Mortiswood: Kaelia Awakening (Mortiswood Tales) Read online

  * * *

  In her room, Kaelia stirred in her sleep. The bedcovers were rumpled, she had kicked the quilt to the bottom of the bed without waking. A smile creased her sleeping face and she turned onto her side, slipping a hand beneath the pillow underneath her head.

  It was night again. It was always night. Kaelia didn’t remember reaching Northdown Park but she was there. The sound of a car approaching from the road surrounding the park startled her. She hid behind the low wall that ran along the corner near the library building. The park had four sides, three of which were flanked by roads. She was in the bottom corner, furthest away from the only side that abutted domestic gardens.

  The car slowed as it neared the end of the wall. For a reason Kaelia couldn’t explain, she held her breath. It was not unusual for a car to slow there; at the end of the wall was the entrance to the small car park that housed several recycling containers. What was unusual, though, was if someone was recycling now, at midnight. The car’s headlights illuminated the concrete bollards denoting the edge of the car park from the grass, casting their shadows long onto the darkened grass. The three bollards in the middle stood out because they were newer than the others but still old.

  Kaelia pressed her back against the low wall and pulled her knees in closer. From what she reckoned, the car was in the exact same starting position as the one that had mown her father down years ago. The newer bollards were definitely replacements for the ones taken out when the killer car had launched at him.

  She held her breath as the present car’s engine revved several times. Sneakily, she crawled alongside the wall and risked peeking up, trying to see who was driving the car. Leaves rustled in the shrubbery on her side of the wall. She froze, trapped between the car and the approaching rustles.

  ‘This way,’ a familiar voice whispered.

  ‘Bay?’ Kaelia crept towards his voice.

  Bay poked his head around the mound of foliage and motioned for her to follow him. He held a finger to his lips. Kaelia crawled to him and scampered around the shrubs. Together, they kept low, and on bent legs with dipped heads and shoulders, ran around to the right of the library towards the corner of the building furthest from the car park. From the corner it was easy to slip under the cover of the nearest copse of trees.

  Crouched within the copse, Bay reached for Kaelia’s hands and pulled her to him. ‘You’re beautiful when you’re frightened.’ His hand was cool as he smoothed her hair from her eyes and kissed her.

  His lips tasted of the cold night air and a faint tang lingered on them, as if he had just eaten. ‘You don’t think I’m stupid?’ she asked. ‘Hiding from a car?’

  Bay shook his head and smiled lopsidedly. ‘Of course not.’

  The car revved its engine again. Kaelia and Bay shrank into the shadows and watched. Tyres scrunched over the loose grit covering the tarmac, the car pushed its nose forward until it mounted the edge of the grass and pressed its front grill against the bollards. Suddenly, the headlights flicked into full-beam, instantly illuminating the play area to Kaelia’s and Bay’s right.

  The play area was some distance from them but Kaelia crouched lower, pulling Bay with her. ‘Don’t you think that’s weird?’ she hissed to Bay.

  Bay made a small noise of agreement. The car revved, back and forth, its lights flickered on and off. Shadows moved across the play area. The lamppost on the pavement outside of the car park flickered; on, off, on, off, then extinguished completely. A small shadow, low to the ground, shot across the park. The car’s lights snapped back on, catching the shadow in its beams. A startled fox froze; its eyes reflected the glare of the headlights. The car’s light flicked off again and the animal darted back in the direction it had come.

  ‘Come on.’ Bay tugged on Kaelia’s hand. ‘I told you before it’s not safe here.’ He pulled her from the copse, away from the play area and the strange car.

  They ran, hidden by the trees until they hit the furthermost corner of the park and its secret, walled, garden. The gates to the garden were closed, locked for the night, and Bay paused in front of them.

  ‘Be careful who is watching, Kaelia.’ Bay’s eyes darted from behind her to the trees behind him. ‘They are always watching, waiting for a glimpse of you.’ His hand slipped from her grasp.

  ‘Who?’ Kaelia asked. ‘Who is always waiting for a glimpse of me?’

  Confusion etched Bay’s forehead. ‘Why, The Salloki of course.’

