,” I blurted out.

  His head shot up, his eyes wide, and I rushed to reassure him. “No. I didn’t have an accident or anything. I stopped in the lay-by above the valley and this black mist came over me.”

  “Black mist? What, the cloud-base dropped?”

  “No. A ball of black mist. I thought at first it was the shadow of a cloud, except the sky was almost clear and the clouds weren’t moving. Anyway, as it passed over me, I had these intense visions of a battle and I felt completely peculiar. Like I hated everyone and that I’d been seriously mistreated and wanted vengeance. Then the shadow moved on and it all stopped.”

  Finn’s face told me how mad he thought I’d just sounded. “Uh huh? I think you might be over-tired. You’ve been sleeping so badly since you found out about Stephen.”

  I paused, about to argue, then rested my forehead against him. I couldn’t deny I was exhausted. “Yeah. Probably. It was just really odd.”

  So was finding a bracelet in the house. And so was seeing a creature take a ball of light from a dying man.

  ***

  A bang on the door heralded the arrival of Rick and Billy. They walked straight in, not waiting for either of us to answer the door, Rick’s meaty arms full of pizza boxes. He was a shade shorter than Finn but more than a shade wider and it wasn’t only muscle filling his frame. Wild dreadlocks were loosely tamed by a bandana and several days’ stubble darkened his chin. From the top of his t-shirt, dark curls of chest-hair sneaked free. Were it not for an almost cherubic snub-nose, he would look like the last man on earth you would want to meet in a dark alley. But his eyes always sparkled with humour and he was one of the kindest and most generous men I knew after Finn.

  Billy plonked a crate of beers on the table next to the pizza boxes. Ex-army, he struggled to look like a civilian with his ramrod posture and barrel-chest.

  “Rea’s got some good news to share,” said Finn, serving up slices of pizza on to plates.

  “Are you pregnant?” said Rick, making me and Finn burst out laughing.

  “Er, no. I have an interview for the graphic designer job. Monday.”

  “Oh. Well that’s great news too.” Rick grinned, leaning over to hug me.

  “Mm. Time enough for kids in another decade,” I said, shooting a look at Finn. He’d rather we started now.

  “Don’t leave it too late.” Billy handed a plate to Finn. “Who knows what’s around the corner.”

  “Don’t blame me for waiting.” Finn served pizza on to the plate and passed it back.

  “Will you all stop ganging up on me? Thank you. Beer?”

  All three men nodded. I cracked open three cans and slid them on to the table. Once Finn had finished distributing pizzas, Rick moved the remaining slices into one box and tidied the others away. It would be a tight competition between Finn and Rick as to who was the neater.

  Billy and Rick had always struck me as an odd couple. It’d taken a long time for them to move from being good friends to anything more and although they’d now been together for a couple of years or so, they both steadfastly refused to move in together.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you,” said Finn as we carried plates and beers through to the lounge. “Fiona asked me if she could hire me privately.”

  Fiona was one of the women at the gym who currently had Finn as their personal trainer. He was the only member of staff with a waiting list.

  “Christ, that’s the fourth this year! What did you say?” Billy settled down on the lumpy sofa next to Rick. I tucked my legs under me on the armchair, and Finn sat on the floor in front of me. We only had three seats, and even they filled the room, with their wide, unfashionable, padded arms.

  “I told her no, of course,” said Finn.

  Billy paused, his gaze resting on his protégé. “You’ve more than paid me back. I wouldn’t mind if you made a bit more money for yourself taking on private clients.”

  Finn swallowed down a mouthful of
pizza. “Well, apart from the fact I wouldn’t be that disloyal, I’d also have to get private insurance and everything.”

  Billy smiled. He’d have Finn’s loyalty forever.

  “Well, if you wanted to, you know I wouldn’t object. You’d probably make more than you do with me!”

  Finn sipped his beer. This was an old argument. “Billy, you believed in me when everyone else thought I was a stroppy teenager. No, I’d rather work for you, debt or not.”

  A year after Finn had started working at the gym, Billy made a deal with him: if he helped Finn to get qualified as a personal trainer, Finn had to work for him in the gym until the debt was paid off. Finn had practically bitten his hand off at the chance. That was six years ago.

