Winter's Fury

by A. E. Rayne

  ‘Perhaps we could walk?’ Ayla suggested gently. ‘I could take your hand?’ Eydis nodded, and Ayla reached out for the little, gloved hand, leading her through the square. ‘Ivaar tells me your mother was a dreamer. Have you been to Tuura yourself?’

  ‘Tuura? No, I haven’t.’ Eydis couldn’t keep the disappointment out of her voice.

  ‘So, no one has taught you about your dreams?’

  ‘No, my mother died when I was small, before I had any.’ Eydis ducked her head. ‘I have not been having dreams for that long. They do not come all the time.’

  ‘No, you are too young for that,’ Ayla smiled, understandingly. ‘But soon, as you grow older, they will become more and more urgent. Soon you will dream constantly. The gods have chosen us so that we can help people, advise them, warn them, comfort them... so many things.’

  They walked for a while, Ayla’s words hanging in the air between them. Eydis tried to paint a picture of her. She imagined her to be her mother’s age; her voice was certainly young enough to be so. She was of medium build, Eydis decided, as her footsteps had weight to them, but not too much. Her voice was not too far away from her, so she wasn’t that tall, and she appeared to walk easily enough. Her hand, too, felt smooth and firm.

  ‘But how did you end up with Ivaar?’ Eydis wondered suddenly. ‘On Kalfa? So far away from Tuura?’

  Ayla stumbled, her boots slipping on a patch of ice. ‘Well, I... I fell in love with a merchant. I left Tuura with him, and we were married. I sailed everywhere with him. And on one voyage he took me to Kalfa and we... never left.’

  Ayla gripped Eydis’ hand tightly as she led her down a back street, away from any prying eyes or ears.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Eydis suddenly noticed the lack of noise, felt the air cool around her. There were boards under her feet now. She felt anxious.

  ‘I just thought, perhaps we could talk more easily if we were alone.’

  Eydis stopped, dropping Ayla’s hand, her eyes darting about uselessly. ‘Why? What is it that you really want from me?’

  Ayla looked awkwardly around herself. They were standing close together, between two narrow rows of houses. It was not as private as she had hoped, so she lowered her voice. ‘I want nothing from you, Eydis.’ She ran a hand through her loose, dark curls. ‘I had a dream. I wanted to share it with you, in case it was something you hadn’t seen for yourself.’

  ‘What dream? What have you seen?’ Eydis said quietly, swallowing hard.

  ‘About your father. I have seen his death. He does not have long.’ Ayla looked down at the girl who stood, shaking, in front of her. ‘I don’t mean to scare you, but I didn’t want anyone to overhear. I thought you should know.’

  Eydis didn’t know how to feel. She had seen her father’s death herself, but part of her had always hoped to be proven wrong; that further dreams would come eventually to contradict her first. But now, this was a confirmation of all her fears for him. She felt her heart breaking with the knowledge that soon, she would become an orphan. ‘I understand,’ Eydis sighed. ‘I have seen it too. My father knows all about it. I have warned him.’

  ‘I am glad,’ Ayla said with relief. ‘Glad that he knows and can prepare things for Oss, and the islands, and you.’

  Eydis was confused by this woman. She was with Ivaar, which made her an enemy, despite her clumsy attempt at friendship. But perhaps she had more information, had seen more than Eydis herself had? ‘How will he die? That I don’t know.’

  ‘I have not seen his death,’ Ayla said thoughtfully. ‘I have only seen his funeral pyre and the ceremony with it. I have seen Ivaar, as king, here on Oss. How it all unfolds or is connected, I do not know. But it will not be long. I have seen you there, and you are not much older than this.’

  Eydis shuddered. It was well into the afternoon now, and the air felt ice-tipped. Darkness would fall soon, and Eydis felt an overwhelming need to be back at the hall. She wanted to be alone, to think, to try and understand what Ayla’s presence meant; whether she could trust her.

  ‘Shall I help you back to the hall?’ Ayla wondered softly. ‘I have upset you, and you look very cold.’

  ‘Thank you, yes,’ Eydis nodded quickly. ‘I would like to go back to my father.’

  Grasping her hand, Ayla turned Eydis around and led her back down the street and out into the brighter light of the square, her mind jumbled with nerves. Ivaar had ordered Ayla to befriend his little sister, to earn her trust so that she could ply her for any information that would serve his needs. Ivaar wanted a way into Eydis’ dreams. But Ayla saw more than Ivaar realised, more than she had told Eydis, and now she found herself caught between needing to obey her master, and a strong desire to help a fellow dreamer.