  Kaelia’s hands flew to her mouth. ‘How do know that name?’

  Bay’s eyebrows knitted together. ‘You’ve spoken of them.’ He jumped nervously, glancing over his shoulder.

  Kaelia pressed closer to him. A sudden gust of wind encircled them, lifting her hair and chilling her.

  ‘Run!’ Bay grabbed Kaelia’s hand again and dragged her into the natural, wooded area of the park. ‘They’re trying to find a way in!’

  Kaelia’s heart raced with the exertion. Fingers of branches clawed at her hair. Weeds caught her ankles and she wrenched her legs free. She turned, looking behind them. ‘A way into what?’ she panted. It was then she realised Bay’s hand was no longer in hers. He was no longer in front of her.

  ‘Bay!’ she screamed, tumbling onto the tarmac access that cut through this part of the park from the two, top car parks and led back onto the roads outside.

  Alone, she stood on the tarmac, trees all around her. An engine started up at the end of the access road. She held her breath. The screech of tyres prompted her into action and she fled into the trees. Her foot caught on an old, broken part of a stone pillar nestled between fallen leaves, and she fell, screaming Bay’s name.

  Kaelia’s own voice woke her. She had been calling out Bay’s name in her sleep. Kaelia wiped her forehead. It was damp with sweat. The bedcover was on the floor and she slipped her legs over the edge of the bed and retrieved it. A pain tightened her forehead. She had never told Bay about The Salloki. She hadn’t even known what they were called until after he plummeted into the sea. Her fingers were hot against her forehead as she rubbed it, trying to soothe the ache away. It was a dream and, of course, in that dream Bay would have known everything she knew. The whole thing was conjured up from her own imagination and memories, which was why each time she dreamed of him, they were together at Northdown Park. It had been their favourite place to meet.

  The memories saddened her. From their first meeting at the park as toddlers, through to pre-school age, to their last, stolen midnight rendezvous, they had always enjoyed each others company. Before this, before her mother disappeared, before Mortiswood Academy, before she found out who they are, spending time with Bay at Northdown Park had been her “safe place”. Now that was shattered. He was gone and she was, well, she wasn’t quite sure what she was. She was different. Bay wouldn’t even recognise her now. What would he think if he was still here and she told him she was The Chosen One? Would he laugh? Would he even believe her?

  She padded to the window, the pale morning light diffusing softly through the semi-sheer material of her camisole and short set. Her window gave views across the lawn surrounding the rear of Mortiswood Academy. The land rose in a gentle slope up to a hill in the near distance, outside of the protective bubble encasing the academy and its grounds. A spiky, bare tree stood dark on the hill against the rose-pink and powder-blue sky, coloured prettily by the rising sun.

  Kaelia shivered, although the morning was not cold, and wrapped her arms across her chest. For a crazy moment she thought a shadow moved across the skyline by the tree and the mere thought of it made her heart miss a beat.

  * * *

  Next door in the library, Calix put down the book he had been reading since the break of dawn. The library’s collection was extensive and stocked with books holding secrets he hadn’t even heard whispers of before. He switched off the lamp on the desk, daylight now being strong enough to read by, and reached for the second book in his to-be-read pile. Since arriving at Mortiswood Academy he had become somewhat
of a permanent fixture in the library and the other students had learnt to ask him for help in finding a particular book. Through the time spent reading, Calix had steadily built up his own book full of handmade notes on various potions, elixirs, and remedies.

  * * *

  Harriet opened the drawer of her dressing table, feeling around inside. Her fingers closed around cold, hard steel. The pearl handled knife had belonged to her mother, and her mother’s mother before that. Harriet carefully ran a finger along the blade, the edge still sharp even after all of this time. Symbols engraved on the blade were those of ancient Norse runes meaning strength, power, and truth.

  ‘You’ve left me no choice,’ Harriet told her reflection. The shadow clouding her left eye slowly flickered across to glaze her right eye also. ‘But you know that, don’t you? You see everything I do.’

  * * *

  Kaelia heard Calix’s screams through the wall, her feet barely touched the floor as she raced to the library.

