Red Solstice (Alfheim Book 1) (10 page)

“You low down cheating bitch,” he said with a smile that definitely did not reach his eyes.

I smiled back though it was more bravado and I hoped he did not realise.  “I am learning from the best, my sweet,” I said.

The lightening arced towards me and blazed around my circle.  I knew fear as the circle started to buckle.  Things were suddenly heating up and I had limited ability to deal with this.  Then without warning something within me coalesced.  Something buried so deep down I had never been aware of its existence and now it rose up and gathered in my solar plexus.  I felt my hair begin to float about me in an energy storm and my head snapped up as I held out my hands to repel the lightening.  The shock on his face was worth it but I almost fried a tree.  Thunder rolled.  The air smelled of ozone.  I had bitten my lip at some point and the words 'tasted blood', took on a whole new meaning.  I felt it then for what it was; potent, true killer strength, power and the ability to carry it through and direct it at will.  It was heady, exhilarating and far too dangerous.  I did not want this.  I released my hold on the anger and allowed it to dissipate.  “I do not wish this,” I said.

He grimaced “And you think that I will stop because you do not wish it?” he replied.

“Yes”, I answered him, “because your employer wants me alive and undamaged.  I have no market value if you damage me”.

He snorted a laugh.  At this moment in time, this was not how he wanted things to end but he knew I was right.

“I could kill you,” he almost whispered.

I shook my head.  “No, that I will never believe”   A tear fell down my cheek, “That was the river, and this is the Sea', funny how you finally understand something years after you have heard it.”

“I misjudged you.  I thought you untrained”, he continued.

“Well I was”, I sigh “Until you hit me, I was”

If Hilda had not noticed.  If Aylsa had not wanted to see my brother's group.  If.  “I should have been easy prey”, there is no more emotion left in me.

His face was gaunt, strained.  Part of me ached to wrap my arms around him, to hug him close and never let go.  In the distance I heard people counting down to midnight when they would let of fireworks and party through until dawn.  I sensed the power building up before I saw the portal start to form.  The church bell pealed out to acknowledge the hour.  He vanished from my sight.  I fell to my knees  howling like a wounded animal.

Aftermath and Leave Taking

When people spoke of the night of the last Solstice they remembered the strange storm that had almost drowned out the fireworks.  It was localised over the small wood back where the beck runs to meet with the river estuary. It was notable for the lightening that seemed to fill up that sector of the sky and the tremendous thunder rolling down the hill as if someone was playing a giant percussion instrument in time to the light show, and  then a cataclysm of water lashed the area with trees bending and falling.  They say that if it had not been for the rain a truly monumental fire would have devastated the entire wood but then they do exaggerate don't they. 

John, Ben and Aylsa found me still lying on the bank of the now raging stream.  I was soaked through and foetal.  They gathered some of the broken saplings and made a rough stretcher which they used to carry me back down to Hilda's.  I was limp as they stripped me off and I was towelled dry, and so I remained for four days, occasionally accepting a sip of fluid and lost in strange dreams that led me to cry out .  On the fifth day I sat up and accepted  full cup of fluid.  I felt as if I had aged a thousand years and every bone in my body ached.  Then I ate .  Two weeks passed whilst I played the invalid but on the start of the third I listened to my body and confided in Hilda that it was not only handkerchiefs that could make it through from a vision.  It was harder explaining it to John.

Who am I?  What am I becoming?  Who is he and why are we alike?

He seems to have sparked a war inside of me and one that not only confuses me with its intensity but also raises issues of what is morally right or wrong.  I am a half blood and therefore not quite human but not defined alien.  I find his morality confusing but at least it appears to be honest with itself.  Maybe they do play games and make it a little more glitzy than it seems but the bottom line is they are not being as deceitful as most humans are with each other.  My human mind shaping stopped me from being honest and saying that the wanting him part came from within me as well as from his spells and yes I had sung to him and only him that night because, because I allowed the passion within me to reach out for the reflection I saw in him.  It was a game that I wanted to play ;one that appealed to me because he was so potentially dangerous and therefore more exciting.  I had felt stronger, wilder, potent, a true predator. 

