The Burning Sea

by A. E. Rayne

  ‘You need to get some sleep,’ Morac said with trepidation, looking at her crumpled, irritable face.

  Evaine didn’t argue as she headed for the stairs, too weary to peel back her eyelids. He was right, she knew. There was no answer in that book; not that she could see. She needed Morana to help her. To tell her what had gone wrong.

  Runa walked carefully down the stairs cradling a tear-stained Sigmund in her arms, Tanja just behind her. Evaine didn’t even notice them. She kept walking, desperate to lie down.

  As Evaine approached her bed, she saw the chest and sighed, annoyed that she had missed her morning ritual. She was concentrating so hard on the chest that she didn’t notice the tiny wooden rattle lying on the rug. Tripping over it, she fell to the floor, landing on her forearms with a thump.

  ‘Evaine!’ Morac called as he raced up the stairs towards her.

  ‘I’m fine,’ she grumbled, batting him away as he bent down to help her up. ‘I’m fine!’

  Morac helped her up anyway and led her to the bed. ‘We’ll take Sigmund out after breakfast so you can have some peace,’ he promised, and mumbling away to himself, he headed back downstairs towards the crying.

  Evaine sat on the bed, cringing at the pain in her arms, staring at the rattle.

  And then the floor.

  She cocked her head to one side. The rug had moved when she’d fallen, revealing something strange on the floorboards.

  ‘Amma?’ Gisila smiled encouragingly, trying to prise Amma out of bed. ‘We need to think of what to do with all that hair. Irenna says her servant is an expert at braiding, but she will need some time, so let’s get you up and then we can see what would look nice.’

  Amma sighed. Her eyes felt so swollen and sore that she wasn’t sure she would be able to keep them open for long. She sat up, yawning, trying to avoid Irenna’s smile and Nicolene’s sneer.

  ‘That’s better,’ Gisila said, her face taut with worry for Amma and Axl, both. ‘Gunni is bringing something up for us to eat, so we can all stay in here and prepare for the ceremony.’

  Amma nodded mutely.

  Nicolene frowned. ‘You are making a very good match you know,’ she said crisply. ‘It is not as though you are being forced to marry some commoner. Jaeger is the son of a noble king. The greatest in this land!’

  Gisila glared at her, not wanting her here any more than Amma did. ‘Well, that is your opinion. And right now, opinions do not matter. We must focus on getting Amma ready.’

  ‘When I came here from Silura,’ Irenna said kindly, taking Amma’s hand, ‘I was very nervous. I didn’t want to leave my home or marry Haegen. And I know that Nicolene certainly didn’t want to marry Karsten, but we are both happy now, I would say.’ She looked at Nicolene for support and received a barely discernible shrug in return. ‘Jaeger is very... handsome,’ Irenna went on. ‘Every woman in Hest would fight you for the honour of being his bride, I’m sure.’ She looked away, worried that her eyes would betray her true feelings and that would hardly help Amma prepare for what lay ahead.

  There was so much that Amma wanted to say in return, but Irenna was trying to be kind, so she kept her mouth shut and instead stood up. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, shutting away all thoughts of Axl. ‘I’m ready,’ she said at last.

  Edela pulled the book from her chest and handed it to Biddy. ‘This is where we’ll find everything we need for dream walking.’

  Biddy eyed the musty old Tuuran book and turned to Edela. ‘Do you think you have the strength to do it again?’

  ‘Of course!’ Edela said with confidence. ‘I will do what I must. I need to warn her. If Morana gets hold of that book, if anyone does...’ she shook her head. ‘Jael needs to know.’

  ‘Well, then,’ Biddy sighed. ‘Show me which page it is on, and I will gather what we need after breakfast.’

  ‘Good,’ Edela nodded, trying to quell the panic that fluttered in her chest. ‘Hopefully, you will find everything, for I must do it tonight. I feel such a sense of urgency, a growing darkness. Something terrible is about to happen!’

  Evaine pulled back the rug and peered at the strange symbol. Tuuran certainly, and fresh too. She ran her fingers over it. The marks in the wood were raw and clean. But what did it mean and who had put it there?

  Someone who was trying to stop her.

  Someone who was trying to break the binding spell.

