The Fourth Realm (Realms Gate) Read online

  THE FOURTH REALM

  REALMS GATE

  BY

  JULIET ANDERSON

  This eBook is a work of fiction. Whilst references may be made to actual places or events, the names, characters and incidents within are from the author’s imagination and are not a resemblance to actual living or dead persons. Any similarity is co-incidental.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 1

  “For the love of God,” Erin shouted from the kitchen. “Will you two girls stop fighting else you’ll both be grounded for a week.”

  “Queens don’t holler like a fishwife,” Birdie glanced up from her newspaper.

  “I’m not Queen here in Muirhead,” Erin retorted, sitting back down at the table. “Arianna and Katya seem to be at each other’s throat non-stop at the moment.”

  “Arianna is nervous, which is only to be expected.”

  “About what?”

  “Turning eighteen of course. Do you remember how you were in the build up to your birthday?”

  “Sweetness and light?” Erin replied hopefully.

  “You had more snap than a Nile crocodile.”

  “Thanks for that memory. Besides, we don’t know if she’ll inherit any of my powers.”

  “Yours appeared in stages before your eighteenth. I think Arianna is worried she’ll get hers all at once and not be able to control them.”

  “She has the ability to communicate telepathically with Timmo already, so perhaps hers are a little gentler.”

  “Gentle and Arianna are not two words I would use together,” Birdie snickered.

  Erin rolled her eyes. “Do you actually have any useful parental advice for me?”

  “Me? Of course not. The closest I came to parenthood was looking after a hormonal teen for a few years.”

  “I have a hormonal teen upstairs if you hadn’t noticed. Two in fact.”

  “Yes, good luck,” Birdie giggled.

  Erin snorted and stood up. “I’m going for a walk to escape the racket.” She beckoned to Balthazar, her newest slobbering St Bernard, to follow.

  The weather was surprisingly warm for northern Scotland as she headed down in the direction of Tobin Hall; she needed some girl time with Sasha who had first-hand experience in dealing with stroppy teens. Sometimes it was hard to believe twenty-two years had passed since her eighteenth birthday and how dramatically her life had changed. She had married Wilhelm just after her twentieth birthday and taken up her place as Queen of Lokranor. They had been blessed with four daughters; Arianna, Katya and the ten-year old twins Maia and Anja. Sasha and Lars had moved into Tobin Hall when it had been rebuilt and had a daughter and son. Sasha and Heinrekh’s son, Damon, had grown into a fine young Viking and had inherited Vasmaar on reaching eighteen. Under Sasha and Lars’ guidance, Damon had stayed well away from the dark arts and had learnt to use blue energy responsibly. She was kind of pleased about that, being Damon’s godmother. But as he was Valkarin’s heir, a close watch was kept on him just in case.

  The sight of ivy clad Tobin Hall always made her smile. It held a very special place in her heart. It was where Tobin had raised his and Aria’s daughter, and where Damon McBride and Isobel McLomard had met and fallen in love. It had taken two years to rebuild but had been worth the expense and time, it was nothing short of stunning.

  Sasha came out to greet her. “Hey, Queenie. You look frazzled.”

  “I am. I’ve got one nerve left and the kids are getting on it.”

  “Just because you are Queen does not give you the right to escape teenagers.”

  “I also have blue energy which means I could turn them to dust if I want to,” Erin grunted.

  “You’ve been reading that Good Parenting Guide again, haven’t you,” Sasha laughed. “A cappuccino will make all things better.” She ushered Erin inside. “Now tell me all.”

  “Arianna is a nightmare to be around. I mention her birthday celebrations and she bites my head off. Somewhere along the way I have her formal banquet to arrange so Wilhelm can officially name her his heir. Katya is permanently bad tempered at the moment and wont set foot in Lokranor, even when her father commands. And I’m sure the twins are descended from Valkarin, they are permanently up to no good. Did I mess up somewhere along the line?”

