Vale of the Gods

by A. E. Rayne

  ‘Nearly there!’ Aleksander smiled before turning back around, talking to Axl.

  Thorgils sighed, wishing they were already there. His tension was building as quickly as his hunger pains. They were finger-tip close to having made it to Vallsborg without any trouble. That should have made him feel relieved, but he just felt more unsettled. He couldn’t stop thinking about Isaura either. About how they were going to stay safe in the fort. If Draguta kept sending creatures to kill them, how much longer could they all hang on?

  Edela was exhausted, Biddy could tell. She had been rushing around all day, and her cheeks were bright red from the effort. ‘Take a moment,’ she insisted, almost forcing Edela down onto the nearest bench. ‘Sip this tea and just take a moment, Edela. You need some energy for tonight, don’t you?’

  Edela sighed, impatient to get going. She had completed the dreamer circle inside the hall. It was large, stretching as close to the beds that framed the walls as possible. They had moved most of the tables and benches outside to the square which was almost empty now that the bulk of the catapults had gone. That would leave space inside the hall for more people to sleep on the floor, inside the circle.

  She hoped it would keep them safe.

  It had to keep them safe.

  ‘I do need energy for tonight, yes,’ Edela conceded with a weary groan. ‘I do. I’ve decided to see Jael. I want to see her. I only hope she will be asleep.’

  ‘And that Draguta won’t attack them tonight.’

  ‘Mmmm.’ Edela sipped the tea, smiling as her body started to relax. ‘Thank you, I needed this.’ She caught sight of Sybill staring at her from across the hall where she stood talking to Ontine and Derwa. ‘She’s a strange one, that Sybill,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t tell if she’s shy or evasive. What do you think?’

  Biddy resisted the urge to turn around. ‘Strange? No, I think she’s just nervous. Looks like nerves to me. And after last night, who can blame her?’

  Edela cleared her mind as Ontine approached, having left her mother behind.

  ‘I don’t mean to interrupt,’ Ontine said, staring down at Edela.

  ‘Not at all, have a seat,’ Edela smiled encouragingly as Biddy slipped away. ‘I’m only sitting down for a moment, just to rest these old feet of mine. You look as though you’ve got something to say. I’ve been watching you today. Listening to your thoughts.’

  Ontine looked surprised. ‘You can read people’s thoughts?’

  Edela frowned. ‘Sometimes, yes, but yours are a little hazy, though I get the feeling you have a lot of them. That you’re quite confused.’

  Ontine sat down with a sigh. ‘I am. I see many things, but I’m not sure whether they’re real, or just my imagination. I don’t want to mislead anyone if all I’m seeing is just something I’ve made up.’

  ‘It can be confusing at first, I know. But seeing the difference between a real dream and your imagination is easy enough once you learn how to calm down. To listen to your body. It talks to you. When you have a real dream, you tend to get a reaction. Some dreamers shake or shiver. Others feel as though they’re falling. Some can’t catch their breath, as though they’ve been running. Your body will talk to you, so you must relax enough to listen.’

  ‘Oh, perhaps I did have a real dream, then, as it felt as though I couldn’t breathe. I’ve felt that way before.’

  Edela placed her cup on the table. ‘Tell me, then, what did you see?’

  ‘I can see you!’ Draguta shrieked from the throne, watching Meena creep up the stairs, a basket in her arms. She was wild with irritation. No one and nothing was moving quickly enough for her liking. She had a castle of snails to command.

  A castle of utterly useless snails.

  Meena shuddered to a stop, almost throwing the basket up the stairs. She turned ever so slowly back to Draguta, her feet remaining on the step, hurrying to clear her mind. Then she blinked, realising that she was never going to know if the potion was working if she didn’t test it.

  ‘And you expect me to walk over to you?’ Draguta growled, eyebrows sharp. ‘Is that what you’d like?’

  Meena hurried down the stairs with speed, almost running into the hall, her face as red as her hair, wondering what Draguta had seen.

  Dreading the answer.

  She tried to swallow.

  Draguta’s eyes were on the basket. ‘Is that everything I require?’ Her nose was up, sniffing. ‘And Jaeger? Helped you, did he?’

  Meena wondered if that was a question that required an answer.