  Edela.

  She hurried down the stairs, looking for a knife.

  ‘At least I didn’t have to watch you get married,’ Aleksander grumbled, shielding his eyes from the intense glare of the morning sun as they walked down the pier with Fyn. ‘I’m not sure how Axl will cope. I couldn’t have.’

  Jael sighed, feeling guilty. ‘Best that we convince Lothar to leave quickly, then,’ she said quietly, turning to see Karsten and Berard talking in the distance. ‘Jaeger seems like the sort of idiot who takes pleasure in making others miserable.’

  Aleksander nodded, groaning at the sharp pains in his head that were a constant reminder of his lack of self-control. He felt foolish. Being a drunk wasn’t a future he wanted for himself, but it was the only way he had discovered to dull the pain.

  ‘Are you alright?’ Jael wondered with a smile. ‘Too much of Haaron’s wine was it?’

  ‘Well, it’s one way to cope, isn’t it?’ Aleksander muttered, not looking at her.

  Jael was glad that Fyn was there. She didn’t know what she could say to make him feel any better. ‘Let’s check on the ships,’ she said instead. ‘I want to make sure that nothing will stop us from leaving in the morning.’

  ‘I wish I could come with you, but I’m going to be stuck with Lothar, Osbert, and a long march.’

  ‘I think Haaron is lending Lothar one of his ships,’ Jael smiled as she jumped into Sea Bear, happy to be away from the Dragos’ and their cloying castle. ‘So, you should be free of him at least. No doubt he’ll lump Osbert on you, though!’

  ‘If Osbert will tear himself away from that woman he’s been humping every night,’ Aleksander laughed. ‘Poor woman. I think he must be paying her!’

  Jael looked around the ship; at the hole-riddled house, at the catapult in the bow. The scars of battle were visible, and she felt a sense of pride that she had kept her men safe from the worst of it. So far. ‘Right, what weapons do we have?’ she asked Fyn. ‘Let’s lay them all out on deck. We don’t know what we’re going to be sailing back into. Ivaar might have decided to cause trouble already. And if we’re not prepared, we won’t be able to respond quickly.’

  Fyn, eager to be of use, ducked into the house and started rummaging through the piles of weapons they had taken from Skorro, and the ones remaining from their own stores.

  Jael reached out suddenly and gripped Aleksander’s forearm. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered quickly, her eyes meeting his.

  He smiled sadly at her, understanding everything and nothing all at the same time. ‘I know.’

  Berard and Karsten had escaped early, desperate to avoid the ear-piercing screeches of their mother who was trapped in a burst of pre-ceremony madness as she raced around the castle, yelling at everyone. They’d had a bench brought out onto the square, and they sat there, drinking ale, watching the sun rise over the calm harbour; watching too, as Jael Furyck and two of her men busied themselves on their ships.

  ‘What do you think they’re doing?’ Haegen wondered with a sigh as he stopped beside them, Jaeger leaning heavily against him.

  ‘Preparing to attack us?’ Karsten laughed.

  ‘I think they’re getting ready to leave as soon as this wedding is done,’ Berard suggested as he stood up so that Jaeger might take a seat. ‘I don’t imagine they want to stay here.’

  ‘They are worried that Ivaar Skalleson may be busy taking their kingdom, from what I hear,’ Jaeger said, sitting down with a grimace. ‘He disappeared while we were on Skorro. In the night. Took all his men.’

  Haegen’s eyebrows went up at that. ‘Brothers
... you just can’t trust them, can you?’ he smiled, only half joking. ‘I imagine that when Father dies, you’ll all be trying to kill me?’

  Berard looked horrified. Karsten laughed.

  Jaeger said nothing.

  Evaine smiled contentedly as she wandered towards Ketil’s fire pit with her father. He was mumbling away to himself, something about going to speak to Thorgils. She wasn’t listening. Her attention had suddenly snapped to Edela and Biddy as they stopped to warm themselves by Ketil’s fire, examining the contents of a basket, their faces tense. Evaine watched the flames billow in the gusting wind, her father still muttering beside her. She looked intently at the two scheming women, remembering the symbol. The symbol they had carved into her floorboards.