  Billy chewed a mouthful of pizza, his eyes humorous. “Well, you were a stroppy teenager. With a lot of attitude and a temper like a tinderbox. But, you know, you reminded me of what I was like at your age. The army discipline sorted me out. All you needed was guidance.”

  By guidance, he meant the punishing drills he’d put Finn through. He’d made Finn box, lift weights, run bleep-tests… anything that would teach Finn how to control his frustration and temper.

  The topic of conversation shifted to footie, with Finn and Rick bickering about their teams’ chances in the league. Billy and I concentrated on eating the pizzas, neither of us having a huge enthusiasm for the delights of twenty-two men kicking a ball around.

  The pizzas finished, Rick turned to me. “I know I haven’t actually asked, but have you got any new designs for me? Especially something that looks like Finn’s dragon without actually being Finn’s dragon?”

  “No. No new designs for you and I’m not giving you anything that even half resembles his dragon. That one’s exclusively his. Anyway, no one else would wear it as well as he does.”

  Finn grinned. “You’d better put an order in. After Monday she’ll be a professional graphic designer.”

  I pretended to cuff his ear. “Cut it out.”

  “Is that what you’re stressing about?” said Rick.

  Finn’s breath hissed in his nose and I wondered what he’d already said to Rick.

  “Stephen’s released tomorrow,” said Finn quietly.

  “Already?” Alarm flashed all over Billy’s face. From Rick’s expression, this wasn’t news. I wondered when he and Finn had talked.

  “Yeah. Already.”

  “Where’s he going to stay when he comes out?” Billy asked.

  Again, I had the feeling that Rick already knew. I sipped my beer, heart racing. “John and Helen’s. The prodigal son no doubt.”

  Rick shot a look at Finn that I couldn’t quite work out. “He’s served his time. Maybe he should be allowed to move on with his life.”

  “Fine. He can move on out of Cumbria,” Finn spat back at Rick.

  Billy was also shooting daggers at Rick who put his hands up, pleading forgiveness. “I’m only saying! Maybe he’s a reformed character?”

  “Or maybe he’s exactly the same,” I snapped. “I guess we’ll see soon enough. If he batters down the door and tries to kill me again, we can all take that as a ‘no’.”

  Silence clotted around us and Finn reached up to catch my hand, his thumb circling my knuckles. Rick picked up my sketchbook, waving it at me, obviously desperate to change the topic. “Can I see what you’ve been doing?”

  “Sure.”

  He’d picked up the Realm sketchbook and he and Billy leafed through it.

  “Are these book illustrations?” asked Billy.

  “No. Though maybe one day I can call on them for that! No, I have recurring dreams of this place.”

  “Ooh. He’s a bit of a god,” said Rick, turning the pad towards me and Finn. “Finn, are you happy about her dreaming about him?”

  “Oh, it’s worse than that. In my dreams, I’m married to him.”

  “Finn! Get a ring on her before she ever comes across this chap!” said Rick, laughing across at us.

  A weird feeling rippled through me as if it was possible for me to meet him. I tried to shake it off.

  “Oh, he’s just a figment of my overactive imagination. And anyway, Finn is my dream man.”

  “Pass me a bucket,” said Billy, sounding sterner than the dimple in his cheek implied.

  Rick closed my sketchbook and tidied it away for me, asking if he and Billy could also see my designs for the interview. I went over them with them, interested to get Billy’s views as a business owner. Their views on the colour palette matched Finn’s and Maggie’s and I begrudgingly accepted defeat.

  As the conversation shifted to whether Billy should extend the gym opening hours, I caught an undercurrent between Rick and Finn. In all the years they’d known each other, they’d barely argued, but there was a distinct prickliness there tonight. Had Rick pushed it, saying Stephen had served his sentence? Surely he’d know how badly Finn would react to that. Rick had been the one Finn had leaned on while I was in hospital recovering from the assault, and the one Finn had talked to when Sarah had died and I’d fallen apart. Maybe Rick genuinely believed that once you’d served your time, you should be given a chance. Neither Finn nor I were ever going to believe that about Stephen though, and Rick should know that.

  I shuffled in my seat, no happier with Rick than Finn was. He’d seen the state of me. He knew what Stephen had done. To me. To Sarah. Was Rick really okay about him walking the streets of our town again?

  At half past nine, Finn was getting restless. I leaned forwards and stacked the plates together on the table, looking pointedly at the clock. If neither Rick nor Billy took the hint, I would yawn loudly and stretch. It always worked.

