by Lucy Monroe
"She is conriocht."
"I battled only one female conriocht." Which implied his father had battled male protectors, and defeated them, leaving the uffe without their guardians.
No wonder their own people had left their asmundr.
"I did not think your mate would survive her sea burial."
"You put her adrift in a boat with her weapons."
"As was only right for a guardian of my people, even if the Picts forgot the ancient ways. Ships were our symbols of travel into the afterlife as well as seeking a better life in the present."
"You talk like a Viking,"
"I was Viking before those we plundered named us."
Haakon sighed, the love a son for his father too strong to deny what needed to be said. "You must release your old resentments. Your time here in the Spirit world is hindered by walls your anger has built between you and others. Forgive your first mate. She loved another. Forgive your first son. He did not know you to call you pa."
Not that Haakon had ever called Bjorn pa. It has always been faðir. Father.
"If he had known me as I was after he died, he would have hated me." Bjorn sighed. "And he would have been right to do so. Even before his death, I had turned hard and unyielding. When he came to touch the stone, I could not open my soul to his. It was my fault the stone did not call him to asmundr."
Haakon did not believe that. "The stone calls who the stone calls and bestows gifts as the Creator wills. You never had the power to call forth the next asmundr."
"It called you."
"Because my spirit connected to the stone as it was meant to. My brother's was not. That did not make him less of Chrechte."
"Nei. Of course not."
"Did he have a mate? Children?"
"He did. An Éan. I had hoped their child at least would be griffin."
"But it was not?"
"Nei."
"Do his descendants still live among the uffe?"
"I do not know. The Éan and the Faol separated…they may live among the Éan."
"You would have done better to watch over your own descendants than kill those of the uffe who misused you."
"Ja."
" It was my brother's destiny to live his days out as kotrondmenskr not asmundr. He would not have hated you. I do not believe he ever hated you. He was your son, no matter that he was stolen for another to raise. "
"You cannot know that."
"I can. I am your son too. Even knowing all your faults now, I do not hate you. "
"How is that possible? Now that you know what I did. How I betrayed the very essence of what we are?"
"You are my father and you taught me truth. You taught me how to be a true asmundr guardian to all, even when your heart still harbored lies born of rage banked, but not forgotten."
Bjorn nodded. "I did my best. Your mother would not have forgiven me otherwise."
"Is she here?" Haakon had a terrible desire to see the one person in his life who had shown any softness toward him.
Though he would never admit such a need. He'd missed her terribly after her death.
While he'd been certain of his father's love and regard, Bjorn had trained Haakon ruthlessly from the time he could walk (perhaps before, for all he knew), right up to his own death.
His uncle treated him like asmundr, not nephew. His aunt had always kept her distance. He'd never known his grandparents, on either side of his family.
"I was not sure why I had been called here, did not know it would be you," Bjorn said, breaking into Haakon's thoughts. "Perhaps next time she will be here as well. The ways of the spirit world are a mystery."
"And yet you believe there will be a next time?" Surely Haakon's visits here were irregular for a Chrechte who was neither celi di nor Seer.
"Osmend always said you had some of the Seer in you. You'll return to this place and we will be here to greet you." Bjorn spoke like his words were prophecy, not a guess or a hope.
Haakon chose to believe, but he could only imagine how Neilina would react to seeing his parents if she was the one who called him the next time. He said nothing, however. His father had his own demons to battle.
Haakon would deal with the ones plaguing his mating on his own.
Bjorn could no more change the past than Haakon could. And he was sorry for it, now. Perhaps that was not enough, would never be enough for Neilina, but Haakon could forgive his father.
If Bjorn's past deeds made Haakon even more determined to do all he could to protect all Chrechte, so much the better. He would pledge his loyalty to the dragon king that apparently did not know he was king and Haakon would do whatever needed doing to make sure their race survived.
"I am going to Scotland to live among the uffe."
"To be with your mate?" Bjorn asked, making no disparaging comment about the other Chrechte race.
"Nei. I do not know where she hails from, her clothes are of the forest, her manner that of a warrior, our words always exchanged in the ancient tongue."
"I only battled one female conriocht."
"So you said."
"She was of the island a day's journey north of the uppermost highlands."
"So, she is Scottish." Haakon had not been absolutely sure considering his father had gone aViking to England as well as other countries of Europe.
"Ja."
"But you set her to sea," Haakon pointed out. "There is no telling where she ended up more than two centuries past."
Bjorn nodded, looking thoughtful. "That is true. So, you travel to the land of the Scots for something else?"
"I go at the Seer's behest, because it is my duty."
Again, his father nodded. "When will you make the journey?"
"I leave tomorrow." Haakon couldn't help pointing out, "I'm surprised you aren't upset."
"You are doing as I taught you, even if it is not the way I lived my life as asmundr. And you can come to this realm from anywhere."
Perhaps his father was closer to releasing old resentments and pain than he thought.
Haakon vowed, "I will do my best to serve the dragon king."