  Thorgils’ voice was low as he spoke with Biddy; too low. Jael tried to make out what they were muttering about, but it was impossible. As eager as she was to find out, though, she was in no hurry to get out of her long-promised bath. ‘You may as well come in here if you’ve got something to say!’ she called out crossly from her tub.

  Thorgils blinked and glanced at Biddy, who had been in the middle of trying to convince him to come back later. She shrugged her shoulders and pointed to the doorway at the back of the house. Thorgils looked uncertain but wandered down towards it anyway.

  He poked his head into the dimly lit room. Jael sat there in a high-walled wooden tub, only her head visible. She turned to look at him curiously. ‘So, what do you want then?’ Her voice was sharp and not at all forgiving, which was unfortunate since forgiveness is what he’d come seeking.

  Thorgils raised his eyebrows and looked about for a stool. He didn’t want to be standing there, peering over the edge of the tub, no matter how dark the room was or how submerged Jael appeared; he felt awkward enough already.

  There was nothing suitable to take his great weight, so he disappeared into the house and came back with a stool, which he promptly plonked near the tub. ‘I want to talk about Eadmund.’

  It was Jael’s turn to raise an eyebrow. ‘Why? What’s happened?’

  ‘To Eadmund?’ Thorgils sighed. ‘Well, before all of this between us,’ he waved his hands about. ‘We were going to help him. Us and your tincture. Remember? But then...’ He couldn’t look at her; he was no good with apologies and didn’t really believe he should apologise anyway, it being all her fault. ‘He’s in a bad way. He needs our help. Now.’

  Jael frowned. That was hardly an apology, and he owed her an apology. As for Eadmund... after her ride with Ivaar, she didn’t know how she felt or what she wanted to do about him.

  Thorgils sensed her hesitation. ‘Have you changed your mind? About helping him?’ He narrowed his eyes and glared at her. ‘Has Ivaar changed your mind for you?’

  Jael’s eyes flared angrily. There they were, back in that place again! She ignored the fact that he had a point and turned around to attack him, all the frustrations she’d been stowing away, spitting out of her mouth. ‘Ivaar? Ivaar! Why do you think I’m such a willing victim to Ivaar? I don’t understand it. How can you and I be friends when you think so little of me? Still!’

  ‘You didn’t rush to help Eadmund then, did you? I saw it on your face, the hesitation. It wasn’t there a few days ago, but it’s there now. And that’s Ivaar, that’s what he does. I’ve seen it!’ Thorgils’ face was a mass of frothing anger. ‘He’s like a blood sucking tic, crawling into your skin, making you his, taking what he wants. He does it to everyone. He gets his way, every time.’ Thorgils shook his head in frustration. ‘You are my friend, Jael, and I don’t think you’re a willing victim at all, but I think there are ways Ivaar can play with you, things he can use against you and he has, I can see it in your eyes. You’ve changed! Something’s changed!’ Thorgils stood up and paced the room, suddenly not caring what he saw in the tub.

  Jael simmered, wishing he’d go away. She’d missed his company more than she would admit but not his judgement; he could go and take that with him. She turned around an
d stared straight ahead; she had nothing to say.

  Thorgils ran both hands through his hair, pressing his fingers anxiously into his forehead. This was not going well. He needed a white banner. They had to make a truce; Eadmund needed them to.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he muttered, reluctantly pushing the words out of his mouth.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight with you, not because of Ivaar anyway. There are better things to fight about than that nothing.’ He grabbed the stool and brought it closer to the tub, sitting down again. ‘Eadmund needs that tincture. If you don’t want to help him, then give it to me, and I’ll do it on my own.’ Again he saw her reluctance, and it worried him. Ivaar had her, had something over her; he could smell the stink of it.

  Jael glared at him, and there was no warmth in her face. The flickering light from the lamps illuminated the scar under her eye as she scowled at him. ‘Biddy has it. You can get it from her on your way out.’

  Her voice was bitter, and he shuddered from the chill in it; there was no forgiveness to be found here, he realised. Not today. ‘Thank you,’ Thorgils nodded as he got up and left, wanting desperately to say something more, but knowing there was no point to it. Not now. She had gone far away from him, and Eadmund.

