by A. E. Rayne
Meena rubbed her fingers together, biting her lip, her eyes constantly fleeing down the darkened corridor, certain she’d heard footsteps.
Tapping her head with one hand, Meena reached out for the door handle with the other, before changing her mind entirely and running away down the corridor as fast as her shaking legs would carry her.
33
Eadmund and Thorgils sat far enough away not to be a distraction, although the bed groaned every time that Eadmund moved, and eventually, he left to sit on the floor.
Ayla knelt in front of the fire, ignoring everyone.
She focused on her breathing; on the rhythm of the drum; on the feel of the floorboards against her knees. She felt every sense heighten, becoming aware of her body, and then, bit by bit as she started chanting, slowly leaving every part of herself behind.
Drifting into the twisting, hypnotic flames. Drifting towards Eydis.
Eydis.
She needed to see Eydis...
Axl had fallen asleep early, and Aleksander couldn’t stop yawning. He was ready for sleep himself, but he could see that Amma was wide awake.
It was so loud in the forest, and her senses were overwhelmed. She couldn’t stop thinking about the wolves, imagining that every rustle, every wail and howl was going to lead to another attack.
‘It’s alright,’ Aleksander murmured, watching her eyes jump about in terror. ‘That’s what a forest sounds like.’ He hoped that he was right, but he couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary. Just crickets and owls, bats and foxes.
The odd hedgehog.
Hopefully, no wolves.
Amma swallowed, wanting to feel reassured but it was impossible after what they had been through. ‘Do you think that the Widow is trying to protect us?’ she whispered.
Aleksander had been thinking about little else all night. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t make sense, but yes. She woke me up in time to get us to that river. If she hadn’t...’
‘And you really think it’s her?’ Amma yawned, reaching over to pull Axl’s cloak up to his chin. Neither she nor Aleksander had cloaks, and it was freezing, but they had no more fishing line and their cloaks needed to remain on the stretcher.
Aleksander nodded. ‘I do. I remember her voice. It’s her, I’m sure.’
‘But I thought that she was evil?’ Amma mumbled, finally lying on the ground, resting her head on the pile of damp leaves she had been making into a pillow. ‘Why is she helping us, I wonder?’
Aleksander sighed. ‘I don’t know. We can only hope that she keeps trying to. It feels as though we’re going to need it.’
Amma closed her eyes, not wanting to sleep at all; not comforted by Aleksander’s words, nor the sounds of the forest, but desperate, just for a moment, not to feel scared.
Gerod stood before Skoll’s Tree.
It was his favourite dream to have, Morana knew. She rolled her eyes, bored as she hiked towards him, wanting to get it over with. It had not been a good day, and she just wanted to sleep and find her own dreams, hoping that the answers to the ritual were waiting for her.
‘Morana,’ Gerod sighed in relief. ‘You’ve come!’
‘It appears so,’ she grumbled, waiting while he walked to her, his eyes shining in the moonlight. ‘And you have news, I hope. About the book?’
‘Oh, yes,’ Gerod purred. ‘It is no more. I threw it into the fire myself before taking Jael Furyck’s sword from her.’ He smiled, enjoying the shock on Morana’s face.
Morana almost jumped in the air. ‘You burned it?’ She shook her head with glee. ‘That book? Ha! Well, that is some news. You have done well, Gerod. Yorik will be pleased, I’m sure.’
Gerod puffed out his chest, appreciating the compliment. ‘And the Book of Darkness?’ he wondered. ‘When will you be performing the ritual?’
Morana’s smile vanished. ‘Soon,’ she glowered, not wanting to reveal her own failure to him; not wanting to talk to him about it at all. Yorik had been no help in the end, and she was still no closer to translating that troublesome phrase. But that was not something she wished to share with Gerod Gott. ‘The shadow moon will be upon us in four nights. We will be ready by then.’
Gerod looked pleased, wanting to ask more but Morana had already turned from him, and he was left watching her slink away, merging silently into the shadows as though she had never been there at all.