"You plan to stay in the land of the clans?"
"If that is the will of the dragon and Seers."
"You would leave the kotrondmenskr without asmundr." But Bjorn didn't sound angry about that fact.
"Einar is strong and powerful."
"He is that. My nephew will make a good jarl when his father is ready to step down."
Haakon agreed. He'd never been jealous of his uncle or cousin's place in the pride, understanding to his very marrow that his duty was greater than that of jarl, or pride alpha. "He found his mate," Haakon informed his father.
"She will give him many fine children."
"He is uffe as well."
Bjorn sighed. "It seems fate has decided the races will be reconciled."
"It is hard to believe my own father is the reason they separated to begin with," Haakon mused without rancor.
"Was it my fault? To be sure, I reacted in fury at their betrayal, but it was the Faol and Éan council who ignored Chrechte law to follow the dictates of a human woman's heart and a Faol's lust."
"You do not think he loved her?"
"Even if he did, she was not his mate."
Haakon could not imagine how he would respond to his mate giving herself to another. Even the thought made him rigid with rage. But murderous? He hoped never to have to find out.
"Whoever was at fault, it is time for the separation to end."
"Past time, though I never admitted that to myself before."
"Past time."
Bjorn reached out and clapped Haakon on the shoulder. "I am proud of you, son. You are a good asmundr."
"I am as you taught me to be."
"You are you own man."
"As you encouraged me to be." His father had been a tough taskmaster, but he had taught Haakon well.
"Your time here is closing."
"You can feel it?"
"Ja."
His father then did something that shocked Haakon into immobility.
The asmundr had never held Haakon as a child. A rare pat to his shoulder, the only physical sign of affection he'd ever received from Bjorn.
But his father hugged Haakon, his embrace strong and not at all hesitant. He held him tight and for several counts before stepping back. "Be happy, my son."
"I will be a good asmundr. Happiness is not something I aspire to."
His father sighed but nodded. "I will aspire on your behalf."
Haakon felt a half-smile form on his face. "You do that."
Perhaps wishes such as that were the prerogative of those who lived in the spirit realm.
Certainly, he could never remember Bjorn being concerned about that kind of thing when he'd walked the earth with Haakon.
Haakon expected to return to his rest and waken as usually happened after a trip to this place of other, but he found himself in a familiar glen, Neilina standing on the other side of the expanse of grass as she had done many times before.
She wasn't frowning when she saw him. Which, in itself, was unusual enough, but beside her was a large bear, perhaps even bigger than Haakon's beast. Dark brown, it lumbered beside her as she walked toward Haakon, its back even with her shoulder.
She'd never approached him upon his arrival before either.
Haakon felt fear seize his chest, making it hard to breathe. "You were unable to get your craft back on course to reach land?"
Her brows drew together in confusion. "We are on course as well you should know, having given me the knowledge to find our way."
"But you are here." Again. Having drawn him to herself. There could be no denial.
Not even from this stubborn warrior woman.
"I am."
"Your soul called to mine," he pointed out, his fear still a living thing inside him.
Would she call on him if she were not still in grave danger?
"I suppose it must have. Your willingness to share your spirit with mine allowed me to save my own life, but more importantly that of my companions."
Haakon nodded toward the bear, who now sat on her haunches staring at Haakon. "Is he one of them?"
"She, and I bound her to me through my stone many years ago. For too long she was the only company I had."
Haakon had never heard of such, but something else Neilina said was far more important. "Now there is another?" he asked, forcing himself to a semblance of calm.
Glad once again that he did not know where his mate was so he could not seek out her companion and kill him.
"I adopted a daughter the same year we began to visit this place."
"Oh." He now wanted to meet the woman she spoke of. Badly.
After all, they were family and the girl’s protection was not only the responsibility of his conriocht mate now. It was his as well. "By Chrechte law she is also my daughter."
Neilina shook her head, a sound coming from her he had never heard before.
It was a laugh. "Of course you claim her, though we've never met and are unlikely to. Your arrogance knows no bounds."
"It is arrogant to obey the ancient laws of our people?" he asked, genuinely confused.
Her beautiful mouth twisted in a grimace. "I suppose not." She sighed. "She'd probably like you."
"She has no reason to hate those of my people." He assumed she didn't. If Neilina had adopted her only a few years past, the girl was not old enough to have suffered at Bjorn's hands.
"She has reason enough to despise men in general."
"But she does not." If she did, Neilina would not have suggested the girl would like Haakon.
"Nay."
"You could not have taught her to cling to bitterness as you do, for her to be this way."
Neilina shrugged, as if conceding the point. "I did not want her to be as I am, unable to trust anyone."
"Unwilling mayhap. Not unable."
She frowned at him. "Must you always argue with me?"
"Was I doing that?" He'd thought he was only stating an opinion.
She sighed. "Mayhap not. Anyway, I wanted to thank you."
"No thanks are needed between mates. Even if you were not my mate, I would have done my best to help you. You are Chrechte."