  Calix stood behind a desk, his chest veiled with blood. His forearms glistened crimson, his mouth hung slack. Surprise masked his face porcelain white and his ice-blue eyes obtruded unblinkingly.

  Voices screamed inside Kaelia’s head: this isn’t happening, it can’t be, not the death of another loved one. ‘What happened?’

  Kaelia’s question nudged Calix from his state of shock. ‘She just came at me ...’ his voice trailed off, eyes chasing down to his feet.

  Kaelia followed his line of sight. She gasped, hands butterflying to her mouth. ‘Oh, Harriet!’ In her concern for Calix she had only focussed on his face and had missed the older woman slumped in a pool of blood at his feet, part hidden by the wooden desk. ‘Is she still alive?’

  Calix slipped to automatic physician mode and dropped to his knees. Carefully, he eased Harriet onto her side, feeling for a pulse on her neck. ‘She’s clinging on.’ His lips formed a bitter line. ‘I don’t think she will be for much longer.’

  Kaelia knelt next to him and gently moved his hands away. ‘I’ll have to work quickly,’ she replied grimly.

  Splaying her hands out, Kaelia held them over Harriet’s chest. Orange-red light pulsated from within her, pouring into Harriet. Kaelia kept the energy at a steady level, constantly checking Harriet’s bloodied face for a flicker of movement. Deep cuts crisscrossed the older woman’s face, a huge gash sliced from her forehead, across her left eye, leading diagonally to her lips. Another gash mirrored the first on the opposite side of her face. Along Harriet’s arms, blood oozed from symbolic markings and with the rejuvenating power flooding her body from Kaelia, they steadily began to heal.

  ‘What do the markings mean?’ Kaelia asked Calix.

  Calix, already leafing through the crackling pages of a musty book, found what he was looking for and carried the book over to Kaelia. Holding it in both hands his eyes skimmed the page, speed-reading. ‘I think she was trying to rid herself of a possessing spirit.’

  Beneath Kaelia’s healing light, Harriet groaned and tried to move.

  ‘Keep still,’ Kaelia said softly. ‘I’m not finished with you yet.’

  ‘Eyes,’ Harriet rasped.

  ‘They’re still wounded.’ Kaelia moved her hands over Harriet’s face. ‘Let me try it here, it may heal you quicker.’ Not wanting to hurt Harriet, Kaelia hovered her hands above Harriet’s face and moved them in clockwise motions, radiating orange-red light until the deep wounds closed.

  ‘Got it!’ Calix exclaimed excitedly, snapping the heavy book shut. ‘Harriet was exorcising a Draegarni.’

  Dizziness washed over Kaelia. Healing Harriet was proving to be an exhaustive task. ‘What’s a Draegarni?’

  ‘Evil,’ Harriet murmured, fidgeting under the light. ‘Sent by someone who knows the old ways.’

  The last of Harriet’s wounds healed, faint silver scar lines a reminder of her injuries. Kaelia’s hand trembled, her whole body ached from pushing herself so hard. She collapsed gratefully onto her back beside Harriet, all energy depleted. Her eyelids slid closed of their own accord. Right now, sleep would be bliss.

  Harriet cautiously sat up and touched Kaelia’s hand. ‘Thank you, my dear, you saved my life.’

  Kaelia managed an exhausted grin. ‘Tell me about the Draegarni.’

  Calix eased down beside Kaelia. ‘It’s a shadow creature summoned from Nastrond, the shore of the corpses in Hel’s realm, in Niflheim.’

  Kaelia’s ears pricked up, suddenly alert. ‘Where I have to travel once I’ve learnt how to handle my powers? I don’t think I want to if such terrors live there.’

  ‘Your grandmother’s spirit may be there,’ Calix reminded her.

  ‘Is that why you came here?’ Harriet frowned worriedly. ‘To train so you can venture into Hel’s realm? There are far more fearsome things than Draegarnae down there.’

  Kaelia nodded, not noticing a flash of fear flit across Calix’s face.

  Harriet, who did notice, pursed her lips. ‘You should have told me from the start. We must begin immediately, there is much more for you to learn. Now I know what the aim is, I can tailor your training specifically.’