  “Do you think raising Damon was a walk in the park?” Sasha sighed. “He really was the moodiest of teenagers. Whenever I tried to discipline him, he would just say he was screwed up because his father was dead.”

  “Morganna is about to turn nineteen and seems fine.”

  “Morganna should have been a Viking warrior, she is totally fearless and spends most of her days practicing her sword skills and martial arts in the basement. Anders on the other hand keeps to his room. Which thinking about his sister’s fiery nature, is probably a good thing. So don’t think it’s only you that has these problems. You at least have the advantage of being able to retreat to Lokranor and leave the children in Muirhead.”

  “And likewise, you and Lars can leave your brood with their grandfather and disappear off to Lars’ house in Norway.”

  “I don’t like being too far from Damon. There is no gateway close to access Vasmaar from Lars’ old house. And don’t even suggest moving to Grunfeld, Isleberg or any of the other Vokteren strongholds where there was a gateway.”

  “How is my godson doing? He’s not been to see us in Lokranor for a while, although I suspect he is sensibly giving Arianna a wide berth.”

  Sasha laughed. “Yeah, men of all ages will do anything to avoid a hormonally-imbalanced woman. But Damon is progressing well. Ingrid’s father has taught him well in running Vasmaar and is starting to take a back seat and let Damon take over.”

  “And his powers?”

  “Magnus is a good tutor, you know that.”

  “Yeah. I just find it hard to believe how history is repeating itself. Magnus was my guardian and now his son, Timmo, has inherited the same telepathic ability and is Arianna’s protector.”

  “His family really must have screwed up somewhere.”

  “Can’t you get a dog that doesn’t drool, Erin?” Lars wandered into the kitchen. “It’s left a large puddle of slobber on the hallway carpet.”

  “I love my St Bernards so quit bitching.” Erin stood up and kissed his cheek fondly.

  “Are you here to escape the showdown between Arianna and Katya at the house?”

  “Yeah. Being Queen counts for nothing in the parent stakes. Were you just there?”

  “I needed to see Dad. He’s taken to wearing earplugs.”

  “Hopefully it will all calm down in the next few weeks,” Erin prayed.

  “Wishful thinking,” Lars grinned. “How is Wilhelm?”

  “Good. He’s working hard training up a new elite force of warriors.”

  “For any particular reason?”

  “Our general security. Call me a pessimist but we’ve been at peace for twenty odd years so it’s about time something bad crawled out the woodwork.”

  “Is Damon included in that haze of doom?” Sasha raised an eyebrow.

  “I c
ould never accuse my dear godson of anything so dreadful,” Erin smiled. “The protection is also for Arianna because once she is named heir, she will need more than just Timmo.”

  Sasha looked accusingly at her husband. “The Vokteren haven’t tried to resurrect Valkarin again?”

  “No, my love. They would need a sorcerer of excessive power to transform him back from ashes to his human form.”

  “And as Damon certainly will not want to share power with an egomaniac, Valkarin will stay as dust.” Erin stood up and stretched. “I guess there is no escaping the inevitable, I must return to the mad house.”

  “We’ll see you for Arianna’s birthday dinner.” Sasha hugged her friend.

  “That’s if she makes it to eighteen,” Erin grunted.

  On the walk back to the house, Erin cleared her mind of all negative thoughts. Perhaps she should sit down with Arianna and have a long talk. She did remember how frightening it was coming into her powers, more so because no-one really knew why she was getting them. Arianna had a whole contingent of people who could help guide her; all Erin had initially was poor Magnus.

  Katya also weighed heavily on her mind. Arianna had always been quite fiery, a bit like her father, but Katya was usually so level-headed and calm. It had only been in the last few months that she had turned into a hermit crab, keeping very much to herself; and when she did deign to interact with one of the family, the decibel levels almost made the house crumble around them.

  She took a deep breath; hopefully after the celebrations and announcements were over life would become tranquil again. A faint smile crossed her face. Actually when had her life ever been tranquil?

