The Burning Sea

by A. E. Rayne

  And in the distance, the temple, towering above them all. It, too, was aglow, disappearing into the dark clouds, consumed by flames from the buildings around it as the wind fanned them higher and higher.

  Edela turned, watching her family run towards the open gates, fighting to escape, panic in their eyes.

  The bed was not comfortable, as beds went, but compared to the rocks and dirt he had been curling up on for the past few nights, it was bliss.

  If only Axl hadn’t been too numb to notice.

  They had been sequestered in one room; a small, dark chamber on the first floor of the castle that smelled of disuse, like the inside of a bowl left out over winter. Osbert was there, in one bed, against the wall; his father in the bed along from him. Axl had taken the other side, with Gant, desperate to get away from them and their scheming.

  He needed to think and couldn’t. He still saw the battle and heard the screams, still felt the despair of the march and the worry about being captured.

  And now Amma.

  Lothar had taken his throne, his crown. And now he was giving away the woman Axl wanted for his wife. To another man. A Dragos. To live in Hest with him.

  Axl shuddered and rolled over. Perhaps Jael could help? There must be some way she could stop this from happening.

  Lothar’s thunderous snores bounced off the cold stone walls as Osbert groaned, tossing and turning to escape the noise and the agony of his wounds. Axl didn’t notice as he lay there, trying to remember the last time he had seen Amma, when he had promised he would return to her.

  He couldn’t let her down.

  ‘Ivaar’s gone.’

  Eadmund glared down at Jael as she sat shovelling thick porridge into her mouth.

  She looked up, surprised. ‘From the island?’

  Eadmund nodded, too furious to speak. Why had he listened to her?

  ‘Well, he’s only going back to Kalfa, isn’t he?’ Thorgils mumbled as he fought his way through his own bowl of porridge. ‘Whether you’d killed him now or later, it doesn’t make much difference, does it?

  ‘No, but on Kalfa, he will be protected inside his fort. It won’t be as easy.’

  ‘True, but he’s made things clear for you now, hasn’t he?’ Thorgils smiled, wiping his beard and reaching for a cup of water. ‘Only a guilty man would run.’

  Jael frowned. ‘Or a man who thinks he’s about to be killed without reason.’

  They both scowled at her.

  ‘Why are you always so determined to find that bastard innocent?’ Thorgils grumbled, admitting defeat against the unappetising lump of porridge. ‘Does he have to be standing there, holding the bottle of poison for you to think he’s done it?’

  Fyn squirmed in between them, thinking that it was time to go and sharpen his sword.

  Eadmund stood in front of Jael, waiting for her answer.

  Jael looked past him. ‘There’s a ship coming,’ she said quickly, dodging the question entirely. ‘A Hestian ship by the look of it.’

  Eadmund turned towards the burned entrance of the fort. ‘Well, let’s hope they have some good news for us. I’m growing sick of the sight of this island.’

  ‘Mmmm,’ Thorgils agreed. ‘Especially now that we’ve run out of ale!’

  ‘But you couldn’t see who it was?’ Amma asked as they walked down the beach in bare feet, enjoying the cool sand between their toes.

  The sun was out, the wind barely a breeze, and they had both grown tired of sitting inside, waiting for news that never came.

  ‘No,’ Eydis said sadly. ‘Just a voice. But it was so muffled and far away. I didn’t recognise it at all. Or maybe I did? I don’t know.’ She shook her head in frustration. ‘It was a woman. That’s all I know for certain.’

  ‘A dreamer?’ Amma suggested. ‘It sounds like a dreamer.’

  Eydis stumbled in the soft sand and Amma reached out to steady her. ‘I think so. But I can’t believe that it was Ayla.’

  ‘Perhaps you will have another dream tonight?’ Amma suggested. ‘And more will be revealed?’

  ‘I hope so,’ Eydis sighed, feeling the heaviness in her eyes, the ache in her chest. She wanted to fall to the sand and sob. She was lost, adrift in a terrifying new world, without her father. She was desperate to hear his voice, feel his face, pull on his beard, kiss his cheeks.

  She felt the tears coming again and shook her head, not wanting to cry anymore. Not yet, not till she knew that Eadmund and Jael were safe and coming back for her.

  She had to be strong until then.

