Firebrand (21 page)

“I belong everywhere,” he countered, his voice a growl.

Drawing in a calming breath, she squared her shoulders. “Go now. Before you are discovered.” She shivered in the silence that followed.

The troll only smiled.

“Staying here is not wise,” she said. She pointed over his shoulder. “Go back the way you came.”

More quickly than she thought possible for such a hulking being, the troll grasped her wrist and jerked her toward him. He raised his free hand and un-balled his fist. A small mound of yellow powder sat in the center of his palm. “Not without you,” he rasped as he threw it into her face.

Chapter Eighteen

Teezal inspected the landscape of the frozen North Country to which she had been sent, her eyes scanning the area for any sign of life. The Valkyries and their wild stallions had swept the snow clean of any tracks including their own, making it appear as though an endless blanket of white had been spread in all directions.

A chill gripped her heart. If she and Kubla had barely survived the rampage of the Nordic horde, then what chance did Marcus and Brian have? Add to that the bitter cold that cut through her as if it were the Sword of Shadows itself and the hope of finding them alive was bleak at best, impossible at the worst. Like tiny crystals, tears welled in her eyes. Without the Sword of Shadows, the world she knew would be no more, the balance that held the sphere of everyone’s existence tipping to darkness and misery. But equally horrific to her were the thoughts of terror that Marcus and Brian must be feeling at the prospect of dying alone in this harsh environment.

She turned slowly to Kubla. “If the humans’ warmth has not already been extinguished, it undoubtedly is waning.” She lifted her face to the biting tempest that raged around them, lacy patterns of falling snowflakes filling her dark hair like a veil. “I sense very little life in the cold, dark wind. Perhaps we are too late.”

The sadness sheeting Teezal’s face shook Kubla to his core.

He needed to return the fire to her eyes and he knew that his compassion for what she was feeling would not do it. “I see failure eats away at the foundation of the warrior in you. Perhaps I was wrong to allow you to accompany me on this journey,” he said forcing harness into his voice.

Incredulity rippled in Teezal’s eyes. “Allow me?”

As color rose on Teezal’s cheeks, Kubla continued to bait her. “Yes.”

“There is no allow,” she countered. “It is my charge as well as yours.”

“If that is so, why then, when a solution is offered to you, all you can do is spurn it and throw it back into the face of the giver.” Although he knew his actions could throw a wedge in the closeness they had felt earlier, he needed her indomitable, on the verge of action, vexed to the exclusion of all else in order to succeed.

Anger danced in her eyes. “You’ve offered nothing.”

Her ephemeral gaze raked down his body so quickly that Kubla was not sure she even realized what she was doing. Nor where her intent look remained. He leaned back and let out a bellow of laughter. “That too, shall be yours but not now.”

Teezal lifted her chin, her eyes abridged to slits of irritation. “No one dares speak to me that way.”

He had her attention. He now needed to channel her magnificent anger. “Oh really? Well what are you going to do about it? You think yourself a formidable combatant against the evil that threatens to consume us when, in fact, your time among the humans has, in fact, left you soft with their ways.”

Like a rock in the chest, Teezal inhaled sharply with the impact of his words. She turned fully toward him, noticing only then that he had discarded his thick cape and had assumed a fighting stance. “Be wary of what you say, Kubla,” she warned, shrugging back her cape to free her arms and widening her stance for greater balance.

She was ready. He could sense it. He lifted his chin. “If what I say is not true then prove yourself. Right here and right now.” He waited for her reaction. When she did not press him again, his mouth snarled with a grin. “You do not take up the challenge?”

Teezal only continued to glare at him.

“Could it be that you’re afraid?”

She took a step toward him and they began to circle in a pre-combative dance. “I fear nothing or no one.”

“Not true,” he countered. “The smell of it is strong on you.”

She reacted instantly. With a scream to release the strength coiled inside her, she threw herself forward, teeth bared and hands ready for the battle. But he caught her small wrists in his strong hands and held them fast.

“I think it is you who should be afraid,” she said from between clenched teeth. “Release me and prepare yourself for combat.”