  It wasn’t.

  ‘My plans for tonight must not be held up by your inability to work with haste. I shall not delay my entertainment because of your slow pace. So hurry along, little mouse, or I shall have Ballack throw you out a window!’

  Meena’s mouth dropped open, Draguta’s sharp tone like a knife at her throat.

  She nodded, thoughts of the ring suddenly at the forefront of her mind.

  ‘Well?’ Draguta was staring at her. ‘What are you waiting for?’ And standing up, she pinched Meena’s mouth closed and spun her around. ‘Go! Now!’

  Edela had led Ontine to an open door, but Ontine appeared reluctant to walk through it. ‘If I can help you, I will,’ Edela promised. ‘But not unless you tell me what you saw.’

  Ontine nodded. ‘I saw your granddaughter. Jael.’

  Edela felt terror grab her from behind. She froze, knowing that whatever Ontine said next was not going to be good. ‘You did?’ Her voice broke. ‘What about her?’

  Ontine could sense Edela’s unease. ‘I saw her fighting her husband.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘I saw no one else. Just the two of them. She was screaming at him. Trying not to kill him. But he was different.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘I saw Eadmund Skalleson when he was here, in the fort. My mother pointed him out to me, said who he was, but in my dream he seemed different. Stronger than Jael.’

  ‘Oh.’ Edela was surprised. ‘That was the feeling you had?’

  Ontine nodded. ‘He was killing her. I think he did kill her. Someone was laughing. A woman. I couldn’t see her. I heard people calling for Jael. I think he killed her.’

  Edela’s hands were on her legs, and she could feel her body shaking beneath them. ‘I see. Well, thank you, Ontine. I am... grateful to know this. It will... help.’ She wasn’t sure how. ‘You did the right thing.’ Edela couldn’t breathe. ‘I must hurry along now and get back to that circle out there.’ And she stood, needing air.

  Needing to get away from the dreamer who had broken her heart.

  Jael smiled, not surprised that Raymon wasn’t waiting for them in Vallsborg.

  ‘He’s paying us back,’ Thorgils grinned, his eyes on the big hall they had stopped in front of, sniffing the air to see what was cooking. ‘Cheeky little shit.’

  ‘No doubt Getta had some part to play,’ Jael said, stretching her back, smiling as the Lady of Vallsborg approached. ‘Beryth!’

  ‘My lady,’ Beryth smiled, pleased to see the Furycks, though not pleased by the circumstances. ‘It’s been some time. And now you are a queen, as you were always meant to be.’

  ‘Hello, Beryth.’ Aleksander shook his damp hair out of his eyes and smiled. ‘Still hanging on?’

  ‘Seems that I am.’ Beryth Ulrik was a rotund middle-aged woman with more living children than most – eight by their last count. A woman who’d had the misfortune of losing three husbands, the last of whom had been the Lord of Vallsborg, murdered in his bed by a vengeful lover. Beryth had been attacked too, and the scars could still be seen stretched across her throat in thick pink lines. She had lived to see her husband’s murderer put to the sword, and then assume his place on the high seat, from where she had ruled Vallsborg for nearly seven years now.

  ‘Well, I’m glad to hear it,’ Jael said, eyeing the hall herself. ‘Everything looks bigger. Or perhaps I’ve shrunk?’

  Beryth laughed, her smile bright, blue eyes twinkling
. ‘The hall’s bigger for sure. I always thought it was a little pokey. So now we’ll have room for some of you, at least.’ Her attention moved to the long trail of horses and wagons and men she could see coming to a stop outside her gates. ‘Niel, get out there and help move everyone to where they need to go,’ she said to her eldest son who hovered behind her, shyly eyeing the Furycks. ‘I’ve had the livestock moved, so you’ll be able to camp out back. We’ve had a few dry days, but it might be a little boggy.’

  ‘Sounds perfect,’ Axl lied, thinking about how exposed they would be, sleeping out in the open fields. ‘Hello, Beryth.’

  ‘My lord,’ Beryth smiled, bobbing her head. ‘Congratulations on your new position. Vallsborg will always be here to provide you with support whenever you may need it.’

