Red Solstice (Alfheim Book 1) (6 page)

Sunday 18
th

It was late on Sunday morning and Aylsa was not yet up, which was hardly surprising considering the time she actually came home.    I had joined Hilda in the kitchen and we were now having some coffee and thick buttered scones that we had baked together, earlier.  I was beginning to enjoy this domestic touch as it reminded me of being with my mother, which also prodded me to ask her about her experiences of Alfheim.  She seemed happy to reminisce.

“A long time ago, a really long time ago,” she laughed “When I was a young girl not much older than you are now, I was working in my families herb garden.  I had a way with herbs and could make ointments and possets for healing.  This helped us when times were hard to live a better life than some of my contemporaries.  I was not very worldly, not like you young things are now days.”

I looked at her closely.  She had similar dark blonde hair to her niece and very attractive blue eyes, which I rather envied as mine had always seemed to me a watery shade of green.  There was not an ounce of fat on her and her movements were fairly graceful, rather like a dancers.  She could not be much older than forty but then people judge themselves by how they feel more than how they look, I have found.

“Yes, I was working in the herb garden gathering those that were ready to dry and store when a young man approached me.  He was beautiful.  Not masculine or heavy muscled but beautiful, I thought he looked like an angel.  He told me he had been on a hunting trip and met with an accident.  He had a gash in his left side where dark blood had dried.  I remember his eyes were a pale shade of blue rather like an aquamarine but they held such sparkle, and his hair was very long and fair, almost white.  It looked like someone had turned silk into human hair and I really wanted to reach out and touch it”

Her words echoed through my head.  “His eyes were a pale shade of blue rather like an aquamarine”  His eyes were that pale shade of blue, eyes that I had once thought of as red were like sparkling aquamarines.  I suddenly felt cold.

She looked at me half smiling, “No it was not Red”.  His kind live a long time and rarely show their age but this was not Red”, she sighed then.  “Anyway I took him into the house and bathed the wound for him.  It oozed a little fresh blood so I packed it with feverfew and

applied a bandage to keep it there.  He did not complain although it must have hurt him.  I gave him a drink of some fresh herbal tea and then he took his leave.  Beguiled is I think the right word for how I felt then.  I was beguiled and for weeks I searched each crowded place that I went to in case I could see his face again.  It was months before I did and then it had turned to winter and he came then to ask me if I would go away with him and become his wife.  I did not need asking twice and walked away from my home and family with a small bundle of my potions and some clothing.  He took me to a place where it was still summer, through a portal into summer.”  Her eyes had become shadowed with pain

“Where is he now “, I asked

“Dead”, she replied, “Long dead”.

I wanted her to continue but I could wait until she was ready to do so.  I searched the kitchen for some tea and made her a strong cup of it.  She thanked me almost absent mindedly as she was still wrapped up in her thoughts and I went to sit quietly until she was ready.

Some thirty minutes passed before she abruptly straightened up and took a deep breathe.  “I am sorry” she said, “Sometimes I forget how much the past can hurt.”

“That's okay”, I say as there is not much else I can say. 

“I had a very good life with my husband”, she continues.  “His people have difficulty bearing children, a lack of natural fertility which is probably a good thing considering that they are long lived, but not one they are too happy with.  We did manage two sons and this was considered a great thing by the people.  They stayed behind when I came back home.  It was not the same for me after he died.  I did get other offers of marriage as I was admired by many at the time but I wanted my memories and that was all I needed.”

she paused again and looked around the kitchen.  “I am not being very professional about this”, she laughed.  “You need to know about Mr Red and why he is here and I should think you are also overdue to hear about your parents.  Let's get some dinner on the go and after that we will continue this chat in my office”.

“I make a mean steak pudding , if that would please, madam,”I said.

“Ah yes the steak you bought yesterday.   I gather we are feeding your brother John tonight “

“Yes” I said tongue in cheek. “He seems to like it here all of a sudden.

We spend a comfortable half hour chopping up onions and browning the steak.  I request my favourite herbs and they are all there which is wonderful and even better there is fresh stock available as well.  I make a suet crust and fill a large bowl with the pudding tying down the top with some butter muslin and string.  As the thing does take its own good time to cook I help prepare the potatoes and fresh garden vegetables ready and then pop outside to do a work out.  Aylsa comes to join me about half way through this.  I gather they had a little bit of a party last night after the gig as she is looking just slightly worse for wear and I wonder how bad my brother is.  I mention we have the bottle of wine that I bought yesterday and she grimaces slightly then adds that John said he would bring some more with him as well.  When we finally return to the kitchen Hilda has put on some fresh bread to bake and the smells filling the house are to die for.

Time is suddenly running away with us and somehow we do not get back out to the 'office' before we are inundated with dinner guests.  So it is much later in the evening when Hilda and I leave the others to play some silly board game, which requires a lot of shouting and general laughter, and head on over to the out building.  I take a glass of wine with me as I have a feeling I may need it.

“The reason that my husband had waited such a long time to come back for me was that he firstly had to ask permission of his lord and secondly he could not move between our realities except at an Equinox or a Solstice.  He had originally arrived at the Solstice and it had taken him until the Equinox to actually track and kill his target. His encounter with myself had left a lasting impression and he thought me as fair as I had found him.  His original reason for being here was to chase after one of his kind who had stolen from their lord.  It was his job to bring him back or kill him.  He was one who stood high in their military command and because of his abilities he was chosen to be his lord's Hunter.”  I do not much like the concept of this as I have certainly, as far as I know,  not done anything to be kidnapped or murdered. Hilda laughs at my expression and continues “I do not think that Mr Red is sent to kill you but I can imagine that there are those in Alfheim that would like to have you in their power.”

