Fantasyland 01 Wildest Dreams (54 page)

“You’re speaking of murder,” Frey replied,
his gut twisting with disgust.

“You yourself said if she returned she’d
face certain execution,” Agnes retorted.

“Execution, witch, is not murder,” Frey
clipped.

She lifted her chin to grant his point
then said, “I see the vision, I dream the dream, I do not know if
it is Sjofn or Finnie who stands in the fire and blood. I also do
not know the outcome. The fire surrounds her, the blood flows over
her boots. But I do know this will happen, Drakkar. Never, not once
since I started dreaming the visions as a wee girl, has one not
come true.” She pulled in a visible breath and finished, “I am
sorry but this is your choice. If you bar Sjofn’s return to this
world, you must pray to Keer who holds Princess Finnie’s and
your
destinies in his hands or you
make the dreadful choice to stand Sjofn in that fire. But the
choice is yours.”

Frey studied her.

Then he asked, “You say you do not see the
outcome?”

She shook her head and confirmed, “I do
not.”

“And how does Finnie or Sjofn come to this
pass?”

“I do not see that either, Drakkar.”

“And is she alone or surrounded by men,
guards, soldiers?”

She shook her head again and repeated, “I do
not see that either.”

Frustration crawled up his throat and he
growled, “This vision is not very helpful.”

Her back shot straight. “I’m not a fortune
teller as they don’t exist,” she snapped. “I am a seer. I do not
control the visions, they come to me. This is what I saw, it was
grave and because of that I have travelled far to inform you but
this was
all
I
saw.”

At that moment, a loud, feminine cry of
delight pierced through the room and Frey turned to the
windows.

Finnie was jumping up and down, her arms
around Annar’s neck with one hand still holding her bow. Her
movements were so excited the arrows in the quiver strapped across
her back were cascading to the green grass at her feet. Annar was
standing feet planted firm to the ground, his hands at her waist
but her exuberance was jolting his body. He was in profile but Frey
could see his man’s wide smile.

Finnie detached swiftly from Annar, whirled
to face an excited Skylar, threw both her arms up in the air, still
holding her bow and shrieked her delight again before she bent and
caught Skylar up in a tight embrace, shaking him side to side as
Frey heard her laugh.

Skylar’s boyish laughter mingled with
hers.

Frey’s eyes moved to Finnie’s target and he
saw the arrows had been cleared. Now there were only two.

One in the circle outside the bulls-eye.

One embedded directly in the middle of
it.

He felt his lips curve into a smile.

She’d done it.

Fire and blood.

Frey’s smile died.

Then he turned to the witch.

“Have you eaten?”

She blinked then asked, “What?”

His eyes moved over her dusty, travel worn
gown. “You’ve travelled far, have you eaten?”

She shook her head and said, “I have made
haste, starting on my journey the minute I learned from Finnie’s
Jocelyn that you were at the chateau. I have ridden hard, consumed
little and slept even less due to my haste and that dream. So no,
Drakkar, it has been since yesterday I have eaten.”

He nodded. Then he stated, “I will order a
meal for you. You have three hours to eat it, wash and rest. Then
you are away with one of my men. You will ride fast to Bellebryn
and board the first vessel bound for Lunwyn. You live in
Fyngaard?”

“Just outside it, yes.”

Frey nodded again. “You will go home, my man
will accompany you and you will prepare to be away for some time.
Finnie and I leave on the morrow, headed back to Lunwyn ourselves.
We will first go to the Rimée Keep so she can see her parents. My
man will take you there. We will stay there a week, perhaps two,
then we will be moving on to my lodge in Kellshorn. You will follow
us.”

Her brows drew together, “But, I don’t under
–”

Frey impatiently anticipated her question
and therefore answered it before it was fully asked, “So that I
will know immediately, I want you close at all times should you
receive more communications from the other world, have any dreams
that shed further light on the situation you fear will befall my
Finnie or any dreams you have about Finnie at all. And I want you
to use your powers to protect my wife.” He paused and added, “For
these endeavors, you will be paid.”

