Winter Solstice Winter - Book I in the Viking Blood Saga

Today I will die.

  Ailia was back in her maredream and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

  She carefully peeled back the distressed linen curtain and glanced out the window. A black smoke trail followed the Surtorians, the Empress of Darkness’s agents. The smoke was a circle around the entire city, and as the monsters of men made their way toward the center, they would slay every man woman and child, and burn every longhouse until they found who they were looking for.

  “They’re almost here! You must leave! Leave now, with Freydis before they come!” Ailia yelled to her mother, Edna. “Oh, may the gods be merciful today!”

  Ailia wanted nothing more than to wake up, but she couldn’t tear herself out of the dream.

  Why is she after me? Ailia couldn’t remember.

  Dense smoke and flying ashes filled the spring sky and it smelled of burnt wood and flesh. The Empress had come on the one morning Ailia’s husband was gone. Did she plan it that way? Ailia wondered. What’s my husband’s name? Am I losing my mind? No, I’m just dreaming!

  “No, I will not leave you, not now, not ever. Do you understand?” Edna grabbed Ailia by the shoulders and shook her. “Freydis needs her mother, your husband needs his wife and I need my daughter.” Her swollen almond eyes searched for Ailia’s gaze. “Come with us. Please, my love, come with us. I beg you!”

  Ailia had never seen her mother so distraught. “It’s me the empress is after. If she has me, she’ll put an end to the Surtorians’ slaughter and thousands of lives will be spared.” She twisted out of her mother’s grip, pulled out the scroll she had been working on, and continued to write. The last time the empress had been on Ailia’s heels was three months ago and they needed to uproot again and relocate to Whiteheim so they could gain more time, but time to do what? Something didn’t seem right and the untimely loss of her memory petrified Ailia.

  Suddenly, a clamoring crowd rushed past their window, followed by a mob of Surtorians. Death would swallow her victims whole, whether or not those victims were ready for death.

  Ailia could stop the bloodshed if she surrendered, but first she must secure her mother’s and Freydis’ safety.

  She signed her name on the bottom of the scroll and rolled it up neatly. “Please, Mother. If the Surtorians find you and Freydis, they won’t hesitate to kill both of you as well as me.” Ailia was tired of running from the Empress of Darkness. Eiess haunted Ailia’s dreams at night and made each day a living maredream and she wouldn’t stop hunting her until she had killed Ailia. If she surrendered now, she could save many lives, and would still have one more life to use to outmaneuver and destroy the empress. If only we had better concealed my identity, she would never have known where to find me, Ailia lamented. “I know how afraid you must be, Mother, but please, for the sake of Freydis, leave now,” she said.

  The plea came too late. A Surtorian kicked in the door and stormed into the dim house, lifting his great sword high above his head.

  Freydis shrieked.

  “I knew I’d find you here,” he said, his voice rough and threatening, a grim smile appearing on the monster’s crusty lips. Bright red blood dripped from the greatsword’s massive blade—the blood of many innocent lives.

  Freydis ran over to her mother, hiding behind her skirt.

  “Come with me now and I’ll spare the life of the snot child and the old hag,” the Surtorian barked. He pushed over a table and chair, backing Ailia and Freydis up into the corner by the spinning wheel.

  Ailia could see that blood spotted his long, red beard as well. She looked at her mother and back at the Surtorian. His offer to spare Freydis and Edna was more than generous coming from a slayer who was trained to kill humans mercilessly. “Do I have your word?” she asked, staring him in the eyes.

  “Yes,” the Surtorian said. He lowered his sword and rested both hands on the hilt.

  I have no other choice but to believe him. Ailia hunched down and looked her daughter tenderly in the eyes. “You are brave, my love, so very brave. Remember, Mamma loves you. Be good for Bestmother,” she said, hoping the words would bring courage to her young daughter and herself. She stroked Freydis’s golden hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. There’s nothing more beautiful than the innocence of a child, she thought sadly. Ailia glanced at her mother and nodded.

  “Freydis, come here, my love. Let’s go into the other room and play,” Edna said, holding her arms open to receive the child. Tears ran down Edna’s cheeks.

  Freydis ran over to her bestmother and jumped into her arms.

  The moment was bittersweet. Bitter because Ailia wouldn’t live to raise her child, sweet because her child’s life had been spared. She stood up and nodded again to Edna, signaling for her to leave. “Please, please, don’t let her forget me,” Ailia said softly as tears flooded her eyes. Oh, the things I would do to have just a few more days with my family, with my husband.

  A cry escaped Edna’s lips and she turned to face her daughter again. “I’ll always speak of you so she will remember you. I’ll let her know who you were,” she said.

  “Enough! Before I change my mind!” the Surtorian yelled and rushed toward the women, his creaking black leather armor smelling of sweat and the sea.

  Freydis buried her head in her bestmother’s chest, and with the child clinging to her body, Edna disappeared into the back room.

