by A. E. Rayne
Edela sunk into his arms with a great sigh of relief. ‘We must help Jael!’
Aleksander was instantly alert, his skin chilling even more. ‘What do you mean? What’s happened? Why are you back so early?’
She shuddered, glancing about in the darkness. ‘We need a fire, Aleksander. There is much to discuss, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been this cold in my life!’ Her teeth chattered as she stood shivering before him.
Aleksander hurried to find his tinder box and set about starting a fire as quickly as he could. The flames bloomed into life but did nothing to warm Edela’s bones. Wrapped in layers of fur, sitting as close to the fire as she dared, she couldn’t stop shivering, but Edela couldn’t wait any longer. She told him about the girl on the hill, about the nightmares she had been having these past few weeks, and her confusion about all of it.
Aleksander’s forehead worked itself into a deep frown. ‘Do you think you were seeing this girl as she really is? Or were you having a vision about her? A dream?’ he wondered. ‘Was she a creature or a person?’
‘Creature? No, I don’t believe so,’ Edela murmured, shaking her head. ‘Although, in truth, I have never seen anything like it, so I don’t know. She was a girl, looked like a girl but... I had a bad feeling, that there was something on Oss, on the islands that was a threat to Jael. But I couldn’t see what it was. I feel as though I am dreaming blind these days!’ Edela despaired. ‘I can usually make sense of what I see but I was too late, and now Jael is trapped there, with that girl. Till spring.’
‘It’s not too late. I can take a ship!’
‘You can’t! The sea was freezing around us. By morning it will be frozen solid. There will be no way through.’
Aleksander stood up. ‘But if I leave tonight...’
Edela reached out to place her shaking hand on his. ‘You cannot. No one will take you, not in that weather. And if you go, you won’t come back.’
Aleksander felt confused, angry, and helpless all at once. Sighing, he sat down. ‘Did you tell anyone? What you’d seen?’
‘No.’
‘Good. You shouldn’t. We should figure this out between the two of us.’
They sat in silence. The sounds outside the cottage were dying down as the night drew a veil over Andala. The fuss over the returning travellers was over, and most of the townspeople were securing their homes and livestock, preparing for another night of heavy snow.
‘Can you contact her in another way?’ Aleksander wondered suddenly. ‘Through her dreams? Is that possible?’
Edela stared at him, the creases on her weary face accentuated by the soft flames of the fire. She looked deeply unsettled. ‘There are ways,’ she said at last. ‘I have never attempted it, but I know of people who have. It was not accepted in Tuura. The idea of entering another person’s dreams was forbidden.’ She looked around. ‘But Jael needs us, and we’re not in Tuura, are we?’
12
Eadmund pulled on his worn leather boots, desperate to escape. Evaine had warned him that the drifts looked more than knee-deep, hoping to convince him to stay but he’d made up his mind.
‘Do you have to leave already?’ Evaine purred, her breath making smoky swirls in front of her. She sat on Eadmund’s bed, wrapped in two furs, leaving only her head exposed to the cold interior of his old cottage.
‘I think it’s best that I do,’ he smiled quickly at her, ignoring the pounding at his temples. ‘Eirik will be prowling about looking for me, no doubt, wondering why I’m not getting to know my new bride.’
‘Oh, don’t say that!’ Evaine wrinkled her pink-tipped nose. ‘The thought of her being your wife is disgusting. She looks more like Thorgils than a woman! Did you see that scar on her face? Imagine what the rest of her looks like?’ She paused. ‘No don’t, I don’t want to think about that!’
‘Well, my father didn’t pick her for prettiness,’ Eadmund grimaced as he stood up, feeling one of his knees give way. ‘But hopefully, I will only have to look at her in the dark.’
That incensed Evaine. She knew it was inevitable that they would be together soon, but she couldn’t bear the thought of it. In a desperate attempt to change his mind, Evaine dropped her furs, revealing chilled, pink nipples and a body trying its very best to undo his resolve. ‘Are you sure you have to go?’ she smiled, easing her knees apart.