With a convincing tug, he pulled her to him. “Ah. Yes. Now this is the Teezal Thistlecomb the sprites sing about around the fires at night.” His gaze raked her face before settling on her mouth. A slow smile curved his lips. “A woman and a warrior.” He cupped her chin and ran his thumb across her full lips. “Fearless. Worthy.”

Her eyes widened. “You were merely provoking me? Why?”

He looked into her blazing eyes. “We need help to find the humans.”

It was then that they again heard the terrible sound that has driven them into the trees. The Valkyries had returned. Kubla pulled Teezal back against him as they looked up at the undulating gray shadows above them that turned the sky to murky blackness.

From inside the murky anvil shaped clouds that swelled and ebbed like raging miasma, three snow white winged stallions alit onto the soft snow, barely leaving an indentation. Their riders in glistening gold and silver body armor slung their long muscular but feminine legs down from the steeds and settled aground.

The tallest, with long waving blond hair and eyes as cold and blue as a glacier strode forward, the head of the long handled ax-spear in her hand glinting in the morning sunlight.

She looked the pair up and down. “I sensed dissention, but ’tis naught but a lovers’ quarrel,” she spat.

A second warrior maiden came forward. “You are far from your home fairylings.”

Teezal tensed as the third Valkyrie stepped up, the ornate sword in the Nord’s hand pointing in her direction. She did not want to fight these women but would if provoked.

Kubla eased Teezal from him and moved to the tall Valkyrie. With his palm placed over his heart, he bowed slightly. “Hail warrior maidens of the sky.”

Two circled them, the shorter one looking at him appreciatively. “Let us kill the fairy woman and take him. He may provide ample sport this day.”

Kubla’s eyes remained downcast and stoic. “This woman is under my protection.” He ignored Teezal’s intake of outraged breath.

“But under whose protection are you?” the warrior-maiden with the sword asked, licking her lips and grinning.

The tallest stayed the hands of the others. “You may lift your head and look at me, Kubla Hazir of the tri-lords.” Her tone was icy and hard.

Slowly he raised his eyes. “I hold myself at your mercy, Queen Brunhild, for I have matter of utmost importance to discuss.”

Teezal looked between the two and saw Kubla and Brunhild watch each other with wary but familiar eyes. It became apparent to her that they were not strangers and just as apparent that the argument had been fabricated to bring the Valkyrie queen to them. But why? She turned to Kubla. “You know these women?”

The Valkyrie closest to Teezal grabbed her upper arm. “Do not speak unless you ask and receive permission,” she cautioned, jerking Teezal to face her.

Teezal ripped her arm free. “I will not…”

Kubla motioned for Teezal to be silent and stepped in front of her. He directed his words to the blond warrior monarch. “Great Queen, hear me. I come on a matter of grave importance.”

Brunhild’s mouth tightened. “You risk death coming here.”

“Then you know I speak the truth.” He waited, his gaze boldly holding that of the warrior queen’s.

With a barely perceptible movement, she nodded her permission.

“Our worlds are in grave danger,” he continued.

Her response was instantaneous and caustic. “I care nothing for your world.” Air stirred around her as her irritation flared. “And this world is well protected.” She nodded to her companions.

“There has been a breach by trolls into Everwood and the rift is growing wider. Others will cross soon. They will come here, spreading destruction and unrest. Many of your kinsman and comrades will die and the great Hall of Valhalla will be filled before its time.” He paused. “It has begun.”

Brunhild stared at him. “Ragnorak!” she said

He nodded. “Yes. We call it The time of the Triad.

The Valkyrie queen studied him a long while. “Our Elders have spoken of the end time.”

“It spirals toward us and we cannot stop it. We can only aid the One promised to return the light.” He watched the play of emotion of Brunhild’s face.

“Come,” she said after what seemed like an eternity of inner debate. “We shall speak of it in the hall of Vaspera. Your fairy woman can ride with Sigrun. You…” she said, her bold gaze slowly embracing Kubla like boiling water rising, “will ride with me.”