  There was no need for such theatrics tonight though as Rick grinned at us. “Have we outstayed our welcome?”

  “No, no. It’s fine,” said Finn hurriedly.

  “Well,” I said, pretending to stifle a yawn. “I’ve possibly had enough excitement for today and Finn’s on early tomorrow. And we’ve eaten all the pizzas and drunk all the beer, so…”

  “We get the message,” said Rick, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

  Finn said nothing but his posture softened. The other two gathered themselves and there was a flurry of goodbyes. Rick hugged both of us; Billy slapped Finn on the shoulder and nodded at me and finally we were left alone. Finn leaned my back against his torso.

  “Thank you. You know I hate having to ask Billy to go.”

  “He’d understand. You’d only need to remind him you’re on early!”

  “I know, but…”

  I turned in his arms and kissed him.

  “Mmm.” Finn rested his forearms on my shoulders, a mischievous expression in his eyes. “No chance of any more excitement tonight?”

  “I didn’t say that. Come on then. Bed.”

  I could worry about my strange visions tomorrow.

  7

  Thursday. My first port of call would be the florist. Every year since Sarah’s death, I’d left flowers on her grave and at the escarpment to mark her birthday and the day she’d died. I also needed to do some work on my designs, ready for Monday. I’d hoped to be able to see Maggie again, but she was busy all day. Since I didn’t want to be alone in the house when Stephen was released any more than Finn wanted me to be, I decided to camp out at the library after lunch.

  As I popped some bread in the toaster, a book on the kitchen table caught my eye. It was leather-bound and seemed old, its cover held closed with a leather thong that encircled it twice. My heart thumped. It hadn’t been there last night. First a charm-bracelet, now a book. How the hell were these things arriving through locked doors? And who on earth was leaving them?

  I stared at it, my skin prickling with sweat. I reached behind me and tried the back door. Locked. Edging around the table as if the book might attack me, I went to the front door. Also locked.

  Back in the kitchen, I scraped my hand over my face, my breathing jagged, and flipped the cover of the book open. Inside, runic wr
iting covered the page and I leaned closer, trying to see if it was handwritten or printed. It looked printed. The pages crinkled as I turned them. The whole book seemed both old and new, reminding me of a facsimile of a medieval manuscript. Detailed, hand-painted illustrations decorated the pages and I marvelled at them.

  My breath suddenly stalled in my chest.

  They were of the Realm.

  What the…?

  I snatched my hand away as if burned. Where the hell had this come from? Only close friends had ever seen my pictures and none of them could draw. The only person I knew who could have drawn them as well as this was Maggie, but although I’d mentioned my dreams to her, she’d never seen my sketches. My hand trembled as I reached for the book again. I opened it at the beginning, turning the pages slowly. The first picture in the book was of the wraith-like figure I’d seen with the old man and my mouth desiccated. I scanned the runic writing but I couldn’t make head nor tail of it. Several pages further on were two pictures that drove cold into my belly. One was of the guy I was married to in my dreams. A perfect rendition of him.

  The other picture was of me.

  I stepped back, dizzy. What the hell was this? How had pictures of my recurring dreams ended up in a book? How had a picture of me ended up in the book?

  I looked again, trying to control my breathing. Maybe it wasn’t me. The woman had long hair, no piercings, no heavy eye make-up.

  I swallowed, my heart pounding. It was me.

  What was this all about? Who had left it here? And what on earth did it say?

  My phone beeped. Finn.

  “Hey, Rea. Where did you decide to go today?”

  My eyes were still on the book. “Um. Well, I’m going to leave flowers for Sarah this morning. Meet you for lunch afterwards?”

  “Sure. You okay? You sound weird.”

  “I’m fine. Just upset about Sarah.”

  “I know. Text me if anything happens, and come to the gym?”

  “I will. Promise. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  I rang off and pulled up Google on my phone, searching for runic alphabets. None of the results matched the writing in the book. The closest was an old runic alphabet used in northern Europe many centuries ago, but even that wasn’t a great match. I squinted at the small screen of my phone and wondered about booting up the laptop. I sighed, rubbing my jaw. I needed to visit Sarah. Maybe I’d find something in the library this afternoon that could help me work out what the writing said.