Arric

We traveled through a narrow pathway which led to the side of the castle.

“This is the private staff entrance,” Alasdair explained, placing his hand on the security panel to the side of the door. The panel chimed twice, glowed green, and the door opened automatically. “The house is very old, but the security system is state of the art,” he said, motioning me inside to a small reception area.

An attractive young woman with jet black hair and bright green eyes sat behind an ornate antique desk. She was dressed in black military-style fatigues and looked to be in her mid-twenties.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Ryan,” she said in a formal, but friendly tone. “Haven’t the games started?”

“Yes, Sergeant, but I have a matter to discuss with this gentleman that requires my immediate attention,” Alasdair replied.

The sergeant nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“We also need privacy. Is the library free?”

“Let me check, sir,” she said, pulling up what looked like a live video feed on her tablet. “All clear, sir.”

“Good. Thank you, Sergeant Lennox,” Alasdair said, before turning to me. “Follow me, stay close, and don’t talk to anyone.”

“What the hell is all this?” I asked.

“This is one of two secured waiting areas in which all guests and staff enter and exit the residence. The other is at the main entrance, but I thought it best if we came in this way,” Alasdair said, motioning me toward the only other door in the room. “Security is always tight this time of year, as the games attract all manner of guests.”

“Hold on,” I said, stopping. “How do I know you’re not taking me down to some sort of sex dungeon or something.”

A giggle escaped from the young sergeant, drawing the ire of her boss.

“Composure,” Alasdair barked, and she stowed her smile.

He turned back to me. “Mr. Mann, I can assure you, we merely want to talk.”

“Now you sound less like a sex trafficker and more like a cop,” I accused, still trying to decide if I should follow him further or make one last attempt at bolting.

Sergeant Lennox laughed again causing Alasdair to blow his top.

“Ég varaði þig við, liðþjálfi,” he said sternly.

The young sergeant stood at full attention. “Herra, ég biðst afsökunar. Ég veit ekki hvað kom yfir mig,” she replied, her face, set to a steely gaze.

“Kannski geturðu komist að því þegar þú ert í sex vikna næturvörslu,” Alasdair replied, this time eliciting a reaction from me.

“Six weeks? All she did was snicker, man,” I said.

Alasdair’s head snapped to me. “What did you just say?”

“I said, six weeks of night watch is a bit hefty for an involuntary laugh over what wasn’t entirely a joke,” I replied.

“How the hell do you speak Icelandic?”

“I don’t,” I replied.

“I would strongly advise you not to play games with me, Mr. Mann.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say. I don’t speak Icelandic, but I understood whatever it was you just said to her.” I pointed to Sergeant Lennox.

“That’s it. I’ve had enough of this,” Alasdair snapped. “You’re coming with me and you’re gonna tell me exactly who the hell you are.”

He grabbed me by the arm, reminding me of his freakish strength. I was also aware that I felt weaker than I had earlier. I opened my mouth to protest, but suddenly losing the will to speak before I could utter a sound.

Alasdair led me through the exit and into the main residence. As he sped us through the house’s grand halls, I was overwhelmed by the place. Everywhere my eyes turned brought on strange thoughts, almost like memories, although I’d never been here before. The walls were lined with massive oil paintings of people I’d never heard of or seen, but whose names I somehow knew. I was suffering from what felt like a prolonged episode of déjà vu.

We reached the library and my jaw just about hit the floor as Alasdair led us inside the massive space. The room was three stories high and was lined, floor to ceiling, with bookshelves. In the center of the room was a lighted display stand and on that stand was a full suit of armor and a broad sword.

“If I let you go, do you give me your word you’re not going to do anything stupid?” Alasdair asked.

I nodded, but he could see I was more focused on the armor than his words.

“That armor once belonged to a great warrior. It’s incredibly old,” he said in a reverent, almost hushed tone.

“It’s magnificent,” I said, moving in for a closer look.

“Please don’t touch anything,” Alasdair said, sounding like an uptight museum guard.

I raised both hands, giving him the universal ‘hands off’ sign.

“If it’s old, it’s gotta be valuable, huh?” I asked.

Alasdair nodded. “Immeasurably.”

“Then why keep it out in the open like this? Shouldn’t it be locked up somewhere?”

“I look forward to the day anyone tries to take anything from this house,” he said in a way that sounded more like a welcomed challenge than false bravado.

“I’ve never been in a place like this before,” I said, scanning my surroundings.

“A library?” Alasdair mocked.

“A castle,” I replied, ignoring his wisecrack. “What’s the deal with this place anyway?”