* * * * *

As David walked toward Tolhram’s castle spear in hand, he mulled over the task given him by the Mage. The Sword of Light was hidden about fifty miles away. He was charged to retrieve it. Surely Amber would have wanted to go with him but he didn’t give her the chance to try. It was too dangerous.

If the information given by the troll ally, Plim, was accurate and Teezal and Kubla were successful in finding Marcus Drake, the Triad could only be days away. Once the three swords were brought together, events would be put into motion that could not be stopped. He would leave on his mission today and, if all went according to plan, he would not see Amber again until she and the swords were brought to the Dolmans.

As he entered the castle, he both cursed his birthright and gave thanks for it. The obligation given his family by the descendants of those who fell in the Garden had brought him Amber, at least for a time. He renewed the whispered vow he made to her. If there was a way to save her from the fate of her birth, he would find it, even at the cost of his own life.

He stepped into her room and instantly his mind told him something was wrong. He swallowed the rush of panic that rose in his throat. Not only was the room empty, it felt empty.

He tried to quiet his racing thoughts and focus on Amber. He put her face in his mind’s eye and sent out a mental call that she would be able to sense and answer. But there was nothing. Either she would not answer him or she could not. He dismissed the first, their connection too strong to be ignored. Leaving then only the last, his heartbeat rose. He had to find her.

He ran, moving at speeds he did not think were possible for a human to reach, checking places he thought she may have gone, pausing only long enough to get his bearings before deciding on another place to check. At the outer rim of the ring, he saw a gathering of fairy soldiers surrounding the Mage.

“Is Amber with you?” he asked frantically once he was next to Tolhram.

The lines of worry on the Mage’s face deepened with David’s words. “I had hoped she was still at the castle.” He gestured to the ground. “I fear the worst.”

David dropped to one knee. Two sets of tracks were visible on the pathway, one set clearly the large imprint markings of a troll, the other, footprints made by small human shoes. His fingers hovered above them before he glanced up at Tolhram. “Only Amber could have made the smaller footsteps.” He rose slowly.

“I know this.” The Mage walked slowly along the path. “Here,” he said pointing toward the tree line, “there is only one set.” He looked back at David. “Troll.”

“They have her.”

Tolhram nodded. “I do not sense her in Everwood. If they have taken her beyond the ring, she could be anywhere.”

David bared his teeth in anger. “Gorash.”

“If they have taken her to the Troll King, all may be lost.”

David grasped the spear tighter, the knuckles of his hand turning white with the anger that raged inside him. “How could the trolls have overpowered her so easily? She’s strong, very strong.”

“There are ways in the magic,” Tolhram said, his face grim. “I relaxed too much after she came home, thinking she was safe here.” He gestured to a small contingent of soldiers. “I will send the fairy guard out of the ring to search for her.”

David shook his head. “I’m not waiting for any kind of report.”

Tolhram grabbed David by the arm as he started away. “You can’t do it alone, David.”

David looked from the hand on his arm to the Mage’s face. “I am her assigned protector and I let her down. I want to do this. I need to do this.”

The Mage removed his hand. “Don’t think of what you want or what you need. Think of Amber. If the trolls have her, the more of us searching for her, the better our chances of finding her. Better than one alone.”

“Majesty.” Corin’s voice made both look in his direction. “We’ve searched the kingdom. Your granddaughter is not in Everwood. No one has seen her in the past few hours.”

David closed his eyes in anguish and then jerked in surprise when the Mage touched his shoulder.

“We must not think the worst. She is still alive.”

“How can you be sure?”

Tolhram glanced at the sky. “Because there is still light in our worlds.”

“Then I’m going to find her,” David announced. He turned and began to walk away.

“David, you don’t even know where to begin,” Tolhram called after him.

Stopping, David turned back. “I will start with the man whose conviction to preserving the peace of the worlds is as solid as the obelisks lining the sacred ground of the Triad. His allies and scouts may know something.”

“Who is this man?” Tolhram asked.

A brief flash of hope crossed David’s face. “My father.”

