by A. E. Rayne
Axl ignored them both from his stool in front of the shrinking flames of the fire. He sipped on the last of his ale and stared at Fyn. No one understood, well perhaps Aleksander did, but he hadn’t fought for Jael. He’d let her go, and now Jael loved someone else, everyone could see that. He wasn’t about to let that happen with Amma.
But while Lothar lived, and while Lothar tied them to Haaron, they were all trapped. And his kingdom wasn’t his. And Amma wasn’t his.
And he was powerless.
‘What do you think it means?’ Biddy wondered as they browsed through the market which was suddenly busy now that most of the men had returned.
Thorgils had everyone rushing about, preparing the fort for an imminent attack, which was worrying. But not quite as worrying as Edela’s dreams, which Biddy was having a hard time keeping up with.
‘Well, it’s confusing,’ Edela frowned, picking up a fig and sniffing it. She smiled and quickly popped three into her basket. ‘But heartening too.’
‘Of course,’ Biddy murmured. ‘I could never imagine Fianna hurting Jael. Ever.’
Edela had told Biddy about her dream over breakfast. The thought that Fianna had led those men to Tuura that night was now muddled with the idea that she had, in fact, sworn to protect Jael. It didn’t make sense, but it was a far more comforting thought to have about Fianna and something she couldn’t wait to share with Aleksander.
‘Edela!’ Thorgils looked anxious as he squeezed through the crowd towards her. Another ship had arrived from Alekka that morning, and the Osslanders who were not under Thorgils’ thumb had hurried to browse the new wares on offer. ‘I have been looking for you all morning.’
‘You have?’ Edela looked surprised. ‘I didn’t know that I was so hard to find!’
Thorgils’ smile did not reach his eyes. ‘It’s my mother. She is ill.’
‘Oh.’
‘I thought she seemed odd when I returned, not even coming down to the beach,’ he said. ‘She doesn’t want a fuss, and refused to let me go and get you last night, but she looks even worse this morning.’
Edela patted his arm reassuringly. ‘We shall come right away.’ She handed over a coin to pay for the figs and turned to follow Thorgils, smiling at Runa who walked past them with a miserable looking Evaine.
Evaine frowned after Edela as she scurried away with Thorgils and Biddy, not appreciating the cheerful look on her face. ‘Why do you spend so much time with those annoying old women?’ she asked sharply.
Runa swallowed. ‘I do not think that I do,’ she said indignantly. ‘They are healers, you know. They have helped me greatly.’
‘With what?’ Evaine stopped before they entered the market crowd and glared at Runa. ‘What have they helped you with?’
Runa didn’t know what to say. ‘I am getting old, Evaine,’ she said quickly. ‘And as a woman, you will find out one day that childbirth has terrible effects on your body.’
Evaine cringed and turned her head away. She had barely slept, and despite getting up early to perform her ritual, she felt no sense of peace at all. But what could she do? Her father had assured her that Eadmund had the stone, that he still had Sigmund’s hair.
So why was she so unsettled?
‘I keep thinking that my father would not like this,’ Eadmund said as he crossed the square with Jael, some way behind Amma and Eydis. They had all been desperate to escape the castle; eager to enjoy some fresh air and freedom from the strangers who peered at them incessantly.
Especially Amma.
‘What do you mean?’ Jael wondered. ‘Hest?’
‘Mmmm,’ Eadmund murmured, lowering his voice, despite the fact that there was no one following them as they left the square and wandered along the road towards Hest’s marketplace. ‘The idea of this alliance bothers me. If there are three partners and you are the weakest, the smallest, you are surely in danger of being swallowed whole by the other two once your usefulness is over. It was different when it was just Lothar to deal with but Lothar and Haaron together?’
Jael’s eyes roamed the cliffs to her right, home to hundreds of tiny stone cottages, jumbled on top of one another; great rows of them dug into walls of rock that seemed to reach up into the hazy morning clouds. ‘We have no choice but to go along until we are safely away from here. Then we can decide what to do.’
‘It seems that there will be little stopping them if they have a mind to conquer us,’ Eadmund frowned.