It seemed a good idea to leave the area for  a while and as I did not want to ruin John's life as well as I had my own I suggested that he stay and take care of the band and the house and perhaps his new relationship whilst I dragged Benjamin off with me for a few months.  To this end I had a word with Fergus who was the man who organised the travelling markets and he agreed to take Ben and I out with him and his wife Margo.  We could set up as buskers which he thought would be a neat addition to the market's popularity.

For over three months we  travelled around with the markets, singing what ever the public wanted and it has given us enough money to gain our own transport and a little more.  Although we have  paid our way, the traders have been so good to us, rather like an extended family.  They have set circuits that they work so we have gone from our local one  and been introduced to others gradually spreading out up the country.  We were hopeful of branching out in search of some places where we can make an interesting difference to the quality and quantity of our music.  And so far it has all been very stimulating, but yes we had needed to make enough to keep us and help in how we travelled.  The guys in the markets spent a lot of time showing Benjamin how to drive and he was very happy to be doing so.  I will not mention how happy he was for the girlies that chased him when we were in the local villages and towns.  I just prayed that, as it was only brief,  they recovered without any harm from their experience of him.  I also learned to drive but it was not my major endeavour,  I needed to know how to use magic in a more sophisticated form and this I tried to work upon.  We left the guys before Suffolk and pushed on through rolling countryside with brief stops to replenish our savings , busking in the towns and cities and occasionally getting a booking for a club or the invitation to play at one of the public houses.  Whilst I collected anything that I could that related to magic, Benjamin began to collect shirts, not the variety worn by the office types, but flamboyant hippy style ones in

a rainbow of colours.  All this travel was changing him rapidly from the shy boy that started out with me into a very self assured hotty.

At this point we began to meet  up with many other seekers, musicians and artists similar  to ourselves and I absorbed any of their magic practices into my own expanding knowledge trying to fit and craft it together into a simpler whole.  It was a good summer of festivals and music, with little rain and green fields to camp in, almost idyllic in a way and certainly good for my growing child.

Travelling gradually drew us northwards, we had bought an old van that served as both home and transport, but the weather was turning colder as winter drew in and we began to think of home and the coming Christmas celebrations.  I too was looking a sorry site busking on street corners in the towns with my unsuitably enlarged belly sticking out like a sore thumb on my skinny frame.  We made a last stop in Norwich where I could obtain some books and supplies from a shop I had been told of called Inanna's Festival on St Andrews Hill, and then we set off back down through East Anglia and Essex towards home.

It is late December when we arrive and the sight and noise of our van causes a stir in  the town square.  John being one of those that sticks his head out of the town hall to see what the commotion is about.  We had written to him, but without a warning date in mind, of our progress.  By the time we make it along the Street we have acquired Truthy as well as John.  I come as a bit of a shock to them and not because of my size but the fact I have grown my hair and augmented lots of little plaits with coloured ribbons, wool and a general medley of strange things.  Also gone are the jeans and T shirts as they no longer accommodate me, although I am hardly fat.    I have had to embrace leggings and large floaty tops, not to mention woollen shawls and capes to keep the cold at bay.  Everyone seems to be talking at once so we are all none the wiser as to what has or has not happened by the time home is in sight.  John pulls me to one side as Ben and Truthy help each other to unpack the van, well squabble over it anyway.  “I am going to marry Aylsa,” he says.  I am so genuinely pleased for him and I say so.  “Also,” he clears his throat and looks a little sheepish, “It will be very soon as she too is pregnant”  What can I say.  I burst out laughing.  I can only hope that Ben has been a little more thoughtful with his adventures of late.

