The Light Keepers - a YA Epic Fantasy - Prequel to the ShadowLight Saga

by Mande Matthews

  Chapter 4

 

  Balin supported Isla with his arm around her waist; the woman pulled tight to his ribs. He would have carried her like a straw doll, but she refused to allow him to bear both her and their supplies. Astrid followed in their wake, the layer of frost crackling as her boots hit ground. She wore Balin's gift under her mantle, layered over her tunic, along with a pack strapped to her back. The added weight of the armor unbalanced her, and she struggled to adjust to its mass.

  Isla slipped, but Balin caught her before she fell. The warrior whisked her along, lifting her for lengthy strides so she hung at his side, toes barely touching ground, until he announced, "We rest, Isla. You cannot keep this pace."

  Balin guided Isla to a rock that was tucked beneath a rowan tree.

  "We have not traveled far enough."

  Despite her protests, Isla allowed the man to ease her downward. Air heaved in her lungs as she sat. Her breath turned into a wheeze.

  "We have journeyed nearly a league. The Shadow could not have dispatched slayers so quickly."

  "Nei, Balin. Within a heartbeat he would have sent them through the shadowwalk to ambush us. We must move fast and cover our tracks. The frozen Wettersea should obscure our crossing. Then we can gain the concealment of Kolmården forest. Perhaps we will lose them."

  The sky tinged pink with the fall of the sun. The temperature plunged. A meadow, blanketed with hard-packed snow, stretched behind them. They had stayed to the riverbed where rowans and whitebeams sprung up to provide cover, but the leaf-bare branches—shriveled berries still clinging for a last bit of life—extended little shelter.

  "Stay here. I will check the perimeter and hide our passing."

  Isla nodded. She bent over at the middle, hanging her head. She inhaled in short huffs, a hollow whistle sounding in her chest.

  Astrid fought with the idea of comforting her mother, while Balin hurried out of view. Her mother had not spoken to her since they abandoned their home. The young woman feared any action on her part would further incite her mother's anger and cause her more distress.

  "Time has come." Isla broke their standoff, motioning for Astrid to come forward. She searched her mother's face, but Isla kept her gaze downward. Her mother slipped the algiz rune stone from her pouch—Isla had retrieved it when they found Astrid in the walk—and handed the stone to her daughter.

  "You must set the ward."

  Astrid removed her mitten and reached for the stone. As her fingers touched it, the cool, slickness of the rock sent shivers up her arm, punctuating her skin with goose bumps. Astrid snatched her fingers back. She motioned toward her mother, imploring Isla to sing the ward first.

  "I will show you one last time, but then it falls on you alone."

  Isla inhaled, but her chest constricted. Her mother fought back a spasm of coughs. When the attack receded, she cleared her throat and sang, but her voice rattled and the melody expired, dissolving in the chill of evening. She tried again, this time completing the tune, but the rune stone lay dormant in her palm—neither a glow nor a blanket of protection sprang forth.

  "She answers me nei more." Isla's voice fell. "The Mother is but a whisper in my heart now, beckoning me home."

  Astrid stared at the hunched figure of her mother. The chill in the air burned her eyes. She blinked to moisten them, wishing the sight before her would pass—that strength would fill her mother's limbs and a gleam would return to her skin.

  When Isla did not stir, Astrid snatched the stone from her mother's hand. She squeezed the rock, forcing her mind to focus.

  Algiz. I know the word, why can I not speak it?

  Astrid's fist shook. The muscles in her neck strained to push out the word.

  Algiz! Algiz!

  Unlike the dream, her voice stayed trapped inside her head, and the knot tightened in her throat.

  Please! If there is a spark of goodness inside me, please let it forth!

  The rock remained lifeless—a cold dot in her palm.

  Then Isla's hand wrapped over her own, guiding her fingers shut over the rune stone. Isla pulled her daughter down to kneel on the ground before her.

  "You are my ljos, my light." Her mother's tone rang with tenderness.

  She used the old tongue, a language Astrid had forgotten because her mother had stopped speaking it when she was a babe. Isla tilted her daughter's chin up to meet her gaze.

  "If only you saw what I see in you. Your power. Your beauty. You are a magnificent creature filled with love and light."

  I am darkness. I brought the Shadow, and a part of me wanted nothing more than to descend into him.

  Astrid sought to bow her head, but her mother used what little strength she had left to keep her daughter's face upright. A speck of Isla's old spark beamed in her amber eyes.

  "There, deep inside," she said as she placed her hand over Astrid's chest, "your song resides. As you hear the Mother's song, yours will come forth in harmony with hers."

  The pound of booted feet crunched over snow. Balin appeared in the distance. The man rumbled to their side, his face red from exertion.

  "Six armed men on our trail. I hid our tracks as best as I could, but the snow is unforgiving. They are close on our heels. We must move."

  "I go nei further, Balin."

  "I will carry you, my heart."

  "The result will be the same either way. Take Astrid and go. I can detain them if they stop to question me."

  Balin's eyes widened at her statement. Wetness formed in the corners.

  "I will not leave you!"

  "If you love me as you say, you will keep my child safe," Isla countered as she gestured toward Astrid.

  Balin hesitated then grabbed hold of Astrid's mantle, pulling her upright.

  The young woman jerked out of his grasp. She violently shook her head, protesting Isla's decision.

  "You will learn the ward. I believe in you, my ljos. You will learn it, and you will seek the young man who holds your destiny, and you will be a glorious beacon for all who await your coming."

  Astrid's insides numbed at her mother's words.

  "Do you remember where Hallad is? Travel austr, towards the rising sun, across the Wettersea. The lake will be frozen allowing you passage into the Kolmården forest. Once you reach the forest, use the sudr rim of the Skagg Mountains to navigate by daylight and the lode-star by night."

  Astrid nodded.

  I know the map you taught me Mamma, but I also know where he resides through the shadowwalk.

  "Good. You must learn to set the ward before you seek him, or you risk his life as well. Do you understand?"

  You have given me everything, and I have destroyed you.

  "The Mother's breast will welcome me and I can put these aches to rest within the comfort of her arms, but I will always be there, calling to you, singing to you. If you listen, you will hear me."

  Her mother broke into a quiet lullaby.

  "Sleep, sleep, little one sleep. He rustles his wings and gruffly sings…"

  Isla's tune trailed from a whisper then died off into nothingness, but the melody continued to thrum inside Astrid. The young women bowed her head, turned from her mother, and strode away. Balin tried to follow, but Astrid twisted around and pushed him back, gesturing for the warrior to stay by her mother's side.

  "Honor your mother, and respect her will."

  You will stay and protect her as she has done for me!

  Astrid pushed Balin's chest, sending him backwards again. He stumbled to regain his footing.

  The slick sound of metal leaving scabbard sounded as Astrid jerked her sword from her side. She whirled the weapon, settling the point directly in front of Balin's nose.

  You will not leave her.

  "Stop this," said Isla.

  Astrid lunged, forcing Balin to jump out of her way. She drove at him again, until Balin released his own blade and met her attack. Their swords clanked in the air.

  "A
strid, desist! Our trackers will hear you!"

  The young woman refused to give in. She thrust again, determined this would be a fight she would win.

  "Enough! Astrid! Enough! He can stay with me, child, as long as you flee without pause."

  Satisfied, Astrid lowered her arm and stowed her sword.

  Balin reached for her mantle, pulling her near, but words failed him.

  Astrid patted the warrior on his shoulder in response, but could not bear to look at him. She turned and darted headlong down the riverbank—her heart heavy with her mother's failed song.