‘I agree,’ Jael said thoughtfully. ‘But it will take some time for Haaron to rebuild his fleet.’ Her eyes wandered towards the expansive harbour. Its six long piers were filled with merchant ships, but only a handful of Haaron’s fleet remained. ‘He has some, but not enough to defeat us. And don’t forget, he lost a lot of men as well. And I hardly think the Silurans will be so eager to come to his aid next time, not after what happened.’
‘Well, that’s true,’ Eadmund smiled. ‘And hopefully, Edela can help us make more sea-fire. That should keep everyone at bay!’ He grabbed Jael’s hand.
‘What?’ she turned to him, puzzled.
‘What do you mean, what?’ Eadmund wondered. ‘It’s called affection, remember?’
‘Oh,’ she said distractedly. ‘Well, I suppose you can have some of that, for a moment or two.’
‘Very generous of you,’ Eadmund laughed, surprised that he felt so happy for a moment. His heart was heavy, but he was slowly becoming used to the idea that he was a king now, and his wife, who he loved desperately, was his queen. Soon they would go home to start their new life together.
He would have to think about what to do with Evaine and Sigmund, though.
They could not stay on Oss.
Odda was grumbling loudly, which Thorgils took as an encouraging sign. He stepped back and peered at Edela, who stared up at Biddy, who blinked.
‘Perhaps a tonic of willow bark, yarrow, some garlic and meadowsweet...’ she frowned, thinking. ‘Cowslip, too. Do we have any honey left? That will help with the taste.’
Biddy nodded. ‘I have all of those,’ she smiled. ‘I’ll go and make it up right away. It needs to steep for a while though, so I’ll bring back some ginger and honey tea to soothe that cough.’
Edela nodded. ‘That sounds like a good idea.’
Thorgils was barely listening as he opened the door for Biddy. As much as his mother had tormented and nagged him, she had also raised him, and he was certain that she must have loved him and him, her.
Her chest was thick with muck. He could hear it in her cough, which was deep and liquid. Thorgils knew he had to make sure that everyone was following his instructions to prepare the fort, but it was hard to just leave her like this, wrapped up in her small bed, alone. She looked so fragile and old.
‘I will stay,’ Edela said gently, reaching out to touch his large forearm. ‘You can go and see to the fort.’ She glanced around the cold, dark cottage. ‘But perhaps bring in a few more logs. We want to keep your mother nice and warm to help bring on a sweat.’
Thorgils nodded mutely. He ducked out of the door after Biddy, leaving Edela to remove her cloak and find herself a stool.
Haegen and Karsten watched as their wives dutifully followed Bayla around the hall, enduring her sharp tongue as she hurried to prepare everything in time for tomorrow’s ceremony.
‘They are certainly rushing it through,’ Karsten grumbled.
‘It makes sense,’ Haegen said, picking an apple from the top of a carefully constructed tower of fruit, and polishing it on his tunic. ‘They’re all here. Why wait?’
Karsten turned to his brother, his eye sparking with irritation. ‘Why do it at all?’
‘You mean, marry a Furyck?’ Haegen wondered, crunching into the apple.
‘Of course,’ Karsten grumbled. ‘We should be killing them, not fucking them!’
Haegen laughed loudly, incurring the wrath of his mother, who glared at them both, before turning back around to issue more instructions to Irenna. ‘If you were ki
ng, you’d just kill everyone, would you?’
‘Of course,’ Karsten growled happily. ‘Wouldn’t you?’
Haegen shook his head. ‘Maybe once, but I’m old enough now to see the sense in what Father is doing. Being able to take Helsabor is something we can only achieve with help. Getting all that land?’ He sighed. ‘We wouldn’t have to rely so heavily on trade, on the merchants who come to fleece us every day.’
Karsten shook his head, unconvinced.
‘There is always a time for revenge,’ Haegen smiled, lowering his voice. ‘Especially the revenge you seek so desperately, Brother. But there is also a time for alliances. If we get what we want from the Brekkans and the Islanders, we will grow even more powerful. Then, if it suited us, we could break the alliance and take everything for ourselves.’
Karsten stared at his brother, pleasantly surprised.
‘So, be patient, and keep your hand away from your sword,’ Haegen whispered hoarsely as their father approached with Lothar and his miserable looking wife. ‘There will be time for what you seek, don’t worry.’
