by A. E. Rayne
‘My legs,’ Axl grimaced, trying to reach down to see what had happened.
‘The wolves had a nibble on you,’ Aleksander grinned, wrapping the strip of tunic around Axl’s deepest wound. ‘You need to stay still until we can stop that bleeding.’
Axl shuddered. His ears were buzzing so loudly that he was sure he was about to pass out. And then Amma smiled at him, and he gripped her hand and lay his head back against the tree they had propped him against, trying to breathe. ‘Are you alright?’ he whispered faintly.
‘Yes,’ Amma said, kissing his forehead. ‘I am.’ She turned to glance at Aleksander as Axl’s eyes closed, his head drooping to one side.
How were they going to get to Tuura now?
‘Jael, no!’ Eydis panicked. ‘Don’t let them have the book!’
But Jael had no choice. ‘I will bring it to you.’
‘You will give it to me,’ Gerod insisted. ‘Now!’
Jael blinked slowly. ‘I will bring it to you and then you will have it. I give you my word.’
Gerod glared impatiently at everyone gathered in the house; a large house full of people he had no time for. He inhaled sharply, then narrowed his eyes at Jael. ‘Within the hour, or my men will return. And they will kill your family, one by one.’
Jael frowned. ‘Why?’
‘Why?’ Gerod looked surprised that she would dare ask such a thing. ‘You do not belong here, and it is up to me and me alone how you will leave. On a pyre or on a ship.’ And with one last seething look at Jael, he spun around and headed back through the door, the guards turning to follow him.
No one said a word.
‘Jael?’ It was Edela who finally broke the silence, reaching out a withered hand to her granddaughter.
Jael blinked, hurrying to her grandmother’s side.
‘Your stone,’ Edela whispered. ‘Leave it behind, in the stables. They cannot find it on you.’
‘I will,’ Jael nodded. ‘There has to be a way out of here. Back to Oss. We just need to find it.’
Edela smiled weakly. ‘We will. Now hurry.’
Everyone looked anxious as Jael grabbed her cloak. ‘Kormac.’ She motioned her uncle over to the door, lowering her voice. ‘I’ll go to Aedan’s before I get the book, and tell them what’s happening. Stay alert. I’ll be back soon.’
Jael opened the door, hoping she meant it.
‘You need to stay alert,’ Jael said quietly as she turned to Beorn, her one open eye on the Osslanders, who were mostly still asleep in the hay. ‘I don’t know what will happen now. Talk to Fyn if you can’t find me.’
‘And why might I not be able to find you?’ Beorn wondered, rubbing a hand over his grey-and-white beard. ‘You planning on disappearing? Leaving us all here?’
Jael frowned. ‘I’m going to the temple.’
‘Now? Why?’
‘Either I do, or they take Eydis.’
‘What? Why?’
‘To threaten me into giving them the book. So, I’m giving them the book, but I don’t know what that will mean for me. You’ll need to work with Fyn and Entorp to get everyone out of here if I don’t come back.’
She swallowed.
Beorn swallowed.
‘I have to leave my stone here, so we can’t talk again. Not until I say. Just promise me something, Beorn. Don’t leave Tig or the puppies behind. If there’s a rush to escape, try to take them with you.’
Beorn nodded. ‘Of course. But don’t get caught in that temple.’
‘That’s my plan. Now go back to the men. I have to get the book and get to the temple quickly.’ Jael reached out and squeezed his arm. ‘Stay safe.’ And she turned, ignoring Tig, who she could hear blowing and snorting in annoyance behind her, and headed for the secret room.
‘The bleeding has stopped,’ Amma sighed in relief, but one of Axl’s legs looked particularly bad, and she couldn’t help glancing at Aleksander, who appeared as concerned as she was.
The wolves had bitten through to the bone in two places, and Axl had lost a lot of blood; his face was the colour of snow.
‘Where are we, do you think?’ Axl wondered again, trying to take his mind off the pain. He could see that they were still near the river. It was wide, winding itself through a low-lying field. In the distance, he could see a thick row of trees. It looked nothing like where they were before.
