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writingonjorvik · 6 years

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The B Team Druids - Chapter 4 - The Storm

There was a series of hills behind Moorland’s riding ring. A few jumps had been set up years ago, though only the championship really utilized the sharp bends. Moorland was more of a training stable than a competitive one from what Carrie had gathered, so a very difficult competition wouldn’t have been helpful for most of the boarders. Or used. As such, this portion of the Moorland ground was in some weedy disrepair and and not often watched.

Ash snorted nervously as Carrie held onto the mare’s bridle as well as Justin’s horse in her other hand. The gelding paced the ground, watching Justin walking down the beach just as intently as Carrie was.

Waiting at the dock was a massive barge, Sabine waiting on the boat with her own horse and a group of shady looking men loading the boat up. She and Justin spoke for a moment before he climbed onto the flatbed of the ship. Carrie wondered why they needed to travel by such a big ship and not just take a little sailboat, but she guessed Sabine probably couldn’t get her horse on a sailboat.

The waves crashed on the hard metal sides. Shouts came from on deck and the docks. A nervous feeling shot through Carrie’s spine, something telling her to stop this. She shook her head, pushing out that voice. Passing both bridles to one hand, Carrie pulled out her phone. “All good?” she texted to Justin.

From where she was standing she could see Justin reaching for his phone. A moment later a buzz came from her palm. “So far.”

As the boat pulled out of the dock, Justin’s horse started pacing hard, drawing up his front legs. Carrie had to let go of Ash to calm the gelding, wrapping her arm around him to comfort him. “Hey, woah, hey. It’s ok, Seasalt. He’s ok.”

Beside her, Ash snorted in contempt. Carrie glared. “Thanks for the support.”

Despite Ash’s protests, Seasalt did relax as the barge started to pull off from the docks. When the horse finally seemed calm, Carrie climbed up into Ash’s saddle. From her perch atop the pony, she could see Justin waving back at her. Carrie raised her hand to wave back, sending him as good a send off as she could manage from her hiding place.

It was supposed to be a secret. As nervous as it made Justin to go alone in the first place, he knew if anyone else found out he was leaving, his father would step in, and the opportunity would be shut off from him entirely. Carrie was going to take Seasalt to Steve’s tonight and let the horse there until Justin got back. If anyone asked around, she’d pretend she didn’t know.

Or that was their plan. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep up ignorance about Justin’s location for long. She wasn’t much of a liar.

Just as Carrie was about to start pulling Seasalt away, the air went tense. An electric pulse spread out like a heavy blanket, pressing down like a fog. Carrie twisted around in her saddle, expecting to see Saoirse coming out of nowhere. Instead she saw a blonde sorrel, stocky horse racing down the trail from Nilmer’s Highlands, not Saoirse’s chestnut Icelandic. Sparks were trailing off behind the horse as the rider wheeled the two towards the beaches.

Not far behind came a second rider, though before Carrie could pick out their features, Seasalt yanked himself free of Carrie’s grasp. The reins cut across Carrie’s palm as the gelding yanked himself free, breaking into a panicky race for the beach. Her palm went a hard red, lucky to not have been cut.

With Seasalt sprinting for the beach, and two mystery riders closing in from the other side, Carrie didn’t know what to do. She urged Ash into a gallop to rush after Seasalt, and the mare gladly responded, climbing up through the gaits. Ash nearly vaulted herself off the side of the cliff as Carrie leaned into the turn towards the beach and rounded them off the hill.

No matter how fast Ash could have gone though, she couldn’t have caught up with Seasalt, who cleared the gap between the dock and the barge with ease. The gelding trotted towards-- Sabine? Carrie slowly, watching Justin waving, practically ignoring Seasalt’s presence. The gelding went very stiff by Sabine’s horse, almost frozen.

Ash also couldn’t have caught up on the blonde sorrel and their rider. The rider pulled her horse to a stop at the edge of the grass, her grey beanie and dirty blonde hair jostled by the sea breeze.

The tension died in the air, fizzling out as the rider stopped. Almost defeated. It just faded as the rider watched the barge sailing away, as if the attempt would be pointless. Carrie could hear the other rider approaching, not nearly as fast as this one had approached, but still quickly. She should probably have run, but the rider-- She knew them. How did she know them?