“How about I ask the questions for a while?”

“Just one more, I promise,” I said, and after he gave me a nod of acquiescence, I raised an eyebrow and asked, “Are you capable of not being an asshole?”

“You act as if you know nothing about Castle Gunnach, or Kade Gunnach himself, for that matter and yet, here you are, registered to compete in our games under a false name. What am I to make of that Mr. Mann? Or is it Johnson?”

“You interrogate all of the competitors like this?”

“Only the ones who glow.”

“I told you before, I have no idea what that was about. I came here to compete. That’s it. My life was perfectly ordinary and uneventful until I crossed paths with you people.”

Alasdair’s phone buzzed. “Perhaps we should talk a little about how you came to Scotland,” he said, looking down at the screen.

“What about it?” I asked.

“I’ve had my team check and you didn’t arrive on a commercial flight.”

I shrugged. “So what?”

“You came over as part of a flight crew on a refrigerated cargo plane,” he said, still looking at his phone.

“A guy I know back home hooked me up with the gig,” I said.

“Hooked you up?”

“I needed a plane ticket, and he needed his water tank repaired. I’m the best welder in Port Thunder, and he has a brother who assigns flight crews for Chilly Freight. It just kind of worked out for both of us.”

“Why were you traveling under a false name with a forged passport?”

“How the hell did you—”

“Believe me when I tell you that I have every possible resource available to me. By the end of the day, I’m going to know everything there is to know about you. Whoever you are.”

“I already told you who I am.”

“Why a refrigerated cargo plane?”

“What? Why not?” I asked, utterly confused by his question.

“Do you do a lot of work in the cold?”

“I live in Alaska, pal. What do you think?”

“So, the cold doesn’t bother you?”

“I prefer it, actually. It’s how I get a lot of my work back home. The winter weather just doesn’t seem to affect me as much as some guys.”

Alasdair’s phone buzzed again.

“Excuse me,” he said. “I need to take this. Stay put and we’ll continue this little chat.”

“I can’t wait,” I deadpanned.

Alasdair took his phone call to the other end of the library for some privacy but at one point I clearly heard him say, “Yes, your majesty.”

While waiting for him to finish up, I took another look at the ancient armor and sword at the center of the room. Now closer to the display, I could see a small chip on one side of the sword’s blade, and the more I looked at it, the deeper my focus was set on it. I couldn’t turn away. My only thought was that sword. Finally, like a moth drawn to a flame, my hand reached for it.

I couldn’t stop myself.

The moment my fingers touched the steel, the walls of the library disappeared, and I was alone in the middle of a snow-covered field. The sword was in my right hand and I was walking through waist-deep snow toward what looked like a camp of soldiers. I could hear horses and voices in the distance and could taste blood in my mouth. Unlike when I touched Isla Gunnach earlier, my thoughts were clear and focused, but I still felt as if my mind was locked somewhere in between a memory and a dream. I was an unwilling passenger inside someone else’s mind and memories, yet every detail was completely familiar to me. Violent images of hand-to-hand battle flooded my mind. The screams of men, the hacking of limbs, and blood covered snow as far as the eye could see.

“Mr. Mann!” a voice shouted. “Arric! Can you hear me?”

The sting against my cheek brought me back to reality and I found myself looking up at Kade Gunnach. It was then that I realized I was on the floor. I tried to get to my feet, but he placed his palm against my chest to slow me.

“Careful, sir!” Alasdair warned his boss as he touched me.

“Let’s just sit you up then,” Gunnach said warmly. “It appears as though you’ve had another episode.”

“Episode of the Twilight Zone,” I muttered, holding my throbbing head.

“I told him not to touch anything,” Alasdair growled.

“That’s extremely helpful. Thank you, Alasdair,” Gunnach replied wryly, turning his attention back to me. “Are you okay, lad?”

“I think I’m more than a couple of neighborhoods away from okay,” I replied.

“I can imagine this has all been quite challenging for you.”

“Challenging?” I snapped. “How about you try taking a guided tour of the Battle of Blood River and tell me how you fucking like it?”

“What did you just say?” Gunnach asked, his already fair complexion now turning white.

“I don’t know what happened, but when I touched that sword, I went somewhere else,” I said, terrified of the words coming out of my own mouth.

“Do you mean you saw a vision?”

“I didn’t just see. I could touch, taste, smell and hear. It was like I was there.”

“Where?”

