The furyck saga the firs.., p.14
The Furyck Saga (The First Three Volumes), page 14
‘We can only hope so. I wouldn’t want to be out in that sea in the dark.’
‘No. I can’t imagine Edela will ever sail again. She looked petrified getting into the ship. I’ve never seen her so scared.’
The puppies attacked the plate Biddy put down for them, scattering food all over the floor, eating as though they had not had a meal in days.
‘Fleas,’ she huffed, sitting down. ‘We’re going to be sharing this place with fleas.’
‘I imagine so. And plenty of shit and piss too,’ Jael smiled. ‘And that will just be Eadmund.’
Biddy looked unimpressed. ‘I imagine he must turn up soon.’
Jael choked on a mouthful of fish. ‘Don’t say that! I was looking forward to going to bed, alone.’
‘You can’t avoid him much longer. You can’t avoid what marriage means.’
‘And how do you know what marriage means?’
‘Well... I know what it’s supposed to mean, what I’m sure the king is hoping it will mean. Perhaps he needs to go and have a word with his son, remind him of how things are supposed to go?’ She pushed Ido away this time; he kept putting his hairy, black paws upon her knee, sniffing keenly at her stew, his dinner bowl already licked clean.
‘Why are you so keen to have that drunken mess here?’ Jael wondered, placing her bowl on the floor for the hungry puppies to finish off.
‘I’m not, but I can imagine what the king would do if he knew Eadmund had slept on the floor last night.’
Jael rounded on Biddy, her lips set in a straight, thin line. ‘Well then, nobody had better tell him, had they? Especially not you. Leave Eirik thinking that everything is as it should be. Leave Eadmund out there doing whatever he likes. And we can stay here, undisturbed by any of them, for as long as possible.’
Edela had never felt worse.
She had crouched, numb from cold and fear, in the most sheltered corner of the ship, imagining Saga, Goddess of Souls, coming to claim her, tortured by the thought of dying before she could help Jael.
The wind had stalked them mercilessly on their journey, tossing the ship about with an anger that kept everyone half frozen and on edge. Despite Edela’s surety in her own path, which she believed was not destined to end at the bottom of the Nebbar Straights, she had remained in a state of terror, her childhood nightmares holding her firmly in their grip. But more than that, more than the threat they faced, as the dark water thickened and froze around them, was the memory of their leaving and the girl on the shore.
The girl.
Was it a girl?
Edela spoke to no one. Keeping all thoughts tightly bound to herself, she sheltered next to Axl, who did all he could to shield her from the treacherous conditions. Edela barely noticed. Those black eyes seared themselves into her memory, consuming her every thought. She couldn’t shake the chill they rose on her skin.
Jael was in danger.
When they finally, thankfully, arrived in Andala’s harbour that evening, Edela had only one thing to say as her grandson helped her out of the ship. ‘I must find Aleksander.’
Aleksander hadn’t known what to do with himself after Jael left. He was completely alone for the first time since he was a boy and he felt emptied of everything that resembled love and hope. The pain of losing his horse was achingly raw and having Jael wrenched away from him almost simultaneously was more grief than he could consume. He hadn’t been able to find a way to cope with it. Drink was the obvious answer; dulling the agony, easing the transition. He tried that at first, but it just made everything more emotional. He gave up and just sat, alone, in their cold, lonely cottage, trying not to think and failing utterly.
There wasn’t even Biddy anymore, who had cooked, and cleaned, and cared for him since he was a boy, just as much as she had cared for Jael. Of course she had fussed too much, coddled and nagged him as though he were her own, but in her way, she was part of his patched-together family too.
As he sat in the dark cottage, Aleksander tried to recall everything the Widow had revealed to him in his dreams. Or had she? Had she really had anything to do with them? She’d given him the tincture to drink but did that mean she had fabricated his visions, or, as she told him, had he only seen what the gods wished him to know?
Jael was coming back. Time and time again, he pushed all other thoughts away and held on to that one hope, but after she had loved another man and had his child. Loved another man; that bit stuck. Hard. He wrapped his arms around himself, suddenly aware of the frigid air smoking around the cottage. He knew that he needed to get up and grab a fur, but he couldn’t move.