That beanie, like something out of a dream, something she knew out of a dream. You can’t dream a face you’ve never seen though, Carrie thought to herself, watching the back of the rider’s head.

As Carrie waited there, she watched the rider start to turn her head. They nearly made eye contact before the rider looked away. The other rider had caught up. Carrie turned away, wanting to watch Justin sail off, but unable to draw herself to look at the riders on the edge of the beach now blocking the view. So instead, Carrie fell into the trail of the championship, just another idle rider out practicing for a race. The eyes found somewhere else to look.

Rounding the bend of the stable walls, Carrie pulled Ash to a halt. The world went shaky around her, her sight going blurry. What had happened? Seasalt was a casual riding horse, one of the gentlest at the stables. For him to just bolt like that... And how he had gone stockstill once he was on the barge, that wasn’t normal.

Carrie pulled out her phone. “Sorry, he got lose.”

Nothing. Carrie’s hand hovered over the keypad for a minute, waiting for a response. “Seasalt ok?”

Still nothing.

“Are you ok?”

After minutes of silence, Carrie forced herself to believe that there was no reception out in the bay. She shoved her phone back in her bag and kicked Ash on, riding past the stables gates and on up the hill towards Steve’s farm. Even without Seasalt, her mind just broke into auto-pilot about how this afternoon should have gone.

What had happened back there? Who was Sabine, and what did she do to Seasalt? Possibly to Justin? Who were those riders? What did they have to do with any of this? What was that tension in the air? It had felt like the day with Raven and Saoirse, but stronger. So much stronger than whatever Saoirse has done, yet there were no clouds.

“I’m actually losing it,” Carrie murmured, bringing herself to. She looked around, noticing the local smithy down the hill. Justin had said Conrad believed in this Keepers of Aideen faith. Maybe she couldn’t get answers about what had happened on the beach, but maybe she could get some answers on why that name kept ringing in her mind. Even old timey religions were sounding more normal than processing whatever had just happened. And talking to someone was easier than working through what had just happened in front of her.

Leaving Ash at the edge of the small working area, Carrie walked towards the open air tables where she saw Conrad working on refining the details on metal ornament. When Carrie got close enough, the older man looked up. “Afternoon. You’re one of the hands over at Thomas’s, correct?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Carrie replied. “I’ve been over a few times to get some of Jenna’s orders. I’m Carrie.”

“Carrie,” Conrad repeated, nodding. “Sorry, not one for names.”

“Don’t...don’t worry about it,” Carrie said, trying to smile. It was so fake though, she wondered how Conrad didn’t notice.

Conrad returned to his ornament. “I don’t have anything for Thomas right now.”

“Actually I wanted to see if I could ask you about something,” Carrie replied, taking a step closer. “Um, I heard you, um, believed in this local religion. I’ve never heard of, and if you didn’t mind, I wanted to see if you would mind telling me a little about it.”

The blacksmith gave Carrie a sideways glance as he continued with his work. “The Keepers? Sure. What do you want to know?”

“Who is Aideen, I guess is the best start? And what are these Signs?” Carrie inquired, stepping even closer. Conrad looked up at her again, and Carrie stepped back. “Sorry, I don’t want to pry.”

“You’re fine, most of the time when people are eager to learn about the Keepers though they visit Valedale, or Dundall,” Conrad answered. “Aideen is the goddess of Jorvik. She created this island, blessed it with life and horses. Most people who believe in Aideen don’t believe in the Keepers though. The Keepers protect Aideen’s holy relics, or those that aren’t on display in the capitol. Suppose they’re like monks.”

“And the Signs?” Carrie repeated.

“I don’t know about Signs, not for the Keepers at least, but I know they have Circles based on the blessings Aideen gives to her chosen. Say everyone is blessed to be part of one of those Circles, so I suppose that’s their Signs,” Conrad said, raising up his work to study it. “I’ve dabbled in their Moon Circle, the Circle of scholars and craft. But I’m not nearly as active as I used to be. Not old enough for it anymore.” He laughed, setting down the curled piece of metal. “Besides, Aideen tends to bless young ladies. Really learning their magic would have meant I spent my whole life studying it, and I’ve always known this was my craft. A few tomes in the library was enough to satisfy me, but I’m no druid.”