  She was certain it was them.

  But she had taken a knife to that symbol, and now Eadmund would be hers again. She was not prepared to let anyone stand in the way of what she had worked so hard to achieve; what she had dreamed of since she could remember.

  Eadmund belonged to her.

  Meena stood by the castle doors, watching as all four Dragos brothers laughed and joked their way through another jug of ale, her eyes fixed on Jaeger.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Varna hissed, hooking her longest fingernail around Meena’s apron strap and yanking her away. ‘Hoping to get yourself a whipping?’

  Meena gasped, surprised, then terrified, turning her eyes towards the floor, tapping her head. ‘I, I wasn’t doing anything,’ she tried unconvincingly, blushing, worried that her grandmother could read her mind.

  ‘Hmmm,’ Varna grumbled. ‘Well, that’s not what I hear. And I hear many things. Much more than my daughter, who appears to think that she will move me to one side and have that book for herself.’

  Meena’s eyes widened, her hands shaking as Varna leaned in closer.

  ‘And will you help her, girl? Will you give the book to her?’

  Meena shook her head vigorously, her eyes hiding from Varna’s as they interrogated her. ‘No, no, no, Grandmother!’ she insisted, wondering if she meant it.

  Varna laughed, and it sounded ominous, rolling over Meena until she shivered. ‘Well, here is your chance to prove it, for my dreams tell me that the book is here. Now. In his chamber. Returned to him at last. So, hurry away little mouse and get me that book. Prove your loyalty. Save your life, for once I have that book, I will be able to protect you from Morana and anyone else who tries to hurt you.’

  Meena’s eyes went immediately to Jaeger, just as his turned towards the doors of the castle. She turned around to Varna, who had disappeared.

  Eydis frowned; Eadmund wasn’t listening.

  Bayla was bustling around the hall, yelling at the slaves who were scurrying about, moving tables to make room for the wedding archway, which had been so hastily erected that it was starting to fall apart as it was carried into place. Her orders were growing more urgent, shrieking, echoing around the large stone room and all the way down Eydis’ spine.

  ‘Eadmund?’ Eydis tried again. ‘Could we go outside? It’s too noisy in here.’

  Eadmund turned to Eydis at last, almost surprised to see her. He hadn’t been sure what to do with his sister while Gisila was helping Amma prepare for the ceremony. Jael and Fyn had disappeared before breakfast, and he didn’t know where to put himself that was not in the way. He shook his head, which suddenly felt as though a fog had descended upon it. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘Eadmund?’ Eydis reached out for him. ‘Has something happened? You sound strange.’

  Eadmund squeezed her little hand, smiling distractedly. ‘No, I’m fine. Just tired. Why don’t we go for a walk outside? We might find Jael and Fyn.’

  He sounded very distant, Eydis thought, as she followed him out of the hall.

  Jael supposed that it was nearly time for the ceremony as they trudged reluctantly back to the castle. Looking down at her filthy tunic, she realised that she needed to change into something more... queenly... although she struggled to think what that might be. But it was most certainly not a dress.

  Now that she was a queen, she never had to wear a dress again.

  Fyn was talking to Aleksander beside her, marvelling at how they’d uncovered a jar of sea-fire on Ice Breaker that must have rolled loose in the battle. It was still intact, and Jael was relieved about that. It was the greatest weapon she could ever imagine possessing, and she was determined to get Edela’s help to make more of it as soon as they were back on Oss.

  Jael saw Eadmund and Eydis walking towards them and smiled, then stopped, frowning, her entire body lurching in horror.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Aleksander asked, turning to her.

  Jael couldn’t speak as she waited for Eadmund to get closer, hoping that she was wrong, but when he stopped and turned his eyes towards her, she knew.

  He had gone.

  Ivaar stood on the shore, watching as his men finished loading their weapons.

  Isaura waited behind him, trying to shoo the children away from their father, who was too busy ordering everyone about to pay any attention to them.

  Ivaar turned to her, finally, his face clear of any emotion. ‘I will send someone for you all when things are settled.’

  Isaura wasn’t sure what that meant but didn’t want to ask. She just nodded.

