The Vow (Lady Quill Chronicles, #2)

The Vow (Chapter Eight)

Chapter Eight

“Finan? Finan, wake up!”

The voice was insistent and held a timbre of amusement. Finan groaned and closed his eyes tighter, hoping that his tormentor would go away.

“I think we should dunk him in the river, what say you, Rafe?”

“I say that attempting to rouse your brother from slumber is a mark of your insanity, Evoric,” returned Rafe’s sleepy voice.

Evoric?

Finan’s eyes flew open and he found his brother leaning over him, his face in profile as he bickered good naturedly with Rafe. Built on sturdy lines as all the Gournay’s were, the sandy hair that characterised their family was replaced in Evoric by spun gold.

Finan stared up at his brother, the wave of joy that flooded through his veins making him dizzy.

“So you are awake are you?” Evoric grinned and shook his head. “On a beautiful day such as this, can you think of nothing better to do than laze in the sun?”

“You have a better idea, Evoric?” asked Rand.

“He could not, for this is the perfect way to spend a day,” murmured Leofric.

Finan sat upright and looked about him in confusion. It was not possible that he was laying on the bank of the river near Valrek. The summer sun warmed him and he was surrounded by his foster brothers, yet the four young men surrounding him were only striplings.

“Brother, you look as though you have been sneaking goblets of mead.” Evoric’s eyes narrowed, surveying him curiously. “Have you?”

Finan could only blink up at him wordlessly.

Evoric was dead.

Rafe, Leofric and Rand now fully grown men, no longer the youths staring at him in amusement.

“Faith, I believe he still dreams though his gaze is upon us,” laughed Evoric, waving a hand before his brother’s eyes. Finan caught hold of his brother’s wrist, hardly believing that he could feel flesh, bone and sinew beneath the warm skin of his brother’s hand.

Was it true?

Had he woke from some strange and horrible nightmare?

“Where is Lady Adele?”

Evoric’s brow creased in perplexity.

“Who is Lady Adele?”

“She is betrothed to Rafe”.

Laughter met this declaration.

“Your dreams are very strange, Finan.” Grinned Rafe, laying back in the grass, head propped up with one hand.

Heavens above but he was young, once again the gangly, lanky boy that Finan remembered so well. An air of mischievousness surrounded him, a playful recklessness and childlike innocence.

That innocence was no longer present in Rafe’s eyes, thought Finan sadly. He had lost it many years ago, along with the carefree ease of childhood. A small hand tugged on his sleeve and Finan looked down into the impossibly blue eyes of the child sitting next to him. Copper curls shone brightly in the sunlight and a smattering of freckles dusted the small boy’s cheeks and nose.

“Are you unwell, Finan?”

“A little confused, Fricka, that is all.”

Leofric’s expression eased and understanding entered his face.

“I also wake confused from my dreams.” He pulled his knees up resting both arms across them as he gazed up at Finan in solemn sympathy. “It will go away presently.”

“Yes, yes but what shall we do?” repeated Evoric.

Rafe groaned flopping onto his back, flinging an arm across his eyes.

“Your energy is repulsive, Evoric,” complained Rand. “We have only just finished training! Are we not allowed a little rest?”

“You would rest the day away!”

“We could swim,” offered Rafe diplomatically. “T’would be enough to settle Evoric’s impossible energy, yet passive enough for Rand’s laziness.”

Evoric clapped him on the back and gazed at him in wonder.

“A good idea! Who would have thought Rafe capable of such a thing?”

Rafe snorted indignantly and ploughed into his friend, sending them both sprawling. Finan smiled indulgently down at them as they mock wrestled on the grass. Rafe was taller, but Evoric broader and neither liked to concede defeat.

Rand and Leofric called encouragement and suggestions from the sidelines, until finally the two boys rolled over the edge of the riverbank into the river. With ear splitting yells, both tumbled into the icy water and disappeared under its placid surface.

Finan, Rand and Leofric stood at the river’s edge and laughed at their friends’ folly. Rafe surfaced spluttering and made his way to the bank, flopping onto the grass like a stranded fish.

Of Evoric there was no sign.

“Evoric?”

The softly flowing water continued its surface unbroken and Finan felt a cold sensation of fear knot his stomach.

“Evoric?”

“Who are you calling for, Finan?”

He turned to meet the bewildered stares of his foster brothers.

“Evoric! Where has he gone?”

The three boys exchanged a glance.

“Who is Evoric?” asked Rafe at last.

“He was here, just a moment ago.” Finan looked into each of the blank faces before him. “Surely you must remember! He fell in to the water with Rafe.”

Rand shook his head.

“There was no one but Rafe in the river, Finan.”

“He was… he was here… ”

With a frantic cry, Finan plunged forward into the water, heedless of the drag of his clothes. Something was wrong; the water was becoming more turbulent and far deeper than the river at Valrek. Finan struggled to keep afloat in water that seemed more like mud.

In the distance he heard his name being called and recognised Evoric’s voice. Relief flooded over him and he called back, feverishly trying to locate his brother in the heaving brown slime that surrounded them both.

He saw him at last, tantalisingly close, flailing his arms uselessly, Finan could see the acute fear etched into his features.

“I am coming, Evoric!”

Even as he screamed the words, Evoric disappeared beneath a rolling brown wave and surfaced choking. It seemed to take hours to reach him, every time he inched a little nearer, Evoric would be drawn away by the swirl and eddy of the rough waters.

Finan could see that his brother was tiring, his eyes had glazed over and he no longer fought to stay afloat. Finan roared his name, reaching for him desperately and managed to catch hold of one cold limp hand. Evoric’s glassy eyes fixed on his lifelessly.

“Save me, Finan,” he begged.

The waters heaved around them, trying to pull them apart. Finan clung on grimly but Evoric’s hand began to slip.

“Hold on, Evoric! You have to help me!”

Evoric’s expression remained fixed almost as though he were already dead, and then his hand slipped from Finan’s and he slipped beneath the muddy waters.