“What about the other Circles, what are they about?”

“Star is the Circle of healers and muses,” Conrad stated, picking up another hammer from his bench. As he started tapping out a few more details, he continued, “I believe Sun is the Circle of spies and travel. Lightning is the Circle of warriors and runes. Might have a few of those mixed up.”

“And Aideen? She doesn’t have a Circle?” Carrie inquired.

Conrad paused for a moment and then laughed. “No, suppose she doesn’t. Of course, no one has ever been blessed by Aideen’s Sign, the Light. I guess if they were, then they’d be able to tap into any of the other Circles of magic. Or dreams. I think Aideen had a thing for dreams, but I’m not a true druid for a reason. You’d have to visit the heads of the order over in Valedale to answer those questions.”

Carrie ran back through everything Conrad had told her. She had expected something to snap into place, like all of the other sudden things that had happened to her. But nothing. That same uneasy feeling sat there about the Keepers, this same curiosity about who they were and what they did. Sure, the symbols she had been seeing had meaning, and she knew a goddess’s name, but no magical ephianany.

“Thank you, Conrad,” Carrie finally said. “I appreciate it. That’s really interesting. It’s not like any other religions I’ve heard of.”

“Sure,” Conrad answered, his attention still on his work. The blacksmith stood up, picking up an unworked bar of metal and a hammer. “Though I don’t know if Aideen can help with colds. I think you might need a better diet for that.”

“Wh-what?”

Conrad laid the ingot of iron over his fire. “You’re looking awful pale. I hope you’re eating right. Hate for a cold to go around the stables.”

Carrie reached up and pressed a hand to her check, as if it would tell her the color of her skin. “I, uh-- That’s not why-- I was just curious in general. Thank you, sir. Have a good day.” She attempted something cheery in her voice, but the cadence failed her as she walked over to where Ash was waiting.

The sound of hammer on metal returned as Carrie climbed onto Ash’s back. She pulled the two of them away from Conrad’s before breaking into thought, her hand occasionally reaching for her cheek to check and see if warmth had returned to them. She looked pale, apparently. Enough to comment on.

Was it any surprise though she looked pale as a sheet? Her afternoon, spent between...whatever it was she and Justin had spent the afternoon doing, only to be following by him maybe being captured. Then some strangers showing up, one emitting something like Saoirse had. And all Carrie could think to do was wander over to the local blacksmith to ask question about some dumb religion that didn’t solve anything important. Why hadn’t she just spoken to those people? What was she stuck in the middle of here? Why couldn’t this move have just been a move?

Dropping the reins, Carrie ran her hands over her face. She was done with this. Sure, yeah, alright, life was weird. And Jorvik wanted to be a step above weird. Cool. But there was a line that reality was crossing, and Carrie did not plan on getting dragged over it.

“Ash, has it always been this nuts here?” Carrie asked, leaning forward in the saddle as she collected herself. The mare tossed her head, and Carrie sighed. “I’m asking my horse for answers now.”

As the two climbed to the top of the hill, Carrie could see Steve’s farm on the horizon in front of her. Craning her head back, she could see Silverglade Castle beside her, towering up into the clouds on its perch within the hills. Its grey stone walls were supposed to be Carrie’s landmark for directions. Without Seasalt though, the farm ahead of her seemed pointless to visit.

Her gaze drifting off to the mountains further on, Carrie considered running away. There had to be somewhere else she could start over on this island. It’s not like she would be leaving much behind here. And no one really knew her well enough. Running away from Moorland seemed to be a theme for her position.

No, that was nuts. She didn’t own Ash, for starters. Not to mention she wouldn’t be able to use this past month or so at Moorland on a resume. What would she eat, with no money? Or where would she live? Just break into someone’s house and start living there? She wasn’t a criminal.

Right? The thing with Justin didn’t make her a criminal, right? She hadn’t kidnapped him. But she might be considered an accomplice. God, those people riding up hadn’t been the police, had they? She should have just called the police when Sabine showed up. Something had been screwy from the start of the whole thing, and she should have been the smart friend and talked Justin out of going. Should have been.