  ‘I think you might regret saying that,’ Jael said with a lop-sided grin. ‘Let’s get inside, and we can talk about what we need from you. Fyn, can you see to Tig for me?’ And checking that Fyn had heard her, she inclined her head for Aleksander and Axl to follow her inside.

  Almost happy with the state of her festive-looking hall, Draguta returned to Briggit’s chamber, throwing a golden dress on the bed. ‘I doubt it will fit, but Evaine is a similar size, though you have much wider hips. Still, I’m sure you’d prefer to greet our guests in something that didn’t smell like you’d been sleeping in the latrines.’

  Briggit stood by the balcony door, watching the sun sink towards the sea. The plaintive sounds of her Followers had lessened with the diminishing heat of the afternoon. The cart had been creaking back and forth all day, removing those who had not been able to withstand it.

  She didn’t turn around.

  ‘Is it so hard to accept that you have been defeated?’ Draguta wondered, gliding forward, her white silk dress, freshly delivered by the tailor, sliding around her legs. ‘It is certainly obvious to me. Can you not hear it? Smell it?’

  Briggit turned to her then, and Draguta was surprised by the defeat in her eyes. Those yellow eyes had no fire in them now.

  ‘You will kill them all. For what? Applause? Horror? What is it that you gain by killing my people like that... by burning them alive?’

  Draguta couldn’t see inside Briggit’s mind, which surprised her, though she didn’t need to; the anguish Briggit felt was all over her face. ‘And what would they have done to me?’ she scoffed. ‘Kindly let me live? Ha! You wanted my book. Wanted to destroy all of us to bring Raemus back. I saw that. You think I’m the enemy? The villain? You would have killed everyone, Briggit Halvardar! I am merely removing the threat you and your Followers pose to Osterland. To my Dragos’. To me.’

  Briggit walked over to the bed, trying not to show how distasteful she found the plain dress Draguta had brought her. ‘You want to rule Osterland? That’s what you want? To be the queen of everyone? The most powerful woman in the land?’

  Draguta laughed. ‘Woman? I shall be the Queen of the Gods themselves. Soon they will bend to me, their ruler, more powerful than any creature, living or dead.’ She didn’t know why she was revealing anything to Briggit, but she felt a need to justify her ambition.

  Briggit spun around, her eyes aflame again. ‘How? How will you rule all these kingdoms you plan to conquer? By leaving Jaeger Dragos in charge? Ha!’

  ‘I shall have rulers in every kingdom. Those I trust. And yes, Jaeger will be one of them. Of course. He is Dragos born. Our noble bloodline will command this land forever. I will make it so.’

  ‘You will trust mortal men and women? You will watch them? Daily? Watch how they conspire to take more power? To defeat their rivals? To steal land? Isn’t that always the way? Power breeding greed? It has been the downfall of kingdoms throughout history.’

  Draguta ignored her. ‘The Furycks will die. The Vandaals. Those Tuurans still scraping about in the ash of their precious temple. Those who betrayed my family. They will all die. And I will be left only with those loyal to me,’ she insisted, hearing a loud howl of pain from outside. She smiled. ‘Why is it any of your concern, Briggit dear? Are you worried for me?’

  ‘I don’t want you to burn my Followers.’ There was no smile in Briggit’s eyes as she walked forward, stopping just before Draguta, suddenly conscious of her own smell. ‘They could be useful to you. They could help you rule. The dreamers, at least. They see through lies and deceit. They can ferret out disloyalty. They know spellwork. Curses. Pain. They can be your weapons. An army of dreamers at your beck and call.’

  Draguta frowned, not expecting that. ‘Why?’ She felt as though she was rocking again, and glancing around, she moved to sit on a fur-covered bench. ‘The Followers’ love of Raemus will not be denied, just ask Morana Gallas, who is lying headless in a dark hole. Ask her how eager she was to abandon that God of Nothing!’

  Briggit blinked. That was a surprise, though not an unwelcome one. The more she’d thought about it, the more convinced she was that Draguta had sent Morana to Angard to break her circle. She was the weak link, the only possible reason that powerful circle would have faltered. ‘Morana was loyal to Raemus until the end,’ Briggit continued, ‘but my Followers are more malleable. More able to adapt –’

  ‘You should get dressed, Briggit dear,’ Draguta cooed, bored with talk of The Following. ‘My guests will be here soon. I shall send Eadmund to collect you when it is time. Unless, of course, you’d prefer Jaeger to accompany you down to the hall?’