  Ivaar looked to the end of the beach where Ayla stood. He sighed, wanting to bring her along, but it was better not to spook his men. They did not take well to women on board, let alone a dreamer, and he would need them on his side for what he planned to do. ‘Bernher is in charge,’ he said firmly. ‘Of the fort, of the island... of you. Do you understand me?’ His eyes hardened.

  Again, Isaura nodded, watching as he bent to kiss each child in turn. They clamoured for his rare show of affection.

  Quickly uncomfortable with their tears, Ivaar stood up, nodding at Isaura to deal with the wailing as he turned and made his way towards his ship, desperate to be gone.

  The well-dressed guests were milling about in the hall now as the ceremony grew closer. Each table had been painstakingly prepared and decorated with towering candelabra, silver knives and spoons, and pewter goblets. Trays of fruit and nuts and colourful sweetmeats formed centrepieces, with yellow and white flowers threaded around the displays, cascading over the sides of every table. The wedding archway at the very head of the hall was enormous, taller than any Gisila had seen, if not a bit lopsided. She shook her head as she hurried through the guests, wondering how they could grow anything at all in this barren bowl of dust.

  Gisila had left Amma in Irenna’s capable hands, overcome with an urgent need to check on Axl. There was no sign of him anywhere, though, which worried but didn’t surprise her. She did find Gant, however, who had managed to escape Lothar for the first time all morning. ‘Where is Axl?’ she wondered anxiously, her eyes everywhere but on Gant.

  ‘With Aleksander,’ he reassured her with a smile. ‘Don’t worry. He won’t let Axl out of his sight.’

  ‘You don’t think he will do something foolish, do you?’ Gisila whispered.

  Gant shook his head and turned to her. ‘No, I don’t. I believe Axl can see that he can’t help Amma that way.’

  Gisila reached out and placed her hand on his arm, staring desperately into his eyes. ‘I hope you are right,’ she sighed. ‘I can’t have anything happen to him. I want us all to get out of this place alive.’

  Gant smiled and nodded, moving his arm quickly away from her hand as Lothar announced his arrival with a loud cough.

  ‘My dear,’ Lothar muttered tightly, ignoring Gant. ‘You will need to show me to Amma’s chamber. If I am to escort her, I had better know where she is!’

  Gisila swallowed and smiled quickly at her husband. ‘Of course,’ she said, flushing, sensing his displeasure. ‘I will take you.’ And slipping her arm through Lothar’s, she led him away.

  Bayla watched them go, before turning around, her eyes frantic as they raced around the hall. The guests were drinking and tal
king, far too loudly for her to think. She reached out her empty goblet to a passing slave, and it was quickly filled with honey-scented liquid.

  ‘Where have you been?’ she barked at Haaron as he walked towards her.

  Haaron blinked at his wife, surprised. ‘Me? Why?’

  ‘We are about to begin!’ Bayla snapped in his ear. ‘And you are the king! I would expect you to be here!’

  Haaron smiled, enjoying her chaos, sensing her need for him, as rare as it was. ‘Well, I am here now, so what would you have me do?’ he asked calmly, sipping slowly from his goblet as he had been doing for most of the morning. As much as he would rather Jaeger was resting at the bottom of the Adrano with his ships and their crews, he had come around to the idea of his alliance with Lothar. The possibilities for Hest seemed suddenly limitless. So much so that he had even found himself tolerating the idea of having Jaeger around. Whatever threat Varna imagined he posed would surely be outweighed by the benefits to the kingdom. And he was confident that, together, they would find another way to get rid of the ambitious bastard.

  Lothar was pleased with what he saw. Amma was a very attractive girl when she made an effort, he could see that now. And an effort had certainly been made. He thought of Rinda, his first wife, and what a fright she had looked in her wedding dress. He felt a sense of pride that his daughter would not embarrass him in front of their hosts.

  Amma’s long brown hair draped softly over her shoulders, nearly reaching her waist. Braids had been delicately threaded through the sides of her hair into an elaborate topknot, upon which sat a perfectly tiny, silver wedding crown. It matched the round silver brooches pinned to her dress and joined to each other by a cascading trio of chains. Nicolene’s cream dress fit snuggly around her waist, straining across her breasts. She looked as though she couldn’t breathe.