‘My sons!’ Haaron said eagerly, desperate for company that wasn’t Brekkan. ‘Are you hiding from your mother over here?’
Haegen threw his apple core onto the table. ‘Trying to, but I don’t think it’s working. She keeps looking this way.’
‘Well, I imagine she wants everything to be perfect, which is hard at such short notice.’
‘Perhaps it would be better to delay the wedding then, my lord?’ Gisila suggested boldly. ‘It would give us all a chance to prepare properly.’
Haaron’s eyes snapped to Gisila’s face. She was an exceptionally beautiful woman. He had heard that, of course, and was pleased to find that it was true, although she was far too scrawny to make a good bed companion; sharp edges suited no one, particularly a woman of her age. ‘I have complete confidence in Bayla,’ he smiled coolly. ‘There is no need to fear, my lady.’
Lothar frowned at Gisila, irritated that she was so intent on delaying the wedding. She had been muttering away about it all morning. Her attitude was quickly ruining any joy he felt in their reunion. ‘Perhaps you could go and offer your assistance, my love?’ Lothar suggested firmly. ‘After all, you have experience of organising weddings at short notice, don’t you?’
Gisila looked around helplessly but not one of the men, almost all of them strangers, appeared interested in coming to her aid. ‘Of course,’ she said mutely. ‘I would be delighted.’
Hest’s marketplace was a sprawling maze of tightly packed stalls and shouting merchants, bursting with bright colours, fragrant spices, furs, beads, exotic scents; so many things that they had never seen or smelled before. Even Amma, in her morose state, couldn’t help but be enthralled.
‘Well, this is different,’ Jael said, shaking her head as a Siluran merchant rushed up to her brandishing a necklace of colourful glass beads.
‘For your wife, lord! For your wife!’ he called to Eadmund, who ignored him and kept walking. He had Eydis’ hand now and pulled her in closer as the paths between the stalls narrowed, and the merchants became more aggressive.
‘They’re all a bit pushy,’ Eadmund grumbled irritably, elbowing one of those pushy merchants out of the way as he lunged for Eydis.
‘They seem to think you must buy me jewels!’ Jael laughed as another man tried to offer Eadmund a turquoise brooch.
‘Well, they don’t know you, do they?’ Eadmund smiled, forging a path for them all to follow. ‘Amma, watch out!’ he cried as a man jumped in front of them with a plate of cakes.
‘It smells good, though,’ Eydis said enthusiastically, much recovered after a long and deep sleep.
‘I have a few coins if you’d like something to eat?’ Eadmund offered, reaching into his pouch with one hand and handing Eydis off to Jael with the other. He gave the cake holder a small silver coin and took two cakes, dripping with honey. ‘Here,’ he said to Amma. ‘Would you like one?’
Amma shook her head. ‘No, thank you,’ she said quietly, ready to cry. As upset as she was though, as desperate as she felt, the tears would not come.
‘Fyn will take it!’ Aleksander smiled, emerging from a pathway to the left with Axl and Fyn. ‘He slept through breakfast, and his stomach’s been growling all morning!’
Eadmund passed the cake to Fyn, who looked embarrassed, glancing at Eydis and looking even more embarrassed. Not embarrassed enough to stop himself from popping the tiny cake into his mouth, though.
‘Nice?’ Jael asked, watching as Eydis devoured her own cake. She was happy to see that her appetite had returned.
‘Mmmm,’ Eydis mumbled. ‘It’s so sweet!’
Amma didn’t say a word as her eyes sought Axl’s. He looked even more miserable than her.
‘Perhaps you two could walk ahead?’ Jael suggested to them. ‘In here no one will see you. Everyone’s too busy in the castle. And you’re hardly likely to run into Jaeger.’
Amma shuddered at the sound of that name, but nodded and smiled at Axl. He smiled back, and they hurried away together.
‘Are you sure that’s such a good idea?’ Eadmund wondered.
‘No,’ Jael supposed. ‘But they need to say their goodbyes somewhere.’ She watched them go, sensing Aleksander’s eyes on her, remembering their own goodbye not so long ago.
40
‘Where is your step-daughter?’ Bayla asked sharply. She did not want Gisila’s company any more than Gisila wanted hers. ‘It would be useful if she were here. We need to make sure that Nicolene’s dress fits. There is no time for anything else.’