She would come back, so he would wait for her. But how long would it take? How long would he have to be without her? He closed his eyes, shivering now, trying to go back to the dream he’d had at God’s Point; trying to remember how old Jael’s daughter had looked when he’d seen her returning. How many years would he have to endure alone?
The knock at the door was so faint that in his sleep and food deprived state he failed to notice it. But, as the door creaked open, Aleksander jumped out of his chair with a start. Even half-conscious, his reflexes had a sharp edge. When he saw who it was, his shoulders slumped with relief and sadness. ‘Edela! What are you doing here? I didn’t think you were due back for days?’ Coming towards the old woman, he embraced her stooped frame.
Edela sunk into his arms with a great sigh of relief. ‘We must help Jael!’
Aleksander was instantly alert, his skin chilling even more. ‘What do you mean? What’s happened? Why are you back so early?’
She shuddered, glancing about in the darkness. ‘We need a fire, Aleksander. There is much to discuss, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been this cold in my life!’ Her teeth chattered as she stood shivering before him.
Aleksander hurried to find his tinder box and set about starting a fire as quickly as he could. The flames bloomed into life but did nothing to warm Edela’s bones. Wrapped in layers of fur, sitting as close to the fire as she dared, she couldn’t stop shivering, but Edela couldn’t wait any longer. She told him about the girl on the hill, about the nightmares she had been having these past few weeks, and her confusion about all of it.
Aleksander’s forehead worked itself into a deep frown. ‘Do you think you were seeing this girl as she really is? Or were you having a vision about her? A dream?’ he wondered. ‘Was she a creature or a person?’
‘Creature? No, I don’t believe so,’ Edela murmured, shaking her head. ‘Although, in truth, I have never seen anything like it, so I don’t know. She was a girl, looked like a girl but... I had a bad feeling, that there was something on Oss, on the islands that was a threat to Jael. But I couldn’t see what it was. I feel as though I am dreaming blind these days!’ Edela despaired. ‘I can usually make sense of what I see but I was too late, and now Jael is trapped there, with that girl. Till spring.’
‘It’s not too late. I can take a ship!’
‘You can’t! The sea was freezing around us. By morning it will be frozen solid. There will be no way through.’
Aleksander stood up. ‘But if I leave tonight...’
Edela reached out to place her shaking hand on his. ‘You cannot. No one will take you, not in that weather. And if you go, you won’t come back.’
Aleksander felt confused, angry, and helpless all at once. Sighing, he sat down. ‘Did you tell anyone? What you’d seen?’
‘No.’
‘Good. You shouldn’t. We should figure this out between the two of us.’
They sat in silence. The sounds outside the cottage were dying down as the night drew a veil over Andala. The fuss over the returning travellers was over, and most of the townspeople were securing their homes and livestock, preparing for another night of heavy snow.
‘Can you contact her in another way?’ Aleksander wondered suddenly. ‘Through her dreams? Is that possible?’
Edela stared at him, the creases on her weary face accentuated by the soft flames of the fire. She looked deeply unsettled. ‘There are ways,’ she said at last. ‘I have never attempted it, but I know of people who have. It was not accepted in Tuura. The idea of entering another person’s dreams was forbidden.’ She looked around. ‘But Jael needs us, and we’re not in Tuura, are we?’
12
Eadmund pulled on his worn leather boots, desperate to escape. Evaine had warned him that the drifts looked more than knee-deep, hoping to convince him to stay but he’d made up his mind.
‘Do you have to leave already?’ Evaine purred, her breath making smoky swirls in front of her. She sat on Eadmund’s bed, wrapped in two furs, leaving only her head exposed to the cold interior of his old cottage.
‘I think it’s best that I do,’ he smiled quickly at her, ignoring the pounding at his temples. ‘Eirik will be prowling about looking for me, no doubt, wondering why I’m not getting to know my new bride.’