“But why?”, I ask.

She sighs, “Your mother is a high born woman and very important to her mother.” 

“But John said that she came from another country,” my voice trails off.  Why can't people just tell me the truth.  I voice this, “Why can't people just tell me the truth”

“Because they are trying to protect you and then they are forgetting that you need to know certain things that will keep you safe, and possibly they do not have the ability to defend you, as you could them.  Your elder brother is a fine, young man and has good intentions but he does not have the same abilities as you do.  He is definitely his father's son and your father was exactly as he seemed, a kind, talented artist.  No more and no less”.

“Which must mean,” I say,  “that Red should have arrived similarly at the last Equinox and needs to leave at the coming Solstice, or else he is trapped here for a further three months.  So, I take it that  Red is also a Hunter and therefore someone highly trained in weaponry?”

“He would have to be as it could be a matter of his survival and also your own as there are many factions in Alfheim that would like to thrust a proverbial spanner in your grandmother's works.  She is reported to have made at least one enemy in high places and she deems herself untouchable because of her, let us say, sexual charms.  He would also need to be an adept to have created the geasa that he has used on you.  How strong he is I cannot tell as that is not my field of study.  I am a healer.  I can only recognise some things and offer my conjecture as to others.”

“But he seems so young, almost as if he is a similar age to myself, and there is a vulnerability about him.”

She shrugs, “Perhaps that is a good disguise on his part.  We have no way of telling, but his kind are very good at creating a glamorous image of themselves in the eyes of mortals.  Which,” she laughs, “could also apply to yourself.”

I have the grace to blush as I can remember a few hotties that I have reeled in during my short career.  Then it fully hits me, I am not totally human.  I knock back the entire glass of wine in one hit.  I then excuse myself briefly to go back to the kitchen and this time I bring the rest of the bottle with me.

“Okay”, I start again, “I am not totally human and I have family in a different reality that are some sort of nobles.  These or at least one of these, wanting me back there with them. Is that it in a nutshell?”

“I should think so”, she says

“But why?,” I continue. 

“To be honest I cannot answer that, but I do know it is where your mother went in search of your father.  She came to see me before she left and told me that it might take time to find a way to help your father and asked, if a time came when it was needed, that I reach out to her children and help them”

Maybe I need to ask Red why they want me in particular, because I cannot see a sensible enough reason, but then how could I ask him without placing myself in imminent danger.  There has to be a way.  What he did to me with that rose may not be as hard as it looks as he had little time to set it up, but then if he is an adept he might not need time.  It is a conundrum.

I pour another glass of wine.  “Okay, you said that you know my mother.”

Hilda nods.  “I knew her for many years as she was growing up and when she eloped with your father.  I think she sought out my council because I was human as was your father.  Your grandmother had brought him over to make her some panels for her hall and he was highly regarded for both his beautiful carving and also his musical instruments.  Your mother had a flair for the lute and I remember her showing me the one that he specially made for her.  They were such a beautiful couple and so deeply in love”

I laughed, “Yes they were so much in love.”

She continued,” Rose was the only child of your grandmother. Her father was a high noble who had a special talent not often found in the people.  There were hopes that Rose had

the same and would make a suitable ruler in time.  I do not know if she did or didn't inherit her father's ability or even what it was.  I was not part of their court and she only befriended me because I was like her lover, and knew some of his ways and customs.”  She paused, “In fact I might have met Red before now although the way he presents himself here is not what I would expect from one well placed in the standing of a noble.  The hair is rather an unusual affectation, although effective in attracting a young lady of earth's interest.”  She chuckled to herself but I did not ask what the joke was.  I took another sip of the wine and then stopped.  It would be better to think this through sober.  

I was silent for a while and Hilda did not interrupt my thoughts as she could see that I had taken in a a lot of information that needed to be sorted through and somehow filed into place in my head.  A sudden suspicion filtered through the morass and I had to ask her “How old are you?”

“How old do I seem?” she replied.

“I had you placed at about forty”, I said.

“Actually I am more about two hundred and forty”, was her answer to that and my jaw dropped.  I looked at her and she smiled back at me.  I breathed in and was about to say something else but my brain refused to connect with my vocal chords and I exhaled and shut my mouth.  An horrific thought struck me, “Aylsa, she is your niece,” I did not want to add on what I was thinking and I think she knew anyway what I was not asking her as she laughed and said “She is a many, many, great niece and one of the family that I had who was willing to take me back on just my word.  She had lost her mother to an illness some ten years back and I filled a gap for her.  The rest of the family were okay with my taking her on and I had enough money to purchase this house and for us to live comfortably.”

“Do you not regret not being closer to your sons”

“I see them, as and when they feel their sense of duty demands it,” she replied laughing.  “Sons are notorious for seeking their own way in the world.  A daughter might have kept me back largely because they would have needed me at important times in their life, but I had no daughter and Aylsa has been the best thing for me as she took my mind off my loss, as I hope I took hers off of her parents loss.”

I thought of my brothers and how they rarely made any reference to our parents which fitted with what she said.  After that initial first year we had somehow ceased to mention anything in relation to either of them, and maybe that was when I started to bond more with boys than the other girls at school, who still had mothers to confide in  and provide support for their developing emotions.