Chapter Nineteen

Teezal had no choice but to hold onto the waist of the Valkyrie Sigrun as the winged horse took off. In moments they were high above the ground, snowflakes from the hooves of the Nordic beasts falling in waves to the ground creating an arctic blizzard. She would have another version of the tale told to fairy children about how snowflakes were formed and where they came from when she returned.
If
she returned.

She looked around the muscular amazon behind whom she rode toward the steed that flew in front of them. Kubla appeared quite comfortable with his arms snugly about the waist of the Valkyrie Queen. For a brief moment, when he turned and looked at her, his smile made her bristle.

The shift in Kubla’s body caused Brunhild to glance backward also. The Valkyrie made sure she caught Teezal’s eye, before she laughed and looped one arm backward, urging Kubla to nestle more firmly against her.

Teezal could feel the indignation rise inside her. For the remainder of the ride, she deflected any more such feelings by thoughts of how she would drive his
hookra
through his heart. Or through the one of the harlot Valkyrie Queen.

The castle loomed at the highest peak of the ice-encrusted mountain of Vespera. Made of blue shimmering crystals, sunlight flashed from its sharp angles like the slice of a knife.

“Close your eyes middling. The mountain blinds those undeserving,” Sigrun spat out.

A force, like looking directly into the sun hit Teezal as the wings of Sigrun’s steed descended in a mighty stroke, revealing the full power of the crystal prism upon which the magnificent structure of the Hall of Vespera stood. The wave of pain that accompanied it, made her react in time to save her eyesight.

As the mighty steed’s wings rose and fell, Teezal could sense light brighten and darken in such an intensity that even with her eyes closed tightly, colors danced behind her eyelids. She could imagine the rapture one would feel at gazing at the grand display of illumination before the eternal darkness took them.

She felt the horse settle sure-footed onto a padded landing. “You may now gaze upon our sacred place,” Sigrun announced.

Teezal blinked her eyes open and dismounted. Careful not to show her surprise, her gaze followed the clean lines of an ornately carved great columned archway to a glimpse of the great castle beyond. The large statues in tribute to the Norse gods, the benches, tables, pillars, everything was made of ice. But the comfortable temperature of the air belied the surroundings. Candles glowed in abundance around the entry room but not a trickle of water ran down the ice walls.

The Valkyries continued through a curtain made of animal skins and she and Kubla began to follow them when Sigrun turned and stopped them with a swipe of her hand. She removed her helmet and tucked it under her arm. Her dark hair, released from it confinement, fell around her shoulders and surrounded her face in a frame that accented the deepening concern that darted across her features. “Go no further until you are summoned, middlings.”

They were left alone in an outer room. Teezal turned and walked to the brazier set in the center of the room. It flickered warmly, its light breaking and scattering against the ice that made up the walls. In the incandescence of the crystals that hung from the ceiling like a large chandelier, she could see Kubla come up behind her.

“You know these women?” she asked him, looking into the pyre with its heavily defined planes of fire and shadow that shifted and moved with the flames.

He nodded. Her face told him she was fighting to control her natural urge of female invidiousness.

“How?”

“The night the clouds boiled and the heavens colored green like the shadows in the forest. I was preparing myself for what is to come by performing the sacred ritual of the battle dance, what my kind calls tai-cha, near the outer rim of the ring when the sky opened and the warrior maidens appeared. They thought me a warlock who called them from their arctic home to the green earth where their powers can weaken and prepared to do battle.”

Teezal’s brows snapped down. “And I see you avoided the fight.”

“Not quite.” Kubla pushed up the sleeve of his leather tunic revealing a large but already healing, reddened slash on the coffee-colored skin of his forearm. “This is from the point of Queen Brunhild’s dagger.”

Teezal considered him for a moment, frowning. “Apparently something about you interested her since you managed to escape with your life,” she said in a tone edged with acrimony.

“As we crossed blades, I managed to convince her that their entrance into the green realm was an accident..”

She regarded him further. “How convenient for you.”