He turned around and walked slowly back to the tree, remembering how his mother had brought him here as a child; how he had found her body hanging from a branch, swinging in an angry breeze.
There was another wall.
Ayla couldn’t get through.
Eydis had shut her out as well.
What was going on?
‘There is no way through there,’ said a melodious voice.
Ayla spun around, surprised to see an old woman. Not that old, she supposed. More middle-aged than old. But very familiar. Her hair was as dark as storm clouds, but her eyes were a cheerful, cornflower blue, and she was standing by a tree, smiling.
‘I am Samara,’ she said. ‘Eydis wanted me to come, so I came. But she didn’t realise that she had locked us all out.’
‘But why?’ Ayla wondered. ‘It was the same when I tried to reach Jael Furyck.’
‘Ahhh,’ Samara murmured as she moved closer. ‘They are hiding from dreamers because dreamers are trying to hurt them.’
Ayla looked shocked. ‘What dreamers would try to hurt them?’
‘The ones in Tuura. They are under orders to dig into their dreams and find answers, so Jael and Eydis have wisely shut them out. They have all shut them out. They are trying to stay alive. And now, without the book...’ Samara looked worried, not knowing what she could do to help.
Ayla frowned. ‘Do I know you?’
Samara smiled sadly. ‘No, but you knew my sister. She was your mother.’
Ayla gasped.
‘We were separated as children. No one knew that we were sisters. We were kept apart so that if one were to be discovered or killed, the other’s line would survive.’
Ayla looked confused.
‘We were the keepers of the book,’ Samara explained. ‘Not the Book of Darkness, but the Book of Aurea. Your mother had one copy and so did I. Before I died, I left mine in the temple, with the elderman. Naively so, for I did not realise how deep the roots of The Following had entwined themselves around that sacred place. And nor did he. And now he is a prisoner in the temple, and my book is destroyed. And Eydis is trapped there. They all are.’
‘But my mother’s copy? She did not pass it on to me,’ Ayla said.
Samara’s eyes lit up. ‘No. You were gone, and she worried about you. You loved your husband, but she saw a dark cloud hanging over your future. You were far away from being able to help Tuura.’
‘Then where is it?’
‘I don’t know, which is as it should be. But she would have made sure that you could find it when you needed to. You will know where to look and when.’
‘But...’ Ayla glanced down at her hands, and when she looked up, Samara had gone, and she was alone in front of the wall that stretched far up to the dark, threatening clouds above her.
Ayla reached out and placed her hands on the roughened stone. ‘Eydis,’ she breathed. ‘Eydis, it’s Ayla. I need your help. Please, let me in...’
Jaeger ran his fingers around Meena’s belly button, distracted.
Yorik and Morana had left, and he felt a sense of relief that the book was his again. Meena had no interest in it, nor it in her, he knew. Egil was no threat, but those Followers? He frowned. They wanted to take the book away from him. He could feel it.
Or kill him.
His eyes flared in the darkness. He knew that they needed him, but did they need him alive?
‘You’re sure you looked everywhere?’ he grumbled.
Meena nodded, shivering beneath him. ‘There were no books. She must have hidden them. She must have s-s-seen what you wanted to do.’
Jaeger looked away, sighing. He felt powerless, caught in a web. Bound to the will and whim of Morana and Yorik.
Not how he expected to feel at all.
Meena swallowed, wanting to roll away from him and hide under the furs. She envied Berard and his brothers who were leaving, taking their families and going far away from the castle. She wished she could go along. But to do so would cause more problems for Berard.
Jaeger would certainly hunt her down.
Or would he?
Perhaps he wouldn’t notice if she just slipped away? Perhaps he would be too busy with Morana and the book to even know that she had gone?
Eydis could hear the anticipation that hung, heavy in the silence as she sat eating breakfast.
‘Did you see anything?’ Jael asked at last. ‘Did you have any dreams about the book or your grandmother?’
Eydis squirmed. Fyn was sitting next to her, she knew. Jael was on her other side. Edela was still in bed. She didn’t want to let anyone down, but... ‘No. I didn’t have any dreams at all.’