“There is no protection against dragon fire,
Drakkar, you know that,” Agnes stated quietly.

“
Finnie faces a variety of dangers, witch,
and there
are
protections
for those,” Frey returned.

The witch nodded.

Then she took a step toward him, her gaze
grew cautious but her mouth opened to speak.

“There are no dragons in the other world,
Drakkar.”

Frey’s body went solid and it did this
because he took her meaning.

Then he whispered, “You speak treason.”

She pressed her lips together, clearly
hesitant, but went on, “I do and I do with purpose. There are few
matches like yours with Finnie in this world
or
hers. So few, they are so rare, they are precious
and need to be protected at all costs. Valentine may be able to
break the binding spell of the elves and she could take your
Finnie
and
you to the
other world where she’ll be safe. If Princess Sjofn doesn’t run
through it, your princess has the means for you both to live there
comfortably for the entirety of your days and –”

Frey leaned toward her and cut her off.
“Witch,” he clipped, his tone fierce, “you… talk…
treason
.” She
leaned back slightly and pressed her lips together but Frey went
on, “And treason is heinous but what you speak of is worse. If I
were to remove Finnie from this world, an elfin, dragonian child
will not sit on the Lunwyn throne as our gods desire, our frosted
land would again descend into turmoil, the dragons would lose their
Drakkar and would remain at slumber in their caves for the gods
know how long. The fact I
am
The
Drakkar means there is a threat looming for all of Lunwyn for which
the dragons will need to be roused. And lastly, the elves would
again be betrayed by The Frey and because of that may retreat for
another seven centuries or worse, may never ascend again. And you
know that breaking their binding spell would mean sacrifice, the
elves will demand it as their due before they withdraw to their
realm. I do not know what this sacrifice will be but I
do
know it will be terrible. The
gods have chosen Finnie for me and me for Lunwyn. Our destinies are
linked and this link is for the future of Lunwyn. We cannot desert
our land. This
cannot
happen.”

She stepped back, her eyes moving to
contemplate the rug and she nodded but he saw her hands shaking
with fear, as they would. It took great courage for her to suggest
betraying his country, his responsibilities and the elves.

But she did it to advocate safe harbor for
his wife.

“I will forget you suggested it,” Frey said
quietly.

“Thank you, Drakkar.”

Frey continued speaking softly and when he
did her eyes moved back to him.

“As you can see, we must do all we can to
keep my princess safe.”

Agnes nodded. “It will be my honor to serve
The Drakkar and his Ice Bride.”

“My thanks,” Frey replied, watched her draw
in a breath then he stated, “I will see to your meal and bath.
You’re away in three hours.”

Agnes nodded again.

Frey moved to the door muttering, “Safe
journey, I will see you in Snowdon.”

He did not await her response.

He went in search of the housekeeper.

Then he went directly to his wife.

Hit the Bell with a Loud Clang

Two days later…

I stood at the railing on the bridge deck
at the stern of
The Finnie
and
looked at the terracotta tile roofed, adobe buildings with their
brightly-colored awnings, pots of profuse flowers, multi-colored
lanterns and wrought iron whimsies all stretching up the hill
where, at the top, there was an unbelievable fairytale
castle.

The city state of Bellebryn.

And I watched it all slowly get smaller as
we sailed away.

It was, the first time I saw it nearly two
months ago and at that moment, the most beautiful place I’d ever
seen in my life. Nothing like it existed in my world, not even
close.

Except in animated children’s films. Yep,
seriously, it was a city only the most whimsical, artistic minds
could create.

It was amazing.

As amazing as it was, I was pleased we were
heading home to Lunwyn, pleased to turn the page to a new
adventure, pleased to get back to my parents but most of all
pleased to be setting sail because something was bothering
Frey.