Carrie let out a long drawn breath as Ash continued trotting on towards Steve’s. Should have beens weren’t going to get her anywhere. It had been done, and now Justin was off to the Dark Core oil rig. All she could do now was try to make things right. That meant going to talk to Thomas first. He ought to know where his son was and why he had gone. Surely Thomas would be able to do something about this? It was his son after all. Laws...existed, right?

“Come on, Ash, let’s go back,” Carrie murmured, pulling on the reins to turn Ash around.

Ash stopped.

Just stopped in place, in the middle of the road. When Carrie tugged around, the mare turned her head to look at Carrie before looking back at the road. Carrie pressed a little harder on Ash’s sides, urging the horse to move forward, but Ash ignored all instructions. Instead, the pony turned and started trotting east. Carrie tugged on the reins one more time before she realized Ash just wasn’t going to listen, and let her arms go slack by her sides.

As Ash carted Carrie off between rigged hills and wheat fields, Carrie tried to pretend for anyone who might possible look their way she wasn’t out of control of this little ride. One look at Ash though would have said otherwise, and Carrie wasn’t exactly keeping herself composed in this situation with her nervous looks around. Fortunately for Carrie though the only eyes in the area belonged to birds and rodents. That didn’t stop her from trying, after least for the first ten or so minutes. Then Carrie’s attention drifted to the landscape, which, despite the situation, really was beautiful.

Sunset was fast approaching when Ash stopped an hour later. Carrie had been studying the tree line of the Hollow Woods for so long she forgot to watch where Ash was going. But as the mare pulled them down a path between hills, Carrie was forced to look forward.

In front of them now was a mound. The same mound Carrie had stared into a week before, had almost died looking at. Now it was only feet in front of her.

Carrie pulled back on the reins. “Oh, no. No, no, no. Not a chance.”

Ash snorted, shaking herself before kneeling down on her front legs. As the pony dropped her back legs, Carrie rolled out of the saddle. “Oh, come on.” Carrie tried to push on the mare, but Ash spread out across the path, fully splayed out as she laid down on her side. Ash closed her eyes, her breathing slowing slightly as the horse attempted to sleep.

“Not here, Ash,” Carrie pleaded, dropping down to her knees. When the horse didn’t budge, Carrie sighed. “Really?”

Looking down the path, Carrie tried to look in the maw that had almost consumed her before. She could see maybe two feet instead the dark cavern. Did Ash want her to go in there? Forget that.

“Fine, I’m walking,” Carrie said, standing up. Ash didn’t move. “All the way back to Moorland. Whenever you want to stop napping, you can come too.” She started walking up the hill, expecting to hear Ash following behind. Nothing. No sound of the mare’s tack move as she pushed to stand up, no spiteful snort. When Carrie looked over her shoulder she found Ash in the exact same place, still sleeping.

“Ash, come on.” Carrie headed back to the mare’s side, jostling her lightly on the neck. “Come on, wake up.” When the horse didn’t move, Carrie stood up. This was dumb. This wasn’t how the afternoon was supposed to go. Now her horse wasn’t even listening to her.

Carrie balled her fists. Couldn’t something just go right for once? Couldn’t she just live here in peace? Why was everything working against her and a normal life here? “Ash, wake up.”

The mare didn’t budge. Carrie rocked her head back, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe this. Didn’t want to believe this. Any of this. That Justin might have been kidnapped, that her horse wasn’t listening to her, that there was some kind of magic cult running around the country. Why was she the one getting thrown into this nonsense? Why not that crazy stable hand who had run off with the Keepers anyway? Throw them this nuts life, not her.

“Wake up!” Carrie roared, throwing her fists back as she shouted.

The earth trembled. Ash perked her head up at that, Carrie frozen where she stood beside the mare. A wave of light rushed forward from the maw of the mound. Carrie threw up her arms in front of her, but the wave crashed over her, throwing her back. She felt herself falling backwards, and not falling at all.

Carrie opened her eyes. A misty, twinkling haze hung in the air, the sky turned from peach to gold. Birds flew by, a haze around them, like something else glowing instead was fighting to get out.