  Jael watched Thorgils leave and did nothing. Inside she was screaming at him to stop and come back, that she wanted to help Eadmund with him, but she couldn’t. Because Ivaar was offering her something more; Ivaar was offering her Aleksander, and Jael loved Aleksander.

  38

  The storm that had blown through in the night lingered the next morning, so there was no riding to Fyn’s, and thankfully, no riding with Ivaar. Jael couldn’t face him again, not until she had her head in order and at the moment it was a scattered mess.

  She’d spent the night revisiting conversations with Thorgils, Ivaar, Aleksander, and Eadmund, and even now, as she sat by the fire with Biddy, listening to the wind battle the rain outside the house, she had no idea what she thought. She wondered if Thorgils was with Eadmund, and felt guilty because she wasn’t.

  Biddy handed her a hot cake, fresh off the skillet. ‘Careful,’ she warned. ‘You’ll burn your tongue.’

  Jael looked up, blinking herself back into the room. She looked down at her fingernails, which she had gnawed to nothing since yesterday, then up at Biddy who was staring at her, concern in her eyes. She closed her own eyes and sighed.

  ‘Well, I could pretend not to notice that something’s wrong,’ Biddy said matter-of-factly. ‘But I’ve never been very good at pretending. Much like you.’ She looked at Jael’s lost face. ‘Tell me what happened. On the ride with Ivaar. It might help.’

  Jael couldn’t meet Biddy’s eye; she certainly didn’t want to say anything, not yet. ‘I think I’ll go and see Eydis,’ she decided suddenly, ignoring her completely.

  ‘In this weather?’

  ‘Mmmm, I think Eydis would probably like to escape that hall for a while and visit the puppies, don’t you think?’ She didn’t wait for an answer, though, as she grabbed her boots and started to pull them on. ‘I haven’t spoken to her in days. It’ll be nice to see her.’

  Jael wrapped her cloak around herself, not bothering to pin it, and pulled her hood up. ‘Perhaps you could heat up some milk? Eydis would like that,’ Jael mumbled distractedly as she headed to the door, slipping out before the puppies had a chance to escape with her.

  Biddy jumped as the wind whipped the door shut. Something was badly wrong. She had never seen Jael look so far away, and the fact that she wouldn’t say anything made her worry even more. It was something to do with that Ivaar, she was certain. Perhaps Thorgils had been right after all?

  It was hard trying to help someone you couldn’t find, Thorgils grumbled to himself as he trudged through the storm. He had had the tincture in his pocket since yesterday, but there had been no sign of Eadmund. He wasn’t sure that Eadmund was even avoiding him, he just liked to wander about whenever he was drunk, and at the moment, that was constantly.

  Thorgils was crossing the square, heading back towards Eadmund’s cottage when he saw Jael walking up the steps to the hall. She didn’t notice him as she pulled on a door and disappeared inside. Perhaps she was going to see Ivaar? He frowned, anger pulsing at his temples. She was a strong woman, and he had no doubt that she could defeat Ivaar in a sword fight, but Ivaar had other weapons at his disposal. He knew how to manipulate people’s thoughts, twist them, turn them, use their weaknesses against them. Thorgils sighed, trying to imagine what Ivaar was doing with Jael. To Jael. Why was she so different yesterday? He’d never seen her look so cold.

  He shook his head, trying to get the freezing rain out of his eyes as he turned his face away from the dark doors of the hall. He hoped that whatever temptations Ivaar was laying out for Jael, she would find a way to see the lies in them and come back to him. And Eadmund. They needed her.

  ‘I didn’t expect to see anyone today,’ Ivaar smiled broadly as he walked towards Jael, who had stopped to shake herself by a fire. He glanced back to where Isaura and Eydis sat, playing with the children. ‘But I’m glad for the change of company,’ he sighed. ‘Even my father has taken himself away from the constant prattling and whining of that lot.’

  ‘Well, perhaps you should do the same, for I’m not staying. I just came to get Eydis.’

  Eydis lifted her head towards Jael, her eyes suddenly bright.

  ‘Eydis?’ Ivaar looked both surprised and annoyed.

  ‘Yes,’ Jael said loudly. ‘I promised her a visit with the puppies today.’

  ‘In this weather?’ Ivaar scoffed.

  ‘Well, we don’t plan to play outside!’ Jael laughed as she walked over to Eydis. ‘I’ll go and get your cloak and then we can go. Biddy has some milk and hot cakes waiting for you.’ She headed for Eydis’ bedchamber without waiting for a reply.