‘Oh, don’t say that!’ Evaine wrinkled her pink-tipped nose. ‘The thought of her being your wife is disgusting. She looks more like Thorgils than a woman! Did you see that scar on her face? Imagine what the rest of her looks like?’ She paused. ‘No don’t, I don’t want to think about that!’
‘Well, my father didn’t pick her for prettiness,’ Eadmund grimaced as he stood up, feeling one of his knees give way. ‘But hopefully, I will only have to look at her in the dark.’
That incensed Evaine. She knew it was inevitable that they would be together soon, but she couldn’t bear the thought of it. In a desperate attempt to change his mind, Evaine dropped her furs, revealing chilled, pink nipples and a body trying its very best to undo his resolve. ‘Are you sure you have to go?’ she smiled, easing her knees apart.
Eadmund didn’t know what to say. It was easy for her body to tease his, but although Evaine had been warm company, he felt himself slowly suffocating from her attentiveness. He was desperate for some air. He needed time to think, to find a way to shake off the hopelessness that was weighing him down. ‘You make it very hard on me,’ he grinned, leaning forward to wrap her up again. ‘Now don’t get cold or you’ll fall ill, and then we can’t have any more fun, can we?’ He was placating her with a patient, forced smile, talking to her like a child. He hoped it would work.
‘Fine.’ She was unimpressed. ‘I will see you here tonight, though?’
‘I think so. Now go and get dressed!’
Eadmund hurried to open the door before she could change his mind. A small avalanche of snow slid into the room. Frowning in annoyance, he rushed to kick it back outside again. It wasn’t an effective approach, and he should have stayed and cleared an actual pathway to his door, but he didn’t want any more delays blocking his escape.
Turning back to Evaine, who was pouting slightly, he called, ‘and don’t let anyone see you leave!’
She poked out her tongue, pouting some more.
Eadmund shut the door with a sigh, relieved to finally be alone. He took a deep breath as he surveyed the blanket of bright, white snow that had settled in the night, scowling as it seeped into his boots; he had been meaning to replace them for weeks. Striding off in search of peace and solitude, he managed to walk straight into his father.
‘You do like to disappear, don’t you, my son,’ Eirik smiled cheerfully. ‘Your wife didn’t know where you had gone this morning.’
Eadmund stumbled at that, wondering exactly what Jael had revealed. He hid his guilty expression under a yawn, turning to walk off, hoping to lead his father away from his cottage and far away from Evaine. Thankfully, Eirik moved to follow him.
‘Why were you looking for me?’ Eadmund wondered, keeping his tone light.
‘Oh, just to see if you were still alive, I suppose.’ Eirik’s eyes twinkled in the morning sun; he was in a particularly good mood today. ‘Do you remember the year we found you buried in the snow after a heavy night in the hall? It took a while for anybody to notice you’d not been seen for almost a day!’
‘I don’t remember that,’ Eadmund mumbled, barely listening as he ploughed on quickly, deciding to take his father to the hall. Hopefully, he could leave him there and be on his way again.
‘I’m not surprised! You were barely breathing after nearly a night and day under the snow. I’m amazed you lived through that one,’ Eirik laughed, rolling his eyes. ‘But now you have a wife, so I don’t need to spend all my time running around after you, making sure you haven’t fallen off a cliff somewhere. I’m sure Thorgils will be pleased. Torstan too.’
‘I’m not that bad!’
‘Not all of the time,’ Eirik smiled. ‘And not today it seems. Why are you in such a hurry?’
‘Because it’s fucking cold out here, old man!’ Eadmund chattered at his father, grabbing him by the elbow and moving him along. ‘And I want to get to your fire before my bones start knocking!’
They made it to the hall quickly enough, their trousers wet through; the snow higher than knee-deep in some places. The hall was filled with Eirik’s closest circle, his most valued warriors and advisors, huddled around the fires, defrosting their numb limbs.
‘It’s certainly frozen in the straights now,’ Morac noted as he walked up to Eirik. ‘Beorn confirmed that all the ships in Tatti’s Bay are in the sheds.’