After following one of those birds for a moment through skeptical eyes, Carrie rubbed her face and slapped her checks. Some kind of dream. Maybe this was all a dream. Today hadn’t happened at all. It was just some crazy nightmare she’d cooked up from exhaustion. Weird kidnappings, crazy religions, magic, lack of control over basic parts of life. All added up.

Something pressed against her shoulder. Carrie turned to see Ash, or see through Ash. The mare snorted, flicking her tail as if nothing was wrong, but Carrie felt her stomach turn inside out as she looked at the road through Ash’s torso.

Her hands reached for her face, panicking as she expected them to phase through. They didn’t. Carrie let out a sigh of relief. Her chest went tight again when she saw the bodies on the ground. Her own form was crumbled on the ground over Ash’s. Carrie had seen this before though, yet looking at herself this time didn’t do anything, didn’t wake her up. Bending over, Carrie pressed a hand over her own chest, or her body’s chest. Slow steady beats pumped through her. Not dead. Sleeping. Hopefully sleeping.

Ash pressed into Carrie’s side as she stood back up, her breathing uneasy from the novelty of this experience. As the horse’s body pressed into hers, Carrie smiled and threw her arm over the small between Ash’s shoulders and neck. The mare nuzzled her nose into Carrie’s other hand. Carrie managed a breath of a laugh, leaning forward to rest her forehead on Ash’s. Stubborn but sweet company.

After a moment, Ash pulled her head back. She began bouncing it in the direction of the mound. Carrie turned towards the maw. It was a little brighter, bright enough that Carrie could see how deep it was. Or how deep this chamber was. There was a wall on the other side.

“I guess we’re going in there?” Carrie asked, turned towards Ash. Ash faced Carrie for a moment, before she pulled away, trotting up toward the mound. Carrie pulled her arm free of the pony before chasing after her.

Even though Ash seemed set on following her own directions, Carrie held onto the mare’s reins as they walked into the maw. The floor was oddly metallic. There was some kind of silvery ore streaked through the rocks, a faint glisten peeking through the haze on the world. It rang differently when Ash walked over it, a kind of eerie echo bouncing off with the clop. Whether that was because of the out of body experience or the metal itself, Carrie didn’t know.

At the far end of the room was a stone wall. If it hadn’t been for the haze and they had wandered into the normal darkness of this mound, Carrie wouldn’t have been able to tell anything else about this wall. As it was though, Carrie could see the faintest outline cut into the stone wall. A boulder put into place here. A door further into a tomb. The jagged lightning bolt Carrie had seen in the rafters was etched into the stone, much larger and deeper than the little carving in the wood.

Letting go of Ash, Carrie stepped up to the etched out door. As she drew nearer, Carrie became more aware of something humming through this place. It pushed through her, through the world, full of life and wonder and power.

Taking a deep breath, Carrie looked up at the lightning bolt etching. “Fine.” This place wasn’t going to give up. It was going to drag her along whether she came willingly or not. It had called her here, it had opened the way to bring her here, and it was doing everything it could to push her on now to some kind of fate.

Carrie was done being dragged along in other people’s plans. She was done avoiding the answers that terrified her. She had answered that call to come here. She had brought herself here, knowing deep down it would never be normal. If Jorvik and fate were going to pull her along into some path, she was going to face it head first. Bring on the crazy, on the ancient cults and their goddess, on the horses and the girls with powers and the magic. All of her own magic.

And she had questions she wanted answers to now.

Putting both hands on the stone, Carrie felt magic coursing up to her fingertips. She could hear it, feel it, whispering to her, “Bring us the Warrior. Bring us the Champion. You are not the Storm. We will not part for any other mortal.”

Their voices hissed, crackled against Carrie’s skin. She wasn’t waiting for anyone else to open this door. Whatever it was lurking in here had nearly gotten her killed drawing her in before. It had knocked her out of her body twice, when she got close enough to it. She wasn’t backing down now. It needed to explain itself and what it wanted with her.

“Open,” Carrie hissed back, pushing against the stone and its magic.

And fell through.

#sso #star stable #star stable online #woj writing #the b team druids

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