Eadmund didn’t know what to say. It was easy for her body to tease his, but although Evaine had been warm company, he felt himself slowly suffocating from her attentiveness. He was desperate for some air. He needed time to think, to find a way to shake off the hopelessness that was weighing him down. ‘You make it very hard on me,’ he grinned, leaning forward to wrap her up again. ‘Now don’t get cold or you’ll fall ill, and then we can’t have any more fun, can we?’ He was placating her with a patient, forced smile, talking to her like a child. He hoped it would work.
‘Fine.’ She was unimpressed. ‘I will see you here tonight, though?’
‘I think so. Now go and get dressed!’
Eadmund hurried to open the door before she could change his mind. A small avalanche of snow slid into the room. Frowning in annoyance, he rushed to kick it back outside again. It wasn’t an effective approach, and he should have stayed and cleared an actual pathway to his door, but he didn’t want any more delays blocking his escape.
Turning back to Evaine, who was pouting slightly, he called, ‘and don’t let anyone see you leave!’
She poked out her tongue, pouting some more.
Eadmund shut the door with a sigh, relieved to finally be alone. He took a deep breath as he surveyed the blanket of bright, white snow that had settled in the night, scowling as it seeped into his boots; he had been meaning to replace them for weeks. Striding off in search of peace and solitude, he managed to walk straight into his father.
‘You do like to disappear, don’t you, my son,’ Eirik smiled cheerfully. ‘Your wife didn’t know where you had gone this morning.’
Eadmund stumbled at that, wondering exactly what Jael had revealed. He hid his guilty expression under a yawn, turning to walk off, hoping to lead his father away from his cottage and far away from Evaine. Thankfully, Eirik moved to follow him.
‘Why were you looking for me?’ Eadmund wondered, keeping his tone light.
‘Oh, just to see if you were still alive, I suppose.’ Eirik’s eyes twinkled in the morning sun; he was in a particularly good mood today. ‘Do you remember the year we found you buried in the snow after a heavy night in the hall? It took a while for anybody to notice you’d not been seen for almost a day!’
‘I don’t remember that,’ Eadmund mumbled, barely listening as he ploughed on quickly, deciding to take his father to the hall. Hopefully, he could leave him there and be on his way again.
‘I’m not surprised! You were barely breathing after nearly a night and day under the snow. I’m amazed you lived through that one,’ Eirik laughed, rolling his eyes. ‘But now you have a wife, so I don’t need to spend all my time running around after you, making sure you haven’t fallen off a cliff somewhere. I’m sure Thorgils will be pleased. Torstan too.’
‘I’m not that bad!’
‘Not all of the time,’ Eirik smiled. ‘And not today it seems. Why are you in such a hurry?’
‘Because it’s fucking cold out here, old man!’ Eadmund chattered at his father, grabbing him by the elbow and moving him along. ‘And I want to get to your fire before my bones start knocking!’
They made it to the hall quickly enough, their trousers wet through; the snow higher than knee-deep in some places. The hall was filled with Eirik’s closest circle, his most valued warriors and advisors, huddled around the fires, defrosting their numb limbs.
‘It’s certainly frozen in the straights now,’ Morac noted as he walked up to Eirik. ‘Beorn confirmed that all the ships in Tatti’s Bay are in the sheds.’
‘Good,’ Eirik nodded, not bothering to join the men at the fire. He strode up to his chair and sat down
awkwardly, instructing his servant to bring him a cup of something warm. He didn’t mind the cold but his scarred back suffered in the winter. When the temperature dropped, the wounds his father had inflicted upon him as a child would ache, deep within his flesh. His face, though, as he sat listening to his men, betrayed nothing. ‘We will need to be ready to go at the first drip of thaw,’ Eirik urged. ‘You must ensure the fleet is ready, but not just ready, we must be building throughout the winter. I want that schedule from Beorn. I need to see how he plans to get the new ships built in time. What teams he has organised.’
‘He is working on it,’ Morac promised, coming to stand closer to Eirik. ‘I don’t believe it will be a problem. His men have always worked fast, in whatever conditions Oss has thrown at them.’ He paused. ‘It’s not the ships that concern me, though, it’s the men. We will need to find ways to keep them sharp and ready for battle, not just lazy and sodden, with drink and women.’ Morac couldn’t help his eyes from darting towards Eadmund then; it wasn’t lost on Eirik.