“In the mountains, near Flókalundur. The night of the battle of Blood River,” I replied. “I was alone, marching through the snow toward a camp of soldiers. It was night but the moon was full and bright. It was freezing cold, but my rage was keeping me warm.”

“That’s impossible,” Alasdair hissed. “How could he—”

“I know, Alasdair,” Gunnach said, waving him off. “Arric, where did you learn about Blood River?”

“Man, didn’t you hear me?” I asked, rising to my feet. “I didn’t learn about anything. I was there. I have no idea what the hell is going on here and yet you guys are the ones asking me questions.”

“He understands the old tongue as well,” Alasdair said to Gunnach. “His blood calls out to me.”

“I feel it as well,” Kade said.

“Is he one of us?” Alasdair asked, my irritation rising as they spoke in some sort of gibberish code about me.

“I suspect he’s another one of Haddi’s lost lambs, returned home,” Gunnach replied.

“He’s a bit more of a goat, I’d say.”

“He is standing right fucking here and he would like to know what the fuck is going on,” I growled.

“Arric, please forgive me,” Gunnach said. “Take a seat,” he said pointing to an antique chair in the corner. “Alasdair, please give us the room.”

“But sir—”

“Thank you, Alasdair,” Gunnach said, and his bodyguard left with a huff. Gunnach returned his attention back to me. “Please forgive Alasdair. He’s quite passionate about his job but sometimes lacks sensitivity while performing it.”

“I don’t sweat him,” I replied, sitting in the chair.

“You should. He’s quite powerful,” Gunnach replied.

“He’s stronger than he looks, I’ll give him that.”

Without looking, Gunnach pulled a large leather-bound book from the shelf next to him. He took the seat opposite me, and again without setting eyes on the book, turned to a specific page.

“Here we are,” he said, turning the book to face me.

The book was hand-printed and looked to be incredibly old. I couldn’t make out the language it was written in but understood the pictures perfectly well.

“It this what you saw?” Gunnach asked, pointing to a painting depicting precisely what I’d seen.

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s it. What is that book?”

“It was written by Tor Olufsen. One of our great oracles and historians. It’s a book about the early days of our people.”

“It looks old,” I said.

“It is,” he replied with a slight smile. “It was written in the thirteenth century. Long before my time.”

I chuckled. “I may look like a gym rat, but I know how a calendar works.”

“This section is all about the Battle of Blood River and how Ketill Feilan single-handedly defeated one hundred enemy soldiers who’d been sent to massacre our people.”

“That’s his armor and sword,” I said.

“Yes, it is.”

“But how was I able to see that place. To feel what I felt?”

“I have ideas about that, but I must warn you. Some of the things I’m about to tell you may challenge what you think you know, Mr. Mann.”

“So long as you have some answers for me, and don’t jerk me around, I’m all ears.”

“I promise I’ll do my absolute best to answer all your questions.” Gunnach smiled wide, and for the first time since I’d been in Scotland, I felt a moment of peace. My thoughts went to Shakespeare.

“The milk of human kindness,” I said quietly.

“Almost,” Gunnach said.

“What?” I asked.

“Macbeth spoke about the milk of human kindness, but I am not human.” A chill ran down my spine as Gunnach continued, “And I suspect, neither are you.”

“What are you saying?” I asked, my brain buzzing with the same kinetic energy I’d felt when Isla Gunnach touched me earlier.

“Do you really not know what I am?” Gunnach asked, his ice-blue eyes piercing into my soul.

“No.” I shook my head. “But I know what I am... confused and freaked out.”

“I am part of an ancient blood line that started in Iceland and found its home in Scotland centuries ago. An ancient race of people who have remained in the frozen shadows of this world for most of our lives.” My heart beat faster as he continued, “Arric, I am Cauld Ane. As are you.”

As soon as he spoke the words, my tattoos glowed, and my entire body hummed with electricity. It was as if a veil was lifted from my mind, revealing a deeper, previously hidden truth about who and what I was.

At that moment, I knew Kade Gunnach was not merely a business tycoon, but a king. A king I felt a sudden but deep instinct to protect with my very life if need be. He was my king.

Before I was aware of what I was doing, my knee hit the floor. “Your Majesty,” I said, my head bowed.

“Rise, Arric Mann,” the king spoke, and I stood to face him.

“I don’t understand,” I said, disoriented and out of breath. “What’s going on? What the hell is happening to me?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest,” he replied. “I may have as many questions for you as you do me.”

“I highly doubt that,” I said.

“I don’t understand how you’ve been able to survive on your own. Having no knowledge of your bloodline.”

“Bloodline?”