The disappointment was loud. The escalating fear, even louder. Eydis’ cheeks warmed with discomfort. She didn’t know what to say.
Jael filled a cup with milk. ‘Here, have a drink,’ she said kindly, placing the cup in Eydis’ hands. ‘It doesn’t matter. You’re not alone in trying to find the answers we need. Edela looks ready to get to work. And I may be of some use too.’ She turned around and glanced at her grandmother, who was being spoon-fed porridge by Gisila. She did not look happy.
That was a good sign.
‘Jael’s right, Eydis,’ Edela said between mouthfuls. ‘You’re not alone. We will find answers soon. There’s a way out of this place, don’t you worry.’
Branwyn spooned another boiled egg onto Fyn’s plate, glaring at Kormac, inclining her head towards Jael.
‘What is it?’ Jael wondered.
‘It’s nothing,’ Kormac mumbled, frowning at his wife. ‘Probably nothing. Just a thought I had.’
‘About?’
‘Well,’ he started, his fair skin turning pink as everyone stared at him. ‘I wondered about the idea of the binding spell, as though it were a rope. And I thought of the fort. The fort is like a rope around all of us.’
Entorp, who was sitting next to Kormac, almost dropped his cup of milk. ‘Yes!’ he exclaimed. ‘You’re right!’
Biddy looked confused as she handed around a bowl of berries. ‘But do you mean that they have put a spell on the fort itself? Because, if that were so, then all Tuurans would be bound, wouldn’t they?’
That had everyone frowning.
‘Not necessarily,’ Edela said, waving away Gisila’s spoon. She tried to sit up, but Gisila pushed her back down.
‘Mother, you’re not strong enough yet.’
Edela sighed, exhausted, realising that her daughter was right. Her head sunk heavily into the pillow. ‘They could have used candle magic to bind the soldiers. And then used symbols to reinforce it,’ she added.
‘Perhaps there are symbols around the fort. In the walls?’ Entorp suggested.
Edela nodded. ‘Yes, that would work!’
‘Well, we can’t all go peering at the walls of the fort,’ Jael said. ‘Perhaps we can leave you to do that on your own, Entorp? Maybe Fyn can help you?’
Fyn sat up straighter, eager to be useful.
Branwyn smiled proudly at Kormac, who blushed further. ‘You don’t need to be a dreamer to have a good idea, it seems!’ she said, kissing his hairy cheek.
Morana hopped around the fire, pulling on her socks.
Yorik sat on the bed watching her. He had never seen her so happy. ‘You’re pleased then?’
‘I am!’ she exclaimed, sitting down to pull on her boots. ‘Now that Gerod has destroyed that book and taken the sword from Jael Furyck, there is nothing to stop us!’
‘Nothing but the puzzle of that final phrase,’ Yorik reminded her. ‘It makes no sense at all.’
Morana was suddenly serious. ‘No, it doesn’t. And we are running out of time. I had thought that it would unravel itself more quickly than this. But the shadow moon is approaching. We cannot miss it!’
Yorik frowned, knowing that she was right. He reached for his black robe, though it was already a humid morning and he was not inclined to dress in such heavy wool. ‘And if we do bring her back, what if she takes the book? It was hers for so long. What guarantee do we have that she will even want to help us bring Raemus back?’
Morana dismissed his fears. ‘We have no option,’ she insisted. ‘And whatever she will be when she returns, we are not without power. I have studied the Book of Darkness. We are not without power. And now that Jael Furyck is impotent, without her sword, her husband, or that pathetic book, we have a clear path to Raemus. No one can stop us now!’ Her eyes widened, and they were mad with ecstasy. ‘We cannot give up! He is within reach!’
Aleksander had dreamed of Andala and the tiny bed he used to share with Jael, wondering how he had ever complained about it being too small and uncomfortable. He was becoming so used to sleeping on lumpy dirt that the idea of that bed felt like a luxurious fantasy.
That and Biddy’s cooking.
He thought about that too.
When he wasn’t thinking about Jael.
‘Arrrhhh!’ Axl groaned as he was knocked against the side of a tree, whose low branches then scraped across his legs.