‘Yes, well I’ve come up with an idea for that.’
The handful of men gathered around the nearest fire turned to look at their king, eager to hear his plan. All apart from Eadmund, that is, who was trying to ease his way out of the hall unseen.
‘Eadmund!’ His father spied him edging towards the doors. ‘You must bring your wife to eat with us tonight. I have an announcement to make that is sure to interest her. Promise me, now!’
‘I will, Father!’ Eadmund called out as he pushed on the heavy door, shrinking from the glare of the morning sun. ‘We’ll be here.’ And with that, he turned to make his escape.
‘Eadmund!’
Shit.
He adored his sister, but she had bad timing. Clenching his teeth and sighing deeply, he let go of the door and turned around. ‘Hello, Little Thing.’ She was feeling her way along the wall towards him, and he kicked himself for being such a selfish brother.
‘Eadmund,’ she smiled. ‘I could smell you from my chamber!’
‘Thank you, as always,’ he bowed, then realised that the gesture was lost on her.
‘I wanted to know about the puppies,’ she smiled keenly up at him. ‘How are they?’
Eadmund looked blankly at his sister, happy that she couldn’t read his empty face. He screwed up his forehead and started digging into his useless, hole-riddled memory for a clue as to what she was talking about. She was so excited; it must be something important.
Eydis frowned. ‘Or have you not even noticed them?’
‘The puppies?’ he stalled. ‘Yes, the puppies. I have noticed, of course, I have noticed them! How could I not?’ Eadmund swallowed a few times. ‘They are well, and... and... full of energy, you know... as puppies are.’
His sister fixed him with an unsettling stare. Her milky eyes lingered somewhere near where she imagined his to be; close, but not close enough to make him feel comfortable. ‘Are they?’
‘Yes, they are.’
‘And what are their names? Do you remember?’
‘Ahhh, well, I’ve never been too good at remembering anything, let alone puppy names. I’m sure you know that.’
‘Of course,’ she smiled patiently. ‘And do you remember their colours at least?’
His mouth slackened, his brain now stretched beyond its weary limits. ‘I... not especially. I’m not one for dogs really, Eydis. They all look the same to me.’
Eydis looked cross as she leaned forward, searching for his arm. ‘Eadmund!’ she hissed, gripping hold of his cloak. ‘Father will kill you. Truly, this time he will!’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘You haven’t even seen Jael, have you? You don’t even know about the puppies I gave you both! Where have you been? You’re supposed to be in your new home, with your new wife, as Father thinks you are.’ Her voice was quiet but loaded with warning.
‘Eydis –’
‘No! Don’t tell me I’m a child, that I wouldn’t understand,’ she interrupted. ‘I understand what will happen if you ruin this. Don’t forget that I can see the future. All you have to do is go and see her, spend some time with her, do the things that you’re supposed to do. That will keep Father happy. That will make you happy, believe it or not.’
‘Eydis...’
‘Eadmund, please.’ She grabbed him harder, imploring him with frantic eyes. ‘Please don’t ruin this. I can see what will come for us if you do.’
The hammering had started early, and Jael was utterly fed up with it now. The men were obviously industrious, eager to finish the stables their king had commanded them to build, and she was just as keen for that to happen, but the noise was ruining any chance of her focusing on being truly miserable.
‘How is it possible that you’re still in bed?’ Biddy wondered for the fourth time, walking into the bedchamber and prodding the submerged figure. ‘With that noise going on outside and those puppies yapping and wailing? How is it that you’re lying here, warm as bread, still asleep?’
Jael pushed the furs away from her head and glared at Biddy. The light was unusually bright in the house this morning, and Jael blinked to adjust her eyes. ‘What’s the point in getting up?’ she scowled. ‘What’s the point in coming out from under here? Why should I bother?’
‘Well, you could take your puppies outside for a shit every once in a while, so they stop doing their business all over my floor!’ Biddy huffed as she bent down to pick up the puppies in question, throwing them onto the bed and stalking out.