I could read him easily but for some
reason his strange, subdued, weighty mood, a mood that had lasted
over two days, I could not read. And after asking him (four times)
and receiving the response, “Nothing’s amiss, my wee one,” (when
something
was
) my only
guess was that my Raider, like me, itched to be on the
move.

“Sky,” I heard and I looked down at Skylar
who was standing beside me at the railing, his eyes on the fading
beauty of Bellebryn but he, like I, turned to see Orion striding
toward us. “Sword, boy, now. The sun will be setting soon and
you’ve not practiced today. Waist deck, fifteen minutes,” Orion
ordered, Sky nodded to him, Orion jerked his chin at Sky, looked to
me and smiled, turned on his boot and left the bridge deck.

Skylar looked up at me with bright, excited
eyes and asked, “Anything you need in the cabin, Miss Finnie?”

I shook my head and smiled down at him. “No,
honey, you go on. I’m good.”

He smiled huge then took off on a run.

My smile faded as I watched him go.

Frey had informed me that sword and knife
work were going to be added to Skylar’s archery lessons and math,
writing and reading tutorials. Wooden daggers and swords, which
could do little harm should mistakes occur, had been purchased for
this very purpose.

I did not like it and told Frey so. Archery
was one thing; Sky was too young to be working with weapons, which
swords and daggers definitely were, even wooden ones. To this, Frey
informed me in the coming weeks Skylar would turn twelve and then
he went on to inform me this was not too young. I disagreed with
that too, thinking such lessons should start when he was fifteen or
sixteen.

Or thirty.

When I shared this opinion with him, he’d
laughed his ass off. Unfortunately, Thad and Stephan were with him
so they laughed their asses off too. I stormed off in a huff after
glaring death rays at them which was not a good choice because this
made them all
keep
laughing
their asses off.

Skylar, however, agreed with Frey and was
excited beyond reason to begin his lessons as any boy would be,
learning cool-as-shit boy stuff from trained, experienced, skilled,
tall, fit, hot, action hero type guys.

And thus, I was outvoted.

I heard boots on wood and twisted my neck to
see Frey heading my way from the other side of the bridge deck. I
smiled at him and his gaze dropped to my mouth then back to my
eyes. I started to turn toward him but he halted this when he
arrived at me, his hands turning me gently back to face the fading
beauty of Bellebryn then his arms wrapped around me, one across my
chest, one at my ribs.

Then his mouth came to my ear and I knew he
knew my thoughts because he whispered, “As I explained, love, boys
of his class sometimes never even learn their letters and numbers.
Knowing those, the workings of a ship and being skilled with
knives, swords and bows brightens his future. When he’s old enough
to make decisions on the life path he wishes to follow, these
lessons will provide a choice of paths, paths most of the boys of
his class could never hope to pursue. It is good the men wish to
take this time with him. It is a boon and he knows it.” Frey’s arms
gave me a squeeze. “And they are skilled; no harm will come to him
while he trains.”

He
had
explained this. And it did make sense.

I still didn’t like it.

And it was more than my opinion that boys
Skylar’s age were too young to begin serious training with weapons,
something else I explained to Frey before.

So, since he repeated himself, I did
too.

“He’s eleven and he’s still vulnerable,
Frey,” I whispered. “Annar and I have been working with him and he
still freaks out when he messes up. He gets so tense at the
slightest mistake it takes days to calm him down.”

“This will pass, Finnie,” Frey whispered
back.

“But –”

His arms squeezing me gently cut me off then
his voice sounded in my ear. “This will pass, wee one, and the only
way to get it to pass is to work him through it.”

I pulled in a deep breath. Then I let it
out.

This made sense too, damn it all to
hell.

So I gave in (again) by whispering,
“Okay.”

I felt Frey’s lips touch light on my neck
and then in my ear I heard, “Okay.”

I relaxed into his big, powerful frame and
ran my hands along his arms until my fingers linked through his and
I watched Bellebryn become tiny as
The Finnie
gained distance.