Aleksander had been wondering the same thing himself. The fire had helped warm them, but they needed shelter. And they needed horses.
Axl couldn’t walk anywhere.
‘I’ll head off, see where we are. See if I can find a village or even just a farm. Food, shelter, maybe more horses.’
Axl didn’t look hopeful that any of that sounded possible. ‘We have to get to Tuura,’ he said faintly. ‘Before something else happens.’
‘If we can get back to the main road, then we still have a chance of Gant stumbling across us in a few days,’ Aleksander insisted.
‘If he gets the message,’ Amma said miserably.
‘Of course he will,’ Aleksander smiled. ‘Now, why don’t you get comfortable next to Axl. I’ll go and find some more wood for the fire and then take a look around.’
‘Aleksander,’ Axl said, reaching for his arm. ‘Thank you. You saved our lives.’
Aleksander shrugged. ‘Well, it’s not going to do us any good if I can’t get us to Tuura, is it? Get some sleep, Axl. It will help your leg heal. I’ll be back soon.’ He winked at Amma and disappeared around the tree, wishing that at least one of their horses had survived.
The giant door was dragged open, creaking and groaning as Jael waited to be ushered inside the temple.
She wondered where Marcus was.
If he was still alive.
Two elders, hooded in black robes, stood on either side of the door, motioning her inside. Jael didn’t want to even step over the threshold, not without her sword drawn. But what could she do with it anyway? The temple guards were lining the walls of the cavernous grand chamber, their dead eyes fixed on her, swords at their sides.
‘You have the book?’ Gerod hissed impatiently as he strode forward, flanked on either side by more guards.
‘I do,’ Jael said slowly, drawing it from beneath her cloak, wishing that she didn’t have to hand it over; not when there were symbols in there that she was certain would help Eadmund escape Evaine. But she would come back for it when they found a way out of Tuura.
Gerod snatched the book from her, glancing at it dismissively as he flicked through the pages, before tossing it into the nearest fire.
Jael couldn’t help the gasp that rushed out of her mouth, nor the look of horror on her face.
Gerod laughed. ‘What a lot of time and work someone put into that,’ he sneered. ‘And for what? To help you? Why? Why do you need anyone’s help? You, Furia’s daughter, so powerful that you need a little book to defeat us?’
Jael tried to forget the book. There was nothing she could do about it now. She had to get out of the temple and back to her family, but by the look on Gerod’s face, it didn’t seem as though he was inclined to let that happen easily. ‘I don’t know anything about this prophecy, or what you want with me. I have no idea why I’m important to you at all,’ she tried.
Gerod shrugged indifferently. ‘You’re not. Not anymore. Not to us, nor your husband, who has another woman in his bed. Soon she will be his new queen.’
Jael’s expression didn’t alter, but she felt a twinge in her stomach. ‘I’m well aware of that. Why do you think I left?’
‘You don’t wish to return to Oss?’
‘My place has always been in Brekka.’
‘Hmmm, Brekka,’ Gerod mused as he paced back and forth in front of her, his long, black robe swirling around him. ‘There won’t be a Brekka soon. Or an Oss. It will all be gone. You will all be gone. Soon.’ He lunged at her suddenly, the whites of his eyes glowing maniacally. He was not as tall as Jael, though he seemed to rise on his toes, trying to be. ‘You may return t
o your family, but first... I shall take your sword.’
Jael stiffened. She rolled her tongue over her teeth. ‘What need do you have of a sword when you have the Book of Darkness?’
‘Me?’ Gerod smiled. ‘None at all. But it would be remiss of me to leave that sword with you. We all know about the damage that sword could do in your hands.’ He reached for it. ‘You choose. Your sword or your life.’
Jael felt sick.
Gerod didn’t blink as he glared at her.
She saw the guards creeping in from the walls. More elders had flocked to the grand chamber. Perhaps as many as thirty were clustered around the fires now, watching her. And even if she somehow got through all of them, there were more inside the temple chambers, she knew.
Many more.
Jael slid Toothpick from his scabbard and handed him to Gerod without a word.