  ‘Eydis,’ Amma said suddenly, stopping and turning to her. ‘You have seen something about me, haven’t you?’ She was shaking all over, afraid to even ask. ‘I can see it on your face. Is it Axl? Has something happened to him?’ She held her breath, watching Eydis for any sign that her instincts were right.

  Eydis’ shoulders slumped. She wanted to hide away from the question, knowing that any answer she gave would make Amma feel worse. She swallowed, listening as the birds sung in great wailing tones in the distance. ‘I have... had a dream about you.’

  Aleksander came towards them first, and Jael’s whole body sighed, relieved to see that he was alive and unhurt. She looked less pleased to see Haegen Dragos walking behind him.

  Eadmund frowned to see Aleksander again.

  Thorgils nudged Fyn in the ribs as they stood waiting, just behind their king and queen. ‘Here we go again,’ he muttered, rolling his eyes.

  ‘Welcome to Skorro!’ Jael smiled at Aleksander, ignoring Haegen. ‘I thought you might bring some ale to celebrate our great victory, but you seem to have brought a Dragos instead.’

  Aleksander grinned, happy that she looked well, if not filthy. The whole place stunk of sea-fire and smoke. The evidence of the destruction the Islanders had wrought was everywhere. ‘Well, it is more that he has brought me,’ Aleksander said ruefully. ‘We are Haaron’s prisoners.’

  That wiped the smiles off everyone’s faces.

  ‘All of you?’ Jael wondered anxiously, her shoulders tightening themselves right back up again.

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ Aleksander said with a shrug.

  ‘We have come to negotiate with you,’ Haegen said impatiently. ‘I am Haegen Dragos, my lord.’ He nodded to Eadmund in a surprising show of respect. ‘I am sorry to hear of your father’s death.’

  Eadmund didn’t even blink at him.

  Haegen did blink as he hurried on. ‘My father wishes to have his men and his island back, and his sons returned.’ He looked around at the broken remains of the fort, at all the soot-covered Hestians who sat slumped miserably together, waiting to discover their fate. ‘I am told they still live?’

  There was genuine concern in his eyes, Jael noticed; affection, she supposed. Perhaps Jaeger was someone you warmed to over time?

  ‘Well, let us go somewhere more private,’ Eadmund suggested, motioning to the hall, which had various private chambers leading from it.

  Haegen walked ahead of them and Eadmund fell in beside him, leaving Jael with Aleksander. She shot him a look that he knew well. Aleksander smiled, knowing that her mind was already working away, trying to come up with a plan.

  Amma shuddered as she listened.

  ‘I wish I knew what it all meant,’ Eydis said again. ‘I wish I could see things more clearly, but, you were in pain, I know that. Heartbroken and scared. Alone in the darkness, praying to the gods. You needed their help, you said, over and over.’ Eydis stopped, reaching out in her own world of darkness for Amma’s hand, wanting to reassure her, somehow. ‘I’m sorry that I can’t tell you more, but I will try my hardest to dream about it again.’

  Amma gave Eydis her hand as she stood, swaying gently on the sand.

  Terrified.

  Was Axl dead?

  The bulk of the Brekkan army had been imprisoned in Haaron’s ship sheds. The rest had been penned into stables and stalls, watched over by armed Hestian guards. The Furycks – valued hostages now – were confined to their tiny c
hamber on the first floor under the watchful one eye of Karsten Dragos, who had an annoying habit of poking Axl in the ribs, hoping to provoke him into an attack.

  Axl was tempted. He was desperate for an outlet for all the rage that was surging through his body at Osbert and Lothar; especially Osbert, as everything that came out of Lothar’s mouth generally originated in Osbert’s small little head.

  ‘You know what happened to his first wife, of course?’ Karsten crowed as soon as Lothar left the room with Haaron. ‘She died giving birth to his son. Just a few months ago. Barely any time ago at all. Very sad,’ Karsten said, looking anything but sad. ‘The poor girl, she had no chance... being married to Jaeger. He has no self-control at all, you know.’

  Axl was staring through the window, watching as rays of sun burst out from beneath the moody clouds that hovered over the busy harbour; as the merchants and their slaves hurried up and down the piers, transporting their goods to the markets. He didn’t want to turn around. He knew Gant was there, with Osbert. He knew he needed to stay calm.