  ‘The same as you did with Bran’s?’ Kaelia spoke before it even registered her mouth was moving.

  ‘You mean The Dark One, Bran the necromancer?’ Harriet’s shoulders stiffened.

  ‘The one and the same.’ Calix’s teeth hurt from the pressure he ground them together with. ‘We assumed he had been trained here.’

  ‘That man has never stepped foot inside the grounds of Mortiswood Academy.’ Harriet stiffened. ‘Nor will he. This academy has no place for the likes of him and his death-magic. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were the one behind the Draegarni’s appearance. He may look young and mysterious, Kaelia, but he has been around for centuries. I was told tales of the handsome necromancer when I was a young girl. He’s so powerful even The Salloki fear him.’

  Kaelia, not wanting to believe it, shook her head. ‘He’s showing me the way to Niflheim, he can’t be all bad. He would never send a creature to hurt anyone. It doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘It makes perfect sense.’ Anger reddened Calix’s neck, its heat flooding his face. ‘Draegarnae can be used to convey a message, can’t they?’

  Harriet nodded.

  ‘Did the Draegarni you exorcised give you a message, Harriet?’ Kaelia asked.

  Harriet wondered whether she should lie. ‘It told me to kill you, Calix.’

  ‘Me?’ Calix balked. ‘But why?’

  Harriet hauled herself to her feet and walked across to the window overlooking the grounds and distant hill with its spiked tree. ‘Whoever was controlling the Draegarni thought you’d stop Kaelia from fulfilling her destiny.’

  Calix rose also. ‘How?’

  Harriet shrugged. ‘I wasn’t privy to such thoughts.’

  Calix offered Kaelia his hand to help her up. ‘You know I never would, don’t you?’

  Kaelia nodded, her gaze wandering out of the window and up to the hill where a faint shadow moved around the imposing trunk of the spiked tree.

  * * *

  On the hill, underneath the bare branches of the spiked tree, Bran cursed at the shadowy creature trembling before him.

  ‘You failed me!’ he bellowed. ‘I should destroy you!’

  The shadowy creature raised its hands to where its face should be.

  Bran drew to his full six-foot-four-inches, shoulders pointed, and laughed. ‘But I won’t.’ He waved his hand at the trembling creature. ‘You may return to Nastrond but remember, no word of this to Hel herself.’

  With a puff of violet smoke, the shadowy creature screeched into the sky before plummeting towards the ground and shooting into the soil by Bran’s feet. Bran slipped his hands into the pockets of his overcoat and turned to face Mortiswood Academy. He may never be allowed access to it but he could still see it. Its castellated roof line taunted him; teeth of a laughing beast.

  ‘Resorted to Draegarnae?’ A clipped voice chuckled from
behind Bran.

  Bran snapped around. ‘Thom, save your breath, I haven’t changed my mind.’

  ‘Many years we have played this game. Many years you have turned our offer down but we will not abandon you. You are stubborn but we are patient.’ Thom, head and shoulders taller than Bran, looked down on him with fiery eyes. ‘I am not here to ask you to join us. What were you doing with a Draegarni? Creatures from Niflheim should not be used without our blessing.’

  Bran’s eyes narrowed, he raked a hand through his unruly, dark hair. ‘What I was doing with a Draegarni is none of your business.’

  Thom’s skin, an eerie blue pallor as if veins excessively laced beneath it, wrinkled with the derisive lift of his lip. ‘We, The Salloki, have a right to demand answers from you, Dark One.’

  Bran laughed. ‘No, you don’t. I answer to no-one but myself.’

  ‘For too long you have marched alone. You must be growing weary,’ Thom replied darkly. ‘You have the girl?’

  Bran stiffened. ‘She’s not a girl. She’s nineteen.’

  Thom’s hair, midnight black and scraped into a tight ponytail, reached to his waist and swayed with the dance of a snake perfectly in time with the timbre of his laughter. ‘What is nineteen years compared to our ages?’

  ‘Talk for yourself. I’m not even five hundred. How many centuries do you have under your belt now?’

  Thom’s breath was rancid, hot, against Bran’s face. ‘Do I detect emotion, Necromancer?’