  Briggit dropped her eyes as another loud wail emanated from out on the square, followed by a dull thud. ‘Whomever you want,’ she mumbled, turning towards the bed.

  It was nice to sit down, Jael decided, which was an odd thing to say after two days of sitting on Tig, but Beryth’s benches were draped with sheepskins, and her tables were lined with cups of the most refreshing mead she had ever drunk.

  It was nice to sit down.

  Thorgils lifted his cup, winking at her as he threw the frothy mead back in one big gulp, turning to Rork and Karsten who were already assessing what fun they could conjure up to distract themselves from the fact that they were edging closer to the precipice of certain death.

  ‘Jael?’

  Jael turned around, noticing Beryth’s frown. ‘Sorry, I drifted off. We’ve had a long couple of days.’

  Having listened to Jael and Aleksander explain what was happening in Hest, and what had been happening in Andala, Beryth wasn’t surprised. She glanced around the hall at her children who were as young as six, as old as twenty-two, anxious for their safety.

  ‘We’ll not stay long,’ Jael promised, sensing her unease. ‘We wouldn’t have come if we’d had a choice, but we had to meet the Iskavallans somewhere, and your fort is one of the best defended in Brekka.’

  ‘It is,’ Beryth agreed. ‘Even more fortified than the last time you were here. But against dragons or whisps, or anything in between?’ She shook her head, struggling to comprehend how much danger they were in. ‘I’m not sure how we can protect ourselves against such creatures. Seems to me they’ll find a way through the thickest walls or the smallest holes.’

  Jael didn’t want to think about walls.

  She forced a smile. ‘Lucky for us we have some dreamers on our side. Here, and in Andala. We’ll do what we can to keep us safe, don’t worry.’ She felt worried. More worried than she could remember feeling before.

  Away from Andala, unable to help them.

  Waiting for night to come.

  IV

  Allies

  29

  As soon as supper was over, Biddy hurried out of the hall with Ontine and Isaura to prepare the cottage for Edela’s dream walk, while Edela went for an actual walk. She had wanted a moment to think on her own, though at the last moment, she had brought Eydis along, deciding that she was old enough to know everything.

  It might be the only way to save Jael.

  They walked up to the moon-watching bench, where Edela revealed Ontine’s dream.

  Eydis was quickly dismissive. ‘And you believe her?’
>
  Edela sighed. That was not the response she’d been hoping for. Perhaps she’d been wrong to think that Eydis was mature enough to help. ‘Why would she lie?’

  Eydis felt incensed, ready to go on the attack, but then she slumped back against the bench realising that her dislike of Ontine was colouring everything with a darkness she wasn’t sure was real. ‘I don’t know,’ she mumbled. ‘But Eadmund wouldn’t kill Jael. He wouldn’t.’

  ‘He would, Eydis. If he had no choice, he would. Someone who is spellbound can’t stop themselves from doing what their mistress requires. They can’t. Not unless the spell is broken. Eadmund loved Jael but he couldn’t stop himself being with Evaine, could he? Not until we cut that binding rope.’

  ‘So we have to cut the other rope, don’t we? Both of us. Together. Before it’s too late. Before...’

  Edela nodded, relieved that they were no longer talking about Ontine. ‘We do. Somehow, we must find a way to stop Eadmund from killing Jael. Draguta wants that to happen. I feel it very strongly. I cannot find that woman in my dreams, but I can almost feel her in the darkness. Watching.’

  ‘But how can we cut the rope? You couldn’t even touch it.’

  ‘No, I couldn’t,’ Edela remembered. ‘But I will dream on it tonight, and look in the book again too.’ She squeezed Eydis’ hand. ‘For all that we fear the force of dark magic, there is great power to be found in love. We will not be defeated by this evil. We won’t, Eydis. We won’t.’

  Eydis could hear the strength in Edela’s voice. And the worry. A lot of worry. But they were here, in it now. All of them. There was no turning back.

  They had to find answers.

  They had to save Eadmund before it was too late.