  Ailia lifted the scroll out of her pocket and placed it next to the hearth before stepping forward to surrender.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” the Surtorian roared.

  “Leaving a letter for my husband. He’s not here today. Surely you can give me that courtesy?” Ailia held her arms out front so he could tie them. She tried to read the writing on the outside of the scroll. It must be my husband’s name, but I cannot read it.

  The Surtorian grabbed the scroll and crumpled it up in his leather-covered fist, throwing it toward the flames. Missing the flames, the scroll thumped heavily to the mud-packed floor instead. He seized Ailia and tied her arms behind her back before dragging her out into the summer sun. The smell of smoke flooded her nostrils.

  Several Surtorians gathered around Ailia. “Look who I found!” her captor yelled. “The woman our Empress calls ‘Light’!”

  Light? Ailia thought.

  The Surtorians closed in on her and tugged her from side to side, nearly ripping off her clothes.

  “Get back, fools! The Empress has instructed us to bring her back unharmed,” the Surtorian growled at the others. “Get back!” He lifted his great sword toward them and sliced through the air. They withdrew their filthy hands to keep them.

  A lure sounded from the main longship, beckoning all Surtorians to return to the ship. The lure’s deafening sound competed with the warning bells from the Whiteheim bell tower. Both worked in unison to instill fear into all the people of Whiteheim.

  “Can you swim, little fish?” The Surtorian grinned, nearly spitting in Ailia’s face. He pulled her along, kicking up the gravel from the road as he strode back toward Eiess’ longships.

  “Yes,” Ailia lied. She twisted around so she could see Freydis and her mother in the window. “I don’t know when I’ll return, but never lose hope that I’ll be back!” she called. “Mamma! Mamma!” Freydis cried. At least my child is safe now, Ailia thought. That’s all that matters.

  Unable to bear seeing her mother’s forlorn face or her daughter’s longing eyes, she turned back to face the fjord. Down at the docks, the empress was flying four crescent-moon embellished ensigns on her massive longship.

  “I doubt you’ll be able to swim for very long with weights tied to your feet,” the Surtorian said, jerking her forward.

  The other Surtorians roared with laughter, clanking and drumming their swords and shields together, as they marched in perfect rhythm to the beat of death—her death.

  They reached the port quickly. Ailia noticed a slough of seagulls squawking as they flew in circles above the longship. They seemed distu
rbed—or obsessed—plunging into the sea, disappearing in its depths as if drowning themselves. The splashing sound of the waves and the fragrance of the sea rode in on the shifting winds and the breeze excited the longship’s black sails.

  The Surtorian pushed Ailia onto the longship and led her below deck. There, in the dimness, a young woman sat on a black and gold throne, her intense green eyes fixed on Ailia.

  “Welcome. I am so glad I found you again,” Eiess said calmly. Her wavy, raven hair cascaded down her chest.

  Again? Ailia couldn’t remember ever meeting her. Her eyes almost look like they are glowing, she thought. The longship started to sway back and forth as it cast off from the pier.

  Rising to her feet, the empress strolled over to Ailia. “Today, Light, you will lose your life again, just like you did before.” She stood at arm’s length from Ailia now. “Do you remember the last time I drowned you? It was quite dramatic but fantastically rewarding for me.” She smiled.

  Unable to recall the incident, Ailia looked away.

  “You really do not remember, do you?” Eiess tilted her head back and let out a sigh. “How amusing.” She reached her hand forward and caressed Ailia’s auburn hair. “You must be afraid now that I am going to drown you again. That means you only have one more life to try and destroy me. One. Two. Three. That is all you were given. You have not done very well with the first two lives at all.” She stroked Ailia’s cheek with the back of her pastel hand.

  “No, I’m not afraid,” Ailia lied. She did fear drowning and death but not as much as she feared losing her husband or failing in her life’s purpose to kill Eiess.

  “Take care of her,” the Empress said to the Surtorian. “The sooner I can get rid of my problem and the sooner we can leave this wretched land, the better.”

  The Surtorian promptly pulled Ailia out onto the deck. The bright sun stung Ailia’s eyes and the feisty summer breeze gusted in her face. Uncontrollable fear surged through her body like a scream when she saw how far they had already sailed from port.

  The Empress came out from below deck. “I loathe the sun, but I will endure the light just so I can have the satisfaction of watching you die,” she said.

  “I will return!” Ailia screamed, her voice cracking. “I will come for you again!” Had not the Surtorian held onto her, the legs would have buckled beneath her.

  The Empress remained silent, but she needed no words to communicate the gratification that vibrated from her eyes.

  “Any last words?” the Surtorian asked. He locked a chain with weights around Ailia’s ankles and dragged her to the longship’s prow.

  “When I return, I will return with a vengeance and—” Ailia said.

  The Surtorian pushed her overboard.

  “—fulfill my life’s purpose in—” Ailia said just as she hit the water.

  * * *