  Ivaar stared after her, puzzled. Isaura dropped her head, trying to stop the smirk that was threatening her face. It made a pleasant change to watch Ivaar twist and turn.

  Jael was back quickly, in no mood for conversation as she wrapped Eydis up in her cloak and helped her on with her gloves. ‘I’ll bring her back this afternoon before it gets dark,’ Jael said firmly, slipping her arm through Eydis’. ‘In case Eirik wonders where she’s gone.’

  ‘Have a nice time!’ Isaura called out cheerfully from the floor as her children clambered all over her.

  Ivaar scowled at his wife’s happy face and turned to watch Jael and Eydis hurry towards the doors. He frowned. Yesterday he was certain he had hooked Jael with his tasty bait, but now? She had barely even looked at him, and as for taking Eydis to her house... what was that for?

  Ivaar turned and walked over to his father’s chair, the king’s chair, which sat empty, tempting him with the promise that one day it would be his. But it all still felt too far away for his liking. He shook his head, trying to release the frustration that was building there. He had no fear of Eadmund, nor Thorgils, or any of their idiot friends. But Jael? If he didn’t get her onside, she was going to cause him problems, he could feel it. He would have to speak to Ayla. She needed to get herself into Eydis’ confidence and quickly. He had to find out what was going on with Jael.

  Eydis sipped on her cup of warm milk, relieved to be away from the hall. She loved spending time with Isaura and the children, but the feeling of Ivaar prowling around in the background left her in a constant state of anxiety.

  ‘Are you sure you’re warm enough?’ Biddy fussed. ‘I can throw another log on to heat the fire up a bit more?’

  ‘No, I’m fine, I promise,’ Eydis smiled. She reached out with her empty cup, not knowing where to place it. Biddy grabbed it from her quickly and took it to the kitchen.

  Jael lifted Vella onto Eydis’ knee. ‘Here, she’s just small enough to fit on there, maybe for the last time.’

  ‘Oh,’ Eydis laughed as her knees sunk with the weight of the fluffy lump. ‘She is getting bigger, isn�
�t she?’

  Eydis looked sad, Jael thought, despite the sweet smile on her face. ‘How has it been at the hall with so many children?’

  ‘Oh, it’s been very noisy!’ Eydis laughed. ‘But they are good company when they are not crying and wailing. Isaura is too. But Ivaar...’

  Biddy came back to sit by the fire and gave Jael a pointed look. Jael frowned it away and turned her face towards Eydis, listening.

  ‘He has a dreamer, you know,’ she said, her eyes suddenly filled with fear. ‘I didn’t know that before yesterday, but she came and found me, while I was walking. She took me down an alleyway, told me things about my father that only I knew. I’m not sure why she did that, really. I don’t know what to think of her. She’s Ivaar’s dreamer, so I don’t think I should trust her.’

  Jael’s eyes met Biddy’s as she leaned forward, concerned. ‘What things about your father?’

  Eydis sighed heavily, her eyes quickly brimming with tears. ‘That he will die soon.’

  ‘Oh.’ Jael didn’t know what to say. Ivaar had implied as much, but still, she felt unexpectedly sad. ‘How soon?’

  ‘Before I am much older. I don’t know when exactly, but it does not feel far away at all now,’ she said miserably, tears running down her face. ‘And then, what will happen to me? I won’t have a mother or a father anymore. I will be completely alone!’ Her bottom lip wobbled anxiously.

  Jael reached out and put her arm around the sobbing girl, pulling her close. ‘Eydis, Eydis, you won’t be alone. You’ll have Eadmund. He will take care of you, and you’ll have me, and Thorgils, and Biddy too.’

  Eydis pulled back, sniffing. ‘But I won’t, I won’t, don’t you see what is coming? Can’t you see what he’ll do?’

  ‘You mean, Ivaar?’

  ‘Yes, Ivaar! I think you are friends with him now and maybe that will save you, I’m not sure, but Ivaar will kill Eadmund, as soon as he can. As soon as my father is burning, he will kill Eadmund and Thorgils, all their friends, anyone loyal to Eadmund. He will take their heads. All of them! And then, what will happen to me? What will he do with me, when he has his own dreamer? When he has no need for me? No need for a useless little blind girl?’ she cried so loudly that Vella jumped off her knee in fright.