A Court of Heritance and Destiny

Chapter 2 Freya

She remembered the figure in her dreams, the blinding light, the outstretched hand. But this time something was different.

No sky above them, no clouds below them. Just her and the figure in a void of nothing. The shadows behind the figure started to glow as if they were made of light. Freya reached the hand, and this time her finger touched it, the warmth flooded her body, landing in her stomach slowly turning from warming to painful.

She might have heard a voice, words, as the dream faded away, but all she could focus on was that pain.

___

It was light outside, late morning. Freya sat up, a shadow from the dream lingerd in her body. Like a cold hand gripping along her spine. She tried to stretch it out, or just ignore it, but it stayed. She had seen that figure so many times over, that bright light...

Dressed in one of her many robes she sat down at her desk and brought forth her diaries. They had grown over the years, and now she had one for each year she had written in them. Simple dark leather bindings, the oldest ones had pages that had started to turn yellow at the edges. It had been a while now since her last dream, they came in clusters, multiple nights in a row before disappearing.

With a steady hand she wrote down what she could remember, filling the page with every word that might give a correct description of the dream. The pages became so cluttered fast. With a heavy sigh she got back up, noting that it was time for lunch and no one had come by her room.

Strange. Dorothea was usually in her room by daylight, asking to inspect her. Not today apparently. Freya shrugged and started to change, going first for a high waisted skirt and a blouse. But when she closed the skirt that strange feeling came back ten fold, she dropped the skirt and just gasped at the strange pressure in her stomach.

"Amazing..." She rolled her eyes, throwing the clothes in a pile on the floor, "One more thing." The dinner from yesterday might have been devine, but apparently her sick stupid body didn't like it. She held back the wish to curse Fate and The Mother. But this might just have been a stupid thing of her own making. So she thanked them for making Dorotera pass up on her inspection today.

Her choice of dress worked better, deep purple, a loose form, long sleeves, nothing that constricted her movements or enhanced the small aches that started to flare up over her back. It was different from the pain that came with the fever.

Walking down she could not help but fight the growing pain in her back, now this must be a punishment from the night before? Right? She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths before walking into the dining hall, half expecting it to be filled with food. But no. Breakfast was long gone, and lunch a few hours away.

Freya cursed her own stupidity again, and walked back up to her room. Tired, hungry, frustrated, irritated. She could list up words to describe her feelings for hours, not that it helped her. The whole castle was quiet, not a sound, not even the autumn wind from outside made a sound. Freya stopped midstep, maybe it was better to find someone before she walked to her room. Not that she had many places to look.

She walked slowly down the stairs again and out to her part of the garden. Another cycle of the roses blooming, now the red petals mixed with the stones and the bushes was left with wittering brown nubs in the green landscape.

Freya sat down on her bench, trying to hear someone on the other side of the bushes, but silence still ruled around her.

Where is everyone? She tried to get up, but her hurting back stopped her, with a silent gasp she bent over, blinking away tears. Mother... What is this? She asked, trying to look up at the sky. She got up with the help of a branch from the bush, but fell back down on the gravel, the sound deafening in the silence around her.