  ‘His wife, Elissa, was close to my wife,’ Karsten went on, smiling. ‘Nicolene was there when she started bleeding all over the floor. Dying, right there in her chamber, the child trying to come too soon... because he’d punched her,’ Karsten said coldly. ‘Right in the belly.’

  A shiver streaked up Axl’s spine, and his hands shook as he spun towards his tormentor. ‘You talk a lot,’ he said, gritting his teeth and glaring into Karsten’s bitter face. ‘Is that because you don’t want anyone to notice that my sister took your eye?’

  Karsten lunged for Axl, grabbing him by the throat as Gant rushed in between them, shoving Karsten away. Karsten spat at Gant. ‘Get away from me, old man!’ he growled as Gant held his arms and forced him towards the other side of the room. ‘Get the fuck away from me!’

  Osbert watched in amusement from his chair by the fire, enjoying the torment in Axl’s eyes, imagining the look on his sister’s face when she found out who her new husband would be.

  Gant was firm as he glared Karsten down, both taller and stronger than the one-eyed man. ‘Your father would not be pleased to come back in and find one of his prizes bleeding and broken, I’m sure,’ he said forcefully. ‘So, perhaps you should get hold of your temper before he returns?’

  Karsten was ready to smash his head into Gant’s to break free of his hold, but Gant’s words checked him, and he realised that he was, in fact, making a fool of himself. That would hardly impress his father.

  Axl stood near the window, shaking with rage and fear in equal measure. They were all powerless to do anything but wait and hope that Jael would agree to Haaron’s terms.

  She had to.

  He needed to get out of here and save Amma.

  ‘You want us to release your brothers, all of your men, leave your island and go back home?’ Jael asked incredulously. ‘When we have claimed it for ourselves, destroyed your fleet, killed your men, and captured your brothers?’ She eyed Haegen in amazement. ‘And your father’s terms are that we just give it all up for nothing?’

  ‘Not for nothing,’ Haegen sighed, turning irritably towards Jael, acknowledging her at last. ‘You will, in return, have the Brekkan army released, which includes, of course, your uncle, the king.’

  Jael smiled. ‘And you are saying that without laughing?’ She turned to Eadmund. ‘These are not terms we can accept. Not to save Lothar.’

  ‘They have Axl,’ Aleksander reminded her.

  ‘And who’s to say that I would give all of this up for him?’ Jael growled, glaring at Haegen, ignoring Aleksander.

  ‘You?’ Now Haegen did laugh. ‘It’s up to you?’ He looked at Eadmund.

  ‘Yes,’ Eadmund said plainly. ‘It is, up to Jael, and myself. We rule together. She won this victory for us. She leads our forces. She will decide whether your offer is fair, so if I were you, I would look her way once in a while.’

  Haegen swallowed, indignant.

  Aleksander suppressed a grin.

  ‘They have made an alliance then? Haaron and Lothar?’ Jael guessed.

  Haegen inhaled sharply, revealing just what he thought of that. ‘They have, yes. And as the Slave Islands are part of the alliance with Brekka, it follows that you are part of it as well.’

  ‘And what is the purpose of this new alliance?’ Eadmund wondered.

  Haegen hesitated, so Aleksander stepped in. ‘Haaron and Lothar will attack Helsabor together, with your men as well. A three-pronged attack. Hest and Brekka will broach his walls, and you will destroy his fleet.’

  Jael and Eadmund looked at each other. ‘Helsabor?’

  ‘And Amma is to be married to Jaeger Dragos,’ Aleksander muttered.

  Jael’s eyes popped open in horror. ‘Well, it seems that there has been much discussed in Hest,’ she murmured, eyeing Haegen. ‘But Lothar and Haaron becoming allies depends on whether we want to play their game, wouldn’t you say?’

  Aleksander fidgeted nervously. He knew that look.

  ‘We have claimed a great victory here,’ Eadmund said. ‘Why should we give it up?’

  ‘For your family, of course,’ Haegen frowned at Jael. ‘You can’t tell me that you would be happy to let them die at our hands? For Brekka to exist no more?’

  ‘You think I care about any of them?’ Jael lied, her eyes hard. ‘I’d be more than happy for you to tip my uncle and cousin off your cliffs. And as for my brother?’ She shook her head. ‘We have no real affection for each other, which Aleksander will attest to.’