He moved to an ornate bench carved from what probably once was a block of ice. Overlooking her sarcastic attitude, he removed his dark cape and draped it across the top, offering her a seat. “We circled in tense stalemate while I tried to explain to the queen that none will escape the grip of the Triad.”

Teezal refused his suggestion to sit with a wave of her hand, “It was apparent by her reaction earlier that she knew of the prophecy.”

“Being aware of the warnings of the First Ones is one thing. Realizing the Triad is upon us, is another.” Kubla walked to the brazier and warmed his hands. “They were less than receptive to what I had to say so I pointed the way home and they rose in a fury of hammering hoofs and pounding wings before disappearing into the night sky.”

“They said nothing of the counsel you offered?”

“Not a word until today.”

“These Valkyries, they are an arrogant breed.”

Kubla laughed. “Not arrogant. Proud.” He reached out and brushed a dark curl of hair away from her face, the back of his hand brushing her skin as he did. “Not unlike you.”

Heat rose almost instantly where he touched her. Although everything inside her was calling to her to turn into his touch, Teezal steeled herself and stiffened instead. She would not allow Kubla the pleasure of knowing how much their being together was affecting her sensibilities.

“The dark maiden, Sigrun. She calls us ‘middlings’. You know this word?”

Kubla nodded. “It means average, mediocre.” He grasped her arms knowing full well she would not react kindly to the slight. “It is meant to inflame you. Rise above it.”

Annoyance exploded in Teezal’s eyes but she controlled her expression. “I have. But make no mistake, this is not finished.”

Kubla had no time to comment further. The skin-curtains parted and Sigrun reappeared. “Come,” she commanded.

Inside the great room beyond, Brunhild sat on a large throne high upon a dais. She had removed her leather riding greaves and silver armor and was clad only in a short belted tunic and thigh-high boots. “Food and ale!” she shouted as they approached. “We have guests.”

Doors on either side of the room burst open and half-clad men entered carrying platters of pheasant, goathead cheeses and large golden ram’s horns filled with foamy mead.

“Be seated.” Brunhild gestured to one of the low tables in front of her at which sat the other maidens of the air who had also discarded their riding armor and were dressed in similar garments. They were about to be seated when the Valkyrie queen spoke.

“Not you, Lord Kubla. We shall have our repast in my chambers.” Her strong, seductive more than exposed her intentions.

Teezal’s eyes blazed as she took her place with the warrior maidens

“I see your little fairylit takes exception to my request,” Brunhild said grinning at Kubla. She strode down the platformed steps in front of her throne. When she reached Teezal, she leaned down to her. “You should never reveal how much you care for a man in his presence. It makes you appear weak and dependent.” She laughed heartily. “Besides, I would have returned him to you a better man.”

Teezal stood. She would look up to no one. “Or you a better woman.”

Kubla put his body between them. “Any other time, great queen, it would be an honor to be of what service I could. But we have grave matters to discuss.”

“Ahh yes, the end of things. Come sit by my side at the throne. We will talk.” Her eyes shifted back to Teezal. “Another time and we will finish this,” she said.

“I look forward to the day,” Teezal replied without hesitation from between clenched teeth.

As Brunhild returned to her place on the throne, Kubla felt as though he was being pummeled by the indignation radiating from Teezal’s body. Before he joined Brunhild, he turned and whispered to her. “Try and keep that legendary temper of yours in check. We need them as allies. They can help us find Marcus Drake.”

Teezal felt no empathy. “The worlds are coming apart and she plays games like it was nothing. Go then and be quick, for my patience is not without end.”

She watched him go to the long food-filled table set before Brunhild. As the Valkyrie queen ate, Teezal saw her face darken and her mouth become a grim line as she listened to Kubla. It seemed like an eternity that they talked, but finally, she stood up and took a long swig from the ram’s horn before throwing it to the floor.

“If they are here, we will find them,” she said aloud and grabbed the gleaming silver helmet at her feet. “Come my warrior maiden’s! Sigrun, take up your charge again, for we ride.”

Food and drink spilled onto the floor as tables were overturned in a rush to comply with the queen’s command.