They bounded over to Jael’s head, greeting her with wet tongues and wiggling tails. As much as she was determined to feel sorry for herself, to stay in a dark, isolated place, Ido and Vella had other ideas. She felt their fluffy warmth as they burrowed under the furs, down towards her feet, and it roused a lighter spirit, deep inside her wallowing. Jael heard her father’s voice then, urging her to get up and make a plan, to choose a way forward. She imagined Tig’s furious whinnying, annoyed at her neglect of him, desperate to be ridden, to be set free.
And she felt the same.
Emerging from her warm cave, at last, she reluctantly left behind all thoughts of Aleksander and hurried to get dressed before the chill found her bones. The puppies rushed to escape the furs, desperate to follow her.
‘Ahhh, my annoying friend! And how are you this fine morning?’ Thorgils grinned as he fell in beside Eadmund, just outside the main block of stables. The fetid stench from within wafted gently towards them.
Eadmund frowned, irritated to have come across yet another obstacle in his quest for solitude. ‘Annoying?’
‘More than annoying but I am a well-mannered man and today is a good day, so I won’t go any further,’ Thorgils smiled jovially through his thick, red beard.
‘That’s very kind of you. If only I were as well-mannered, but I can’t be arsed talking to you this morning, so I’ll to leave you to your business.’ And with barely a glance, Eadmund headed off, walking with purpose in the direction of the gates.
Thorgils stared after his friend, bemused. For Eadmund to be in such a hurry, there had to be a drink waiting for him somewhere. He shrugged, determined not to be bothered or worried for a change.
Turning around, he spied Jael, wrapped in a thin, black cloak, her head bent low, striding towards the stables. Well, if one-half of the new couple wasn’t interested in his company, perhaps the other would be more amenable?
Jael was livid as she surveyed the deteriorating conditions inside the stables; snow was thick on the ground now, and the stench was unbearable. She was determined to remove both horses to stay with the livestock at the back of her house until the stables were complete. The speed those annoying builders were going it could be as soon as later today, depending on how long the sun held power over the moon, of course. She would have to talk to Eirik about the rest of the horses, though; they couldn’t stay here another night. These stables needed to be used as firewood; that was all they were good for.
Jael
saw the red beast that was Thorgils trudging towards her, wrapped in a huge, white fur cloak. She sighed.
‘Good morning,’ he nodded cheerfully, then gagged. ‘What a stink! These poor horses.’
‘You don’t have a horse stabled here?’ Jael wondered as she fitted Tig’s bridle over his twitching head. There were at least another 15 horses shivering in the muck along with Tig and Leada; not many, so there must be other stables in the fort.
‘Here? Not likely. Not if you want your horse to keep all four of its legs,’ Thorgils grinned, coming over to run his hand down the muzzle of Eadmund’s thoroughly neglected gift. ‘She’s a beauty.’
Jael smiled. Someone who liked horses, that was something. ‘She is. Strong too.’
Thorgils raised one eyebrow at that. ‘Good. No point riding a timid horse into battle.’ He took a carrot from his pocket and let her nibble it slowly from his hand. ‘What’s her name?’
A man who kept carrots in his pocket? Jael was impressed.
‘Leada. She’s Eadmund’s gift from my family, not that he would know that, of course.’
‘No,’ Thorgils concurred, ‘I don’t imagine he would. He hasn’t ridden for years. Once his horse died, he didn’t bother with a replacement.’ Sadness filled his eyes as he dug into his pocket for another carrot. ‘But she can’t wait on Eadmund to notice her. If you want some company, I’ll come along and give her a run.’
He was already reaching for a bridle, and although Jael had no real desire for company, she couldn’t see a reason to turn down his offer. Besides, in this unfamiliar world of snow-covered cliffs and sheer drops, she would be grateful for a guide.
Outside the gates they paused. Jael felt her whole body sink into Tig’s sheepskin-covered saddle; a comfortable familiarity that relaxed her instantly. It was freezing but freeing. She nodded at Thorgils, gesturing for him to lead the way. The snow was deeper than she’d realised but Tig barely noticed as he strained against her hold. There was no ice, so it was perfectly safe, as long as you knew where you were going and she didn’t, so she followed Thorgils and Leada, keeping the reins tight against her cloak.