  Aleksander, put on the spot, nodded as convincingly as he could.

  ‘Perhaps,’ Haegen mused, looking far from convinced.

  ‘We will need to discuss it,’ Jael said sharply. ‘You can go and see your brothers and let us speak to Aleksander.’

  Haegen frowned, annoyed at being dismissed so abruptly, but he bit his tongue and nodded, leaving without another word.

  Jael waited for Haegen to be far enough away, before hissing to Aleksander. ‘Amma cannot marry Jaeger Dragos!’

  31

  ‘What do you think she will say?’ Haaron croaked, reaching for his goblet, his throat still raw from all that evil smoke. ‘If, indeed, she is the one who will say anything? Perhaps her husband has taken hold of her tongue, as he should.’

  Lothar’s very life was in Jael’s hands.

  She had all the power now.

  He swallowed, almost sighing at the memory of the roast pork, which had been tender and moist, but not very plenty. ‘Jael?’ he attempted to sound casual, ignoring Osbert’s fretful face. ‘She will agree, of course. Why wouldn’t she? We have an alliance with the islands. And you have her family.’ He wondered at that, sticking his knife into a turnip. Honey roasted. Now he did sigh.

  Osbert had no appetite. Although he was certainly hungry, he felt sick at the thought of Jael deciding their fate. She didn’t really care for Axl, did she? Not enough to give up a great victory.

  Not for nothing.

  Jaeger could barely look Haegen in the eye.

  ‘I don’t imagine anyone could have held the fort against that fire,’ Haegen whispered, trying to cheer his brother up.

  ‘I’m sure Father won’t agree,’ Jaeger muttered morosely, his eyes turned towards his knees. His ankles, wrapped in torn pieces of blood-soaked cloth, oozed and throbbed where Jael Furyck had stabbed him. Just the thought of her and he was grinding his teeth together.

  ‘I’m sure he won’t,’ Haegen smiled tightly. ‘But the Tower looks much like this, and he was powerless to stop it.’ He glanced over at Berard who was happily chatting to a young man. ‘And they’ve treated you well?’

  ‘What do you think?’

  ‘I think you must make a very annoying prisoner,’ Haegen smiled, adjusting himself on the tiny stool he perched on before his miserable brother. ‘Berard seems fine.’

  ‘They’re trying to get him to talk,’ Jaeger growled.

  ‘Talk?’ Haegen looked confused. ‘About what?’
/>
  Jaeger shook his head, easing the deep line between his eyes, waking himself up. He had barely thought of anything but the book since they had made it back to Skorro. He needed to get it safely back to Hest.

  Haegen’s eyes drifted towards Aleksander who motioned him over. He stood up and smiled reassuringly at Jaeger. ‘Well, just sit there quietly. Don’t cause any trouble. We’ll know your fate soon enough.’ He left his grumbling brother behind, nodding at Berard, who looked up anxiously as he passed, following Aleksander back to the chamber.

  Jael and Eadmund stood next to each other, their faces unreadable as they waited for Aleksander to shut the door.

  ‘We will not accept your offer,’ Jael began. ‘For us to leave Skorro with nothing is a bad deal. We are prepared to leave, to return your men and your brothers to you, but it will cost your father.’

  ‘Cost?’ Haegen frowned, his eyes darting to Eadmund, willing him to speak. ‘Cost what?’

  Jael smiled. ‘Gold.’

  ‘Well, you must keep trying,’ Entorp insisted. ‘Again. Tonight. That salve will work, but of course, it is the gods who hold true power over your dreams, Edela. They will decide if Eadmund needs to be helped.’

  ‘I agree,’ Edela sighed. ‘But what did I see last night? What happened to Tuura? Is that the prophecy? That Tuura will fall? Burn to the ground?’

  Biddy was on her knees, laying a new fire. She sat back on her heels, brushing hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand, avoiding her soot-covered fingers. ‘Well, if that is the prophecy, it doesn’t sound as though Jael stopped anything from happening. Not from that dream. And where was Eadmund?’ She felt anxious, desperately worried about everyone. It was hard not to know who was safe, who would return.

  Edela shook her head. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘My dreams always seem to take place in the darkness these days. It’s hard to make anything out!’

  There was a wry smile on her face now, and Biddy relaxed to see it. ‘Well, it is a clue, perhaps?’