‘Good,’ Eirik nodded, not bothering to join the men at the fire. He strode up to his chair and sat down awkwardly, instructing his servant to bring him a cup of something warm. He didn’t mind the cold but his scarred back suffered in the winter. When the temperature dropped, the wounds his father had inflicted upon him as a child would ache, deep within his flesh. His face, though, as he sat listening to his men, betrayed nothing. ‘We will need to be ready to go at the first drip of thaw,’ Eirik urged. ‘You must ensure the fleet is ready, but not just ready, we must be building throughout the winter. I want that schedule from Beorn. I need to see how he plans to get the new ships built in time. What teams he has organised.’
‘He is working on it,’ Morac promised, coming to stand closer to Eirik. ‘I don’t believe it will be a problem. His men have always worked fast, in whatever conditions Oss has thrown at them.’ He paused. ‘It’s not the ships that concern me, though, it’s the men. We will need to find ways to keep them sharp and ready for battle, not just lazy and sodden, with drink and women.’ Morac couldn’t help his eyes from darting towards Eadmund then; it wasn’t lost on Eirik.
‘Yes, well I’ve come up with an idea for that.’
The handful of men gathered around the nearest fire turned to look at their king, eager to hear his plan. All apart from Eadmund, that is, who was trying to ease his way out of the hall unseen.
‘Eadmund!’ His father spied him edging towards the doors. ‘You must bring your wife to eat with us tonight. I have an announcement to make that is sure to interest her. Promise me, now!’
‘I will, Father!’ Eadmund called out as he pushed on the heavy door, shrinking from the glare of the morning sun. ‘We’ll be here.’ And with that, he turned to make his escape.
‘Eadmund!’
Shit.
He adored his sister, but she had bad timing. Clenching his teeth and sighing deeply, he let go of the door and turned around. ‘Hello, Little Thing.’ She was feeling her way along the wall towards him, and he kicked himself for being such a selfish brother.
‘Eadmund,’ she smiled. ‘I could smell you from my chamber!’
‘Thank you, as always,’ he bowed, then realised that the gesture was lost on her.
‘I wanted to know about the puppies,’ she smiled keenly up at him. ‘How are they?’
Eadmund looked blankly at his sister, happy that she couldn’t read his empty face. He screwed up his forehead and started digging into his useless, hole-riddled memory for a clue as to what she was talking about. She was so excited; it must be something important.
Eydis frowned. ‘Or have you not even noticed them?’
‘The puppies?’ he stalled. ‘Yes, the puppies. I have noticed, of course, I have noticed them! How could I not?’ Eadmund swallowed a few times. ‘They are well, and... and... full of energy, you know... as puppies are.’
His sister fixed him with an unsettling stare. Her milky eyes lingered somewhere near where she imagined his to be; close, but not close enough to make him feel comfortable. ‘Are they?’
‘Yes, they are.’
‘And what are their names? Do you remember?’
‘Ahhh, well, I’ve never been too good at remembering anything, let alone puppy names. I’m sure you know that.’
‘Of course,’ she smiled patiently. ‘And do you remember their colours at least?’
His mouth slackened, his brain now stretched beyond its weary limits. ‘I... not especially. I’m not one for dogs really, Eydis. They all look the same to me.’
Eydis looked cross as she leaned forward, searching for his arm. ‘Eadmund!’ she hissed, gripping hold of his cloak. ‘Father will kill you. Truly, this time he will!’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘You haven’t even seen Jael, have you? You don’t even know about the puppies I gave you both! Where have you been? You’re supposed to be in your new home, with your new wife, as Father thinks you are.’ Her voice was quiet but loaded with warning.
‘Eydis –’
‘No! Don’t tell me I’m a child, that I wouldn’t understand,’ she interrupted. ‘I understand what will happen if you ruin this. Don’t forget that I can see the future. All you have to do is go and see her, spend some time with her, do the things that you’re supposed to do. That will keep Father happy. That will make you happy, believe it or not.’
‘Eydis...’
‘Eadmund, please.’ She grabbed him harder, imploring him with frantic eyes. ‘Please don’t ruin this. I can see what will come for us if you do.’