“Aye. The bloodline of the Kalt Einn. An ancient race that has walked this earth since the earliest days of man. Norsemen from Iceland. Powerful. Nearly immortal. The very ones who inspired the Norse mythology itself.”

“The cold ones,” I replied.

“You understand the old tongue yet possess no knowledge of our history,” Kade said, seeming as genuinely baffled as I was.

“And you’re saying I’m one of these Kalt Einn or Cauld Ane?” I asked.

“Kalt Einn or Cauld Ane. No matter what we’re called, we are all of the same bloodline.”

“And we’re immortal?”

“Temperatures over sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit can kill us, and we’re highly susceptible to the toxic effects of a rare flower called red fang. Other than that, so long as we’re not mortally wounded beyond repair, we can live for centuries.”

Even though the words Kade Gunnach spoke sounded like fantasy to my ears, somehow my heart knew them to be true.

“How could I not have known any of this?”

“This is one of the many puzzling things about you,” Kade said, pointing to my arm. “Things like those.”

“What? My tattoos?”

“Cauld Ane can’t have them. Our skin heals too fast. It won’t accept the ink. And even if they could. I’m not sure they’d all glow like yours do. Have you ever experienced anything like that before, Arric?”

I shook my head.

“There is much about you that remains a mystery, but I have promised you answers, and I will make sure you get them. In fact, I’ve already contacted someone I hope can help enlighten us both, but it will take a few days for him to arrive. Arric, will you trust me enough to stay here at Castle Gunnach while we figure things out?”

“Yes, Majesty,” I said, once again surprised by my own words.

“Thank you Arric,” he said warmly. “And please, call me Kade. I’d like you to think of me as your host rather than your king.”

I nodded. “Thank you. I just wanna know why my memories suddenly feel like dreams. Why I know the faces in these paintings? How come sometimes I hear what people are thinking? Is all that normal? Is any of that stuff in any of these books?”

Kade smiled. “This library is mostly filled with the classics. This book is one of the few relics we have left from our early history. However, it is an excellent place to start,” Kade said with a smile, just as the library doors swung open.

“Excuse me, am I interrupting story time?” Connall Gunnach scowled.

“Con. Not now, brother,” Kade said.

“Not now? That’s what I should be saying to you. Or have your forgotten about the thousands of guests out on the back lawn,” Connell snapped back causing my spine to stiffen.

“Connall please. This is important,” Kade said.

“So are the games and believe me, brother. People are going to notice your absence sooner than later.”

“Let them notice,” Kade snapped. “My conversation with Arric is far more important than the bloody games, which you are free to return to at any time.”

“These may be the last games you attend for quite a while, and I think it would be best—”

“Thank you, brother. I will return once my conversation with Arric is completed,” Kade replied firmly but politely.

“The only conversation we need to have with this one is about how soon he’ll be leaving,” Connall said, his eyes locking onto mine.

“He isn’t going anywhere,” Kade said. “Arric is our guest and will be staying here in the residence.”

“Like hell he is,” Connall challenged. “I want this bastard as far away from Isla as possible by nightfall.”

My blood began to boil. However, the source of my rage wasn’t a result of Connall Gunnach’s insult to me, but of his defiance of the king.

Kade placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I understand your instinct to protect Isla, but you need to let me handle this.”

Connall violently swatted Kade’s hand away, but before he could speak another word of protest, I had him by the throat, suspended eight inches off the ground. My chest burned from within, and my tattoos glowed fire red.

“Arric!” Kade shouted. “Release him.” The instinct to obey the king being overruled by my instinct to protect him, my grip tightened around Connall Gunnach’s throat as he struggled to breathe.

“Dad!” I heard Isla from behind me. Although, I’d only had the one interaction with Isla, her voice was somehow more familiar to me than my own. “Let him go!” she shouted, causing me to finally release Connall, who fell to the floor with a thud.

“Get away from him,” Isla said, rushing to aid her father as he gasped for air.

“I...I’m sorry,” I said, staring at my hands, trying to make sense of why I’d done what I’d done.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Isla snapped back, causing me to feel shame like I’d never felt before.

“He’s confused, Isla,” Kade said. “I’m not sure Arric is completely in control of his actions.”

“Yeah, well he’d better be in control of staying the hell away from me and my father,” Isla said before ushering her father out of the library and slamming the heavy door behind her.

“What is happening to me?” I rasped.

Kade settled his hands on my shoulders and squeezed. “I swear to you I’ll do everything in my power to find out, Arric.”

I bowed my head, and he led me back to the bookshelves.