‘Sorry!’ Aleksander called over his shoulder, glancing around at his uncomfortable patient. The forest was growing denser, and he was doing his best to manoeuvre the stretcher through the tightly packed trees with shoulders that felt full of knives. ‘It’s getting a bit tight up here!’
He was right, Amma thought as she squeezed between two trees behind them. If things continued like this, they would soon be boxed in. And that idea terrified her.
Aleksander looked up at the sky, whose low clouds appeared to be touching the high canopy of the forest.
He hoped that he was leading them in the right direction.
Ayla’s news about Eydis had kept Isaura awake for much of the night. And when she wasn’t worrying about the fact that no help was coming, she was having nightmares about what Ivaar would do when he arrived.
She yawned as she trudged along the beach with Thorgils, watching the children chase Bram around on the stones. He was slipping and sliding, fooling them into thinking that he was about to fall over, but just as they lunged for him, he’d suddenly right himself and charge after them.
There was much squealing, and laughter and Isaura smiled to see it.
Thorgils did not.
‘They seem to like Bram,’ he mumbled moodily.
‘Well, he has a way with children, I suppose,’ she said tactfully, ‘having had children himself. It must be so hard for him to have lost them all. His whole family? All at once?’ Isaura looked at Bram, not imagining how anyone could cope with such loss.
Thorgils felt embarrassed. ‘True. Perhaps they can help each other feel better?’
Isaura sighed, listening to the gleeful giggling of her children, mixed with the plaintiff cries of the seabirds who swooped down, searching for dried bits of seaweed and twigs to add to their nesting holes in the cliffs. ‘Are you sure you have to go?’
‘To Hud’s Point?’ Thorgils asked. ‘Best that I do. Eadmund needs someone out there he can trust. I’m taking Torstan with me, but I’ve asked Bram to stay behind and look after you.’
Isaura was grateful for that. ‘But what if Ivaar doesn’t sail around the headland? What if he comes over land? Towards you? There’s nothing down there but a tiny hall and a few old farmers!’
Thorgils smiled broadly, trying to reassure her. ‘Then I’ll be the first one to Ivaar’s throat.’ He slipped his arm around her waist. ‘Don’t worry. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep him from you. From all of us. Ivaar is not going to take Oss!’ He pulled her to him as the wind picked up her long, golden hair, blowing it behind her like a sail.
&n
bsp; He was never going to let Ivaar take her away from him again.
Ivaar sipped morosely from his cup, wondering if he was about to meet the same fate as his father.
He had barely slept, and his mind was drifting like a drunk man at sea. He rubbed his eyes and tried to ignore the almost-toothless grin of the woman whose bed he had ended up in. She was no beauty. And even that was kind to say, but it was better to be humping that just listening to Borg and Falla doing it.
But still, he wished she’d just fuck off.
‘My cousins should arrive today, or perhaps tomorrow,’ Borg grunted as he flopped down onto the bench beside him, nudging his tattooed shoulder into Ivaar’s. ‘Best we start knocking these cunts into shape. Time to stop the ale, I’d say.’
Ivaar didn’t even look his way. He’d thought about simply taking his two ships and disappearing in the night. But he didn’t know where he’d go.
Not anymore.
A man with two ships and a lot of enemies had few options.
Borg nudged him again. ‘Lost your tongue, Ivaar the Bastard?’
‘I think you’re right,’ Ivaar said, at last, through grinding teeth. ‘They have my dreamer with them, so it may be that she knows our plans.’ He felt oddly wistful for Ayla. He’d always felt a sense of comfort in having a dreamer around.
Knowing what was coming.
He wondered if she saw what was coming for him now.
Entorp and Fyn had tried not to draw any attention to themselves as they wandered around the fort in the pouring rain for much of the morning, acting as though they were deep in conversation.
Every now and then one of them would drop to the ground as if to pick something up, or to check their boots for stones, taking the opportunity to look at the great wall that circled Tuura, but they found nothing. The wall was mostly constructed of stone. Its foundations were older than anything in Osterland.