Weddings and Celebrations

They have decided to marry after Christmas and this gives me just enough time to make some clothes for the celebration and help in planning  a feast.   The manager at the Docks is more than keen to host the wedding party and extra beer and mead is added to the now cramped back room.  Benjamin has transported  both Aylsa and Truthy to the nearby town to buy suitable clothing for the bridal party and Aylsa, who still does not show,  looks so slim and pretty in her lace dress that I feel almost envious.  Truthy is being a bridesmaid but I decline this offer as I am now the size of a small elephant, or at least I feel like I am!  Friends and relatives are coming from all over for Aylsa and we have the group and some of the market people coming for us.  I am just happy to sit things out and ruminate.

Christmas has been a wonderful time for us this year, spending it with Hilda and Aylsa.  Usually we worked over the period but this time we could relax and enjoy a more traditional atmosphere.  Hilda's sons had sent her presents and she went around smiling all the time.  I did not want to ask how they had got them through the portals but it was interesting to note that it was possible.  I made a mental note to ask her about this in the New Year.    A large joint of beef was cooked for the main meal and augmented with a goose and some vegetables fresh from their store and then a large steamed pudding that Hilda has made herself.  It has been such a long time since we dined like this and I think of my mother and father trapped in Alfheim and also of Red and things I wish I had or had not done.

With all the excitement time seemed to have speeded up and just as I felt I could slow down and breathe again I was frog marched to buy fabric and wool for the baby and everyone I know seemed to be knitting like mad.  Good thing too considering I am not so good at that.  I had been talking to Hilda regarding the birthing but it was still a shock when some eight weeks into the new years I went into labour.  It was an even bigger shock when my daughter was born and was rapidly followed by her twin brother.  John said I was well known for never doing things by halves but this time I had excelled myself.  I did worry that maybe they were born too soon as they seemed so small but Hilda said that it was not unusual for twins to arrive a few weeks early and they were not only healthy but exhibited a similar appetite to my own.  I have to have them registered at the town hall and this I do as Violet and Niall Millefleur, although I would prefer  them to bear their father's name, but I do not think it really  is Red and anyway that would undoubtedly look a little strange on their certificates. 

The Spring Equinox arrives and departs without any sign of Red or for that matter any other of my grandmother's people.  I am afraid to let my guard down but  somewhat relieved as well.  I need time both for the babies to grow and also to come up with a plan that will safeguard both myself and my family, something which is more proactive as we cannot spend our lives travelling the country just to avoid my grandmother.  I also need information regarding where my parents are and how they are.  At the moment it seems like a mountain waiting for me to climb it.

It was April before I asked Hilda about the passage between the worlds and she seemed surprised that I did not know.  It seemed that humans could sometimes stumble through where the energy separating us was at  its thinnest, and half breeds had some access at the main portals but my bracelet was a guaranteed admission to anywhere ticket as well as a protective device.  This was a very important piece of information to think about.

The van had been sitting idle, apart from special excursions to further the wedding celebration, as it is not much use in the town but it seemed a pity to just leave it to gather dust and rust.  Truthy saw it almost as a piece of magic in its own right and has been on at Benjamin and myself to teach her to drive.  I, now being busy with the babies, deemed it better if he undertook such a potentially dangerous task and after much persuasion he started this.  At first she had an easy life as there was no one to get in her way on the Street but gradually, as she grew more confident ,and the poor old van required petrol, they took it up the Abalone Road hill to the main road.  Obviously I was not there for this but Benjamin gave a hair raising account afterwards and swore he would not go through it again.  However, she cajoled him to make one last tiny attempt and all praise to the girl she actually made it to the next village four miles over, without hitting anything.  After two months they were taking passengers with them to neighbouring villages and towns and by the end of May he had her ready to take a driving test.  This was something that both he and I had not really given any consideration to, and I can now admit I do feel some shame in flouting the system to that extent,  but we generally did feel  that Truthy would benefit from having a proper driving license.  It was actually a surprise when she passed first time but hey I had always said she was bright.  It has also done wonders for her confidence and she is now talking of applying for University and maybe even leaving the town briefly and working outside.  I am not certain who is more shocked, Benjamin or her family.