‘Of course,’ Gisila muttered. ‘I will go and find her. I imagine she is eager to explore her new home.’ Her emotionless eyes rested on the harsh face of the Queen of Hest; a woman unhappy with her life, Gisila decided. Despite the largess of her kingdom, her face told the tale of one who had spent her years angry, bitter, and miserable. Gisila wondered if her own face told the same story.
Bayla smirked. ‘I’m sure she is. I will send Nicolene with you. She can show you around and then take you and the girl to try on the dress.’
Gisila tried not to frown as she glanced at the tall, blonde-haired young woman cradling an equally blonde-haired little boy.
Nicolene handed her one-year-old son, Kai, to his grandmother, and lifted up the hem of her new dress, which she had no intention of getting dirty outside. ‘I imagine she’s gone to the markets,’ Nicolene said with a bored sigh. And ignoring her mother-in-law’s less than impressed face, she strode out of the hall, not bothering to wait, as Gisila hurried to catch up with her.
Hest was a place that had grown out of its landscape. Over the centuries each king had chipped further and further into the mountains that surrounded its rock-faced cliffs, digging in paths that wound their way out of the castle and into the hillside. The paths were private and cool, hidden beneath canopies of trees; places to disappear into when the summer heat became too much, or the topic of conversation, too risky.
Varna used to love escaping into the maze to think and plot and let her mind wander, but her legs were weak now, and so they had simply stopped at the first bench they could find. Morana glanced around but could see no one coming as she took a seat next to her mother.
‘We cannot kill her,’ Varna began breathlessly, holding her withered hand up to silence any protestations. ‘All blame will go to Haaron. And that cannot happen. Not now.’
‘Why?’ Morana spat. ‘Why do you care so much about this stone kingdom and your failed king?’
Varna inhaled the fresh pine scent of the trees, enjoying the warmth of the air. ‘Hest has always been my home, and I have been with Haaron since he was a boy,’ she said slowly. ‘But I could care less about either of them. I care about why Hest needs to remain whole. Why Haaron needs to stay king.’
Morana frowned, confused.
Varna sighed impatiently. ‘The book cannot be taken by someone like Jaeger Dragos. It cannot be claimed by a man who is stupid and
reckless, who cares nothing for its purpose. He will use it solely for his own benefit.’ She shuddered, imagining his giant hands on the precious book. ‘All he wants is power and revenge. He is a small-minded boy in a bear’s body,’ she grumbled. ‘He has no concept of what that book is meant for, or why The Following has sought its return all these centuries.’
‘And Haaron does?’
‘Haaron has respect for The Following,’ Varna hissed. ‘He has respect for me. He has never turned from me, even if what I suggested was distasteful to him. He will do what he must when I ask. But his sons?’ She shook her head. ‘They are not so eager to follow the advice of an old woman. If we kill Jael Furyck, Hest will disintegrate. Haaron will not be able to survive, and we need a Dragos if that book’s true power is to be realised.’ Morana looked ready to protest, but Varna ignored her entirely. ‘You know as well as I that she needs more than the sword to fulfil the prophecy.’ She smiled, her eyes glistening in a ray of sunlight that had forced its way through the thick brush of trees. ‘She needs Eadmund Skalleson. And you have worked very hard to take care of that, haven’t you?’
Morana nodded. ‘Evaine has him bound to her now. There is nothing he wouldn’t do to please her, to keep her with him, her and their son. He will turn away from Jael, I have seen that,’ she said, feeling a hesitation that troubled her. Eadmund had certainly appeared more attentive to his wife than she would have expected.
‘I hope you are right,’ Varna wheezed, standing up. ‘We need her gone, and quickly. Back to the islands. Alive. And we need that book. That is our purpose. That is what we must focus on. You must ignore the temptation to hurt Jael Furyck. Now that we know she cannot be bound to us, you must let it go. To do anything now would cause great problems, especially if she is a dreamer as she says. If she were to find out about the book...’ Varna shook her head. ‘We need her gone.’
Morana slouched on the bench, seething, eyeing her mother through the mess of hair that fanned out wildly from her face. Let Jael Furyck go? The one who could destroy everything they wanted so badly?