He took the sword in both hands, curling his wet lips in distaste, holding it as though it were diseased. ‘Leave. Go back to your family. Say your goodbyes. You do not have long now.’
Jael gritted her teeth and turned away from him, towards the doors, trying to forget the image of Gerod’s smiling face as he gripped her sword.
‘Locked out?’ Eadmund frowned at Ayla as they sat at a table in the corner of the hall. ‘What does that mean?’ He had waited for Evaine to leave for the tailor’s, not wanting her to see him with Ayla, who she had made an obvious point of disliking. Not wanting her to know that he was trying to contact Jael at all.
Ayla looked up. ‘It means that she doesn’t want anyone to see what she is doing or dreaming or saying. She doesn’t want us to see her at all. She has locked a door.’
‘On purpose?’ Eadmund wondered.
‘Yes, I think so. Dreamers can spy on anyone they choose if they are skilled enough. If you are to keep a dreamer out, you must actively close your mind.’
‘How?’
‘Symbols, perhaps. You can use symbols to bring anything to you, to keep anything away. But dreamers?’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t know of a symbol that does that.’
Eadmund glanced around, nodding at Bram and Thorgils as they entered the hall, but not inviting them over. He looked back to Ayla. ‘Why would Jael want to keep out dreamers? Why now?’ He was troubled. ‘I need to get through to her. Urgently.’
It was something that had kept Ayla awake for much of the night. She had never come across such a thing and was as desperate as Eadmund to get Jael and the Brekkan fleet to help them. ‘Perhaps I can try Eydis?’ she suggested. ‘Tonight?’
Eadmund swallowed, suddenly anxious for his little sister. ‘If it is not too much for you?’
‘No, I couldn’t even begin last night. I can try again. If it will help?’
‘Do you think it will?’
Ayla nodded. ‘I see a wave of ships. Angry men. Desperate for gold.’
‘Gold? And Ivaar? Do you still see Ivaar?’
Ayla frowned. ‘Yes. Ivaar wants you. He wants to be king here. But the men beside him? Their eyes gleam with dreams of gold and maybe something else...’
‘What?’
‘Power. They want to be king here too.’
When Borg Arnesson and Falla Hallstein weren’t rutting like dogs in their bedchamber, they were rutting like dogs in the hall.
Ivaar refused to sit inside and listen to it any longer. Rain and high winds had battered the tiny island of Bara for days, and his mood was as grey and morose as the clouds hanging above him.
‘You prefer the rain to the company of my brother and his new wife?’ Rolan Arnesson wondered with a grin as he sat down beside Ivaar on the rocks, staring out at the crashing waves as they pounded the shore.
‘I prefer the arms of Ran and the teeth of Ilvari to the sound of those two fucking,’ Ivaar spat moodily, fed up with how badly everything had gone. ‘It’s not why I came here. Not what I thought we would be doing.’
‘True, but what else is there to do on this shit hole? You’re just jealous that Borg’s taken the best looking woman here!’ Rolan elbowed Ivaar, who looked ready to kill him.
‘We had enough men to attack Oss without your cousins.’
Rolan shrugged, resigning himself to not being able to improve Ivaar’s foul mood. ‘We did, but Borg wants more now that he’s married Falla. He wants to be a king.’
Ivaar felt a chill that had nothing to do with the icy rain running down his neck. ‘King of what?’ he scowled.
‘Of the Slave Islands, of course.’
Ivaar frowned, realising that he had misjudged this brother as being the smartest of the three inbred fools. ‘King? But...’ His face made a series of strange expressions as he fought the urge to throw Rolan to the ground and rip out his eyes. ‘King of the Islands?’ He shook his head in disbelief.
Rolan started to look uncomfortable. He ran his fingers through his freshly combed beard. ‘Well, now that Borg has a wife, he wants to settle down. And the King of Alekka is going nowhere, not with that fleet of his. But the King of Oss?’ Rolan smiled. ‘With your help, we will kill your brother and take the islands for ourselves. I’m sure Borg will reward you. Make you a lord?’