"You really are different from your father."
"He regrets his actions deeply."
"How can you know that? You said he was dead." Her face twisted with angry distrust. "Did you lie to me?"
"Nei. He walks here, in the Chrechte spirit world."
She looked around like Bjorn might jump out of the trees and attack them, her hand going to the hilt of her knife, the other grasping her walking stick like a spear.
"He wishes you no harm." But Haakon would not claim his father had given up all animosity toward the uffe as he was not sure that was the case.
He thought the other asmundr might actually be working on it though.
"I will not stay if he is here."
"I do not believe he can come where you are. There is a barrier between you." Whether it was of his father's making, or Neilina's, Haakon did not know.
"How can you know that, have you suddenly become celi di, now, asmundr?"
He shrugged. There was a reason he was able to walk the spirit realm when other asmundr before him had not been able to until death. "You are kelle, is that so hard to believe?"
"What do you mean I am kelle? I am no priestess."
Haakon could not believe the warrior woman was unaware of her own nature. "You said yourself you are centuries older than me. How can you deny a truth such as this? You are a warrior priestess as in the days of old, your days, I suppose."
"You don't know of what you speak."
"You had visions that led you to sail away from your home, didn't you?"
Her eyes widened as if she was seeing something she had not before. "I did."
"You could not ignore these visions?"
"Nay."
"That sounds like a Seer to me. A normal Chrechte may have dreams and visions, but they are not driven by them."
"How do you know this?"
"Our Seer, an ancient much older than you, has said so to me many times."
"No, I cannot be kelle. I know nothing of being celi di or…" Her voice trailed off. "The celi di said he wanted to train me and I did not understand how. I was a warrior. He was a priest."
"And then he died, along with the rest of your people."
Her face changed again, the memory of something unpleasant unmistakable in her countenance. "Yes, then he died by your father's hand."
***
Neilina and Freya pulled the boat ashore. Dìonach had lumbered over the side and swam to shore already, clearly impatient to feel land under her paws. Neilina was only glad that the bear had not capsized them in her haste to reach land. Not having the added weight certainly made it easier for the women to pull the boat up onto the beach.
Neilina surveyed the rocky expanse of land before the water, her keen ears picking up the sound of approaching feet.
"Men are coming," she told Freya. Two of them, rushing on foot, no horses' hooves clacking against stone, shod or unshod, to be heard. "Go into the woods with Dìonach."
"What if they mean you harm?" Freya asked, worry making her hazel eyes darken.
"Then they will pay with wounds, if not their very lives," Neilina replied without compunction or the least amount of doubt.
She was conriocht. Warrior to her people. In the more than two centuries of her life, she had been forced to kill. To protect others. To protect herself.
Even a hermit in the woods might be found with an eye toward taking what would not be given. Whether her possessions or her person, Neilina had never suffered the fool who thought to harm her to live.
Since that long-ago battle, she hadn't killed another Chrechte. No Paindeal lived among the people of her island and few Faol remained. So few, she had only caught their scent on the wind. And avoided them.
But fate had de
creed she could not avoid her people any longer.
"They cannot harm me," she assured her adopted daughter.
Freya remained unconvinced. "What if there are too many of them?"
"There are two. Do you doubt my ability to handle two men, even if they are Faol?"
Freya shook her head vehemently. "Nay, mother of my heart."
"Don't get sentimental on me."
"I can if I want."
"Get in the forest," Neilina demanded with exasperation even as her heart warmed at Freya's words.
The young woman finally listened, sprinting into the wooded area surrounding the beach on silent feet. Quieter than the men who were approaching Neilina and her boat.
The two men were young, so she might give them the benefit of youth making them less cautious, but she scented their Chrechte nature and suspected they thought, as she did, that they had nothing to fear.
She had been right.
But if Neilina had meant them harm, both soldiers would have died today.
She sighed, wondering if she was obliged to tell them so.
She stood still even when they got close enough she could hear the muttered conversation between them.
They wondered at her garments, where she'd come from, if she'd been sent as a Fearghal spy.
"If I were a spy, you've done little to protect your secrets from me," she informed them in a tone she knew they could hear, though a human soldier wouldn't have.
Both men stopped with amusing speed and stared at her in shock.
"You know what we are?" one asked.
The other backhanded him in the stomach. "Don't say anything."
"You are Chrechte." She inhaled and smiled, delighted to be meeting one of the Éan for the first time in her life. No Éan had stayed among the Picts who settled her island.
"You are Éan." She pointed toward the sandy haired man on her left with the sharpened antlers on her walking stick. "You are Faol." Neilina tossed one side of her cape over her shoulder, making it easier to access her sword and knives. "Neither of you has shown proper caution."
"We knew it was only you."
She was not impressed. "Was it? Only me?"
The Éan glared at his companion. "You're sense of smell is better than mine. What do you scent?"
The Faol took a second to inhale and consider. For that, at least, she could give him a glimmer of approval.