And once again Teezal found herself hanging onto the waist of the screeching sky warrior as they streaked across the sky.

* * * * *

The blue-black tunnel of the trod opened into the sight of the rich color of lavender growing on the deep green of the rolling meadow in the distance. Sun gleamed on the rain-soaked grasses of the field as David breathed in the welcomed air of home.

He stood high above the valley where the river wound like a snake between green verges. He hadn’t been to this place since he was a child. As he looked over the place of his birth and the place Marcus Drake had accepted his own charge twenty-five years earlier, a pain gripped his heart. There was so little time left and so much yet to do.

At the edge of the ridge was a natural causeway along which he could make his way down to the grove below. He grasped the hilt of his sword tighter and eased his way down the slope of the cliff.

At the bottom he turned to the right toward an outcropping of skin tents that stood like toadstools around a shelter carved into the face of the cliff. As he got closer he could see three walls rising to only shoulder height in piles of stone, half buried in the mud that held them together. Heavy poles of wood were driven into the ground with canvas laid across to shelter those inside from the wind and rain.

Some of the poles had fallen, some newly split from the weight of the heavy rain that had obviously soaked the area. On those that still stood, the canvas flapped in the gathering wind or hung loose. Two guards stood at the front of the structure. He could see fear on their faces and sensed it was from the coming force which they believed in but did not understand.

When he was in front of them, they crossed the guns in their hands and blocked his way, the sun flashing on the tips of the weapons. “No further,” one of them said, the fear in his eyes changing to wariness. “State your business.”

“I’m here to see Sean McTavish.”

“Let him enter,” a voice from inside the crude structure said.

The guards drew back. David had to dip his head to enter the rocky edifice. He straightened and faced the man waiting inside. “It’s good to be home, father,” he said.

“David, me boy.” Sean McTavish man extended his arms. “We’ve been waiting for ye.”

David walked into the embrace, accepting hearty pats on the back from the man who had been the catalyst of the Triad. “Then you know where she is.”

“Aye. Always watchin’, one of us has never been far from you.”

“Then tell me?”

“Gorash has taken her to Donahyde Castle.”

David glanced at the tent flap. “And you didn’t try to stop him?”

“No. We’re just the Watchers. When Gorash and his minions passed through it would have been too dangerous to try to take her with our small numbers. The full contingent of Guardians did not join us until a few hours ago.” He gestured for David to sit on a pile of skins set against the back wall of rock. “We were waiting for you.”

David declined the offer with a firm shake of his head. “No. Gorash will expect an army to come for her. We cannot take chances of too many casualties. I’ll go alone. The Guardians will need to be at full force to hold off the troll minions once the Triad ritual begins. Amber must conclude the Triad with the light.”

“One thing I don’t understand, son,” McTavish said, offering David a cup filled with ale. “Why dinna Gorash just kill ’er and let the world settle into the darkness he wishes?”

David settled crossed legged on one of the skins and drank deeply. “He has a perverse fascination for Amber. She’s like a prize to him. And as much as it sickens me, it keeps her alive.” He handed the cup back to his father. “How did you know I’d be coming?”

“The same way you knew I’d be here,” his father replied. “Duty. An obligation deep inside all the McTavish men since the beginning.” He blew out a long breath of air. “It comes so quickly. The last time I was here it was to set Marcus Drake on the path to his destiny. And now, in the blink of time’s eye, I’m back to greet my own fate and watch my son embrace his.”

David sat very still while his father draped a black cape around him, fastening it together with a dragon pin at the shoulder. “This was given to my father and his father before him and those back to when it was forged alongside the Amulet of the Triad. May it help give you wisdom to do what must be done and the courage to do it.”

David ran his fingertips across the contours of the gilded copper-colored metal feeling the rise and fall of the sharp lines of the fierce being it portrayed. “I know what I have to do. I must take the heart out of the beast who wants to throw the universe into darkness and make sure the light prevails.”

David stood and made for the entrance but his father got there before him. He put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “You really mean to do this alone, my boy?”