Ivaar blinked. ‘Make me a lord?’ He shook his head, then scrambled to his feet, losing his temper at last. ‘I am a fucking lord!’ he cried, striding away, back to the hall.
Back to Borg Arnesson, who was no doubt fucking his new wife.
32
Jael took the sword, looking it over with an attempt at interest.
It was well made; similar in length and weight to Toothpick. Double-edged with a silver and copper inlay of wave-like patterns, a leather grip and a shell-like pommel.
A beautiful, expertly crafted weapon.
But it was not Toothpick.
It was not the sword that she was meant to have.
‘Thank you,’ Jael said mutely, unable to raise a smile.
Kormac didn’t blame her. He knew the story of her sword; how vital it was to the prophecy.
Edela glanced at her granddaughter, concerned by both the destruction of the book and the loss of the sword. It certainly made their situation even more precarious.
‘How about a cup of chamomile tea?’ Biddy suggested as she bustled about, trying to be useful. Branwyn’s servant, Berta, had left to look after her father, who had been seriously wounded in the raven attack, so Biddy had assumed control of the kitchen.
It helped to give her something to focus on.
‘And something to eat, perhaps? I think I’m almost hungry.’
Biddy would have smiled if she didn’t feel so petrified. ‘Well, I’m making flatbreads, and there’s some smoked cheese. How does that sound?’
Edela nodded, resting her eyes for a moment, listening to her stomach growl in anticipation.
‘Those soldiers have gone,’ Gisila sighed, closing the door. ‘Finally.’
That was something, Jael supposed. She glanced around the house. Biddy had rushed to the fire to flip her flatbreads. Eydis sat by Edela, the puppies curled up beside her. Kormac had taken a seat next to Branwyn, preparing to sharpen his own sword, but Gisila couldn’t sit still.
She was in a complete panic.
‘Can we dream walk? Maybe Axl and Aleksander could help us?’ Gisila wondered.
‘They cannot,’ Edela sighed. ‘Not now. The wolves have hurt them.’
‘What we need is to find a way to break the binding spell,’ Kormac said calmly, running a whetstone down his blade. ‘To free the soldiers. There are some good men among them. If we can free them from this spell, they would help us, I’m sure.’
‘But would that be enough to defeat The Following? With all those elders and dreamers in the temple? No one is safe here while they live. While the Book of Darkness is in that woman’s hands,’ Gisila panicked.
‘Don’t forget Marcus’ daughter,’ Branwyn said, trying to soothe her sister. ‘If she can steal the book they won’t be such a threat, will they?’
Jael frowned, running her eyes over
the sword that wasn’t Toothpick. She wanted to reassure them all, but as much as she hoped that Berard would help Hanna take the book from his brother, she had felt his fear growing in her dreams. He was becoming more and more afraid of Jaeger.
And if Berard refused to help her, then Hanna didn’t stand a chance.
Berard hunched over sadly as he watched Meena scurry away from the castle, heading towards the marketplace.
She looked as nervous as ever.
‘Berard!’ Haaron grumbled. ‘Your head is facing the wrong way!’
Berard turned back towards his father who had been talking with all four of his sons about the defenses he was planning to construct. Around the harbour. The castle. Across the mountains.
Only Haegen seemed interested.
Jaeger was eager to get back to his chamber for his meeting with Yorik and Morana.
Karsten was eager to launch himself at Jaeger and take off his head.
And Berard... well, Berard was suddenly unable to think of anything but the fact that they were leaving in five days and Meena would be all alone with Jaeger. Jaeger, who was so unlike the brother he used to have that he barely recognised him anymore. Jaeger, who seemed more and more like the man who had punched his first wife in the stomach, killing both her and their unborn son.
He remembered how Jael had begged him to look after her cousin. She was worried enough about what Jaeger would do then. But now? Now, he seemed even worse. How could he go and leave Meena alone with him?
‘What do you think?’ Haaron asked, nudging his smallest son.
Berard blinked himself awake. ‘I think it makes sense, Father,’ he said mutely. ‘When word spreads of what happened here, it will embolden our allies and enemies alike. Those who thought they never had a hope of defeating us might chance their luck. We need more protection.’