  CHAPTER 2

  Damon stared at the charts in front of him. Something did not fit but he could not work it out. He was enjoying learning everything he could about Vasmaar, he would be a very different ruler from his father. Glancing at the portrait which hung in his father’s study, he could not believe how alike they were; both with long blonde hair and pale blue eyes. He knew it sometimes caught his mother off guard when he walked unexpectedly into a room; it was like she had seen a ghost.

  He smiled to himself as he recalled his mother’s stories about Heinrekh, the scraps he used to have with Erin. How he would have liked to see them really spark off against each other. He would actually have liked to have seen Erin kill Valkarin more. His gaze settled on the Baldoren crystal. Erin’s sixteenth birthday gift to him had been to show him how to use it. It had been their secret as his mother would have hit the roof had she known he was contacting the spirit world. And he could never have thanked Erin enough; talking to his father for the first time had been amazing. He understood the dangers of using it too frequently but every now and then he needed paternal advice. Erin understood that need only too well. Her father had had his ear chewed off in the underworld several times so why not his? Being dead did not count for very much anymore!

  It hit him suddenly, he knew why the chart looked wrong. Racing down into the vault he pulled several more charts from the wall. Overlaying three of them, he finally saw it.

  Magnus, can you and Sven come down to the vault. I think I’ve discovered something?

  That you’re really a girl? Magnus responded.

  If I was, you still wouldn’t be any more attractive, old man.

  I’m the very model of a Viking warrior.

  From the last millennia. Now quit giving me earache and get your ass down here.

  The joy of being a ruler, he could give the orders.

  A few minutes later Magnus and Sven were standing around the desk in the vault.

  “What was so urgent?” Magnus yawned.

  “Look at these three charts,” Damon instructed.

  “And?” Magnus grunted a few minutes later. “They’re of the First Realm, Second Realm and before the lands split.”

  “What was there that is no longer?”

  Sven spotted it first. A landmass that was on the original chart before the Realms were torn apart. “There’s a whole territory that’s missing.”

  “Yeah. It sure as hell doesn’t exist in the First Realm. So where is it?”

  “Are you suggesting there is a Fourth Realm out there somewhere?” Magnus was quite alert now.

  “It looks like it. The Second Realm has been caught in an alternate dimension and it seems so has the Fourth.”

  “So which Realm is it attached to?”

  Damon shrugged. “I guess that’s for us to find out.”

  “If a gateway existed to the Fourth Realm, do you not think someone might have been through it already?” Sven asked.

  “Perhaps not. Most of the gateways have only been discovered thanks to that book Erin found. But that does not mean no others exist.”

  “True.” Magnus headed to the doorway. “I will ask Ajax at the Archives if he can find anything relating to this other realm. And of course, the King will need to be notified.”

  “Why?” Damon scowled. He didn’t want anyone to find this realm before he did.

  “Because it could affect the security of this Realm. We used to think the worst we had to deal with was your father before Valkarin was awakened. I dread to think what delights they could have in this other Realm.”

  “Probably nothing to match Erin.” Damon had seen a glimpse of what she was capable of, it was nothing short of awesome. He hoped one day he would be able to control his powers like her.

  Magnus hesitated at the door. “Don’t forget to visit you mother in the next couple of days. Else I’ll get it in the ear.”

  “Anything else?” Damon sighed.

  “Yeah. Go see Arianna whilst you’re visiting Sasha.”

  “Why would I want to see that harpy?”

  “Because you and she are virtually cousins. She’s nervous about her upcoming birthday and everything that it will bring. You’ve been through that stage already so she might appreciate your advice.”

  “I shall just be another body for her to shout out.”

  “Are you afraid of a young woman?” Magnus teased. “Actually she’s still classed as a child at the moment.”

  “I’m keeping my distance for her own safety. If she pisses me off too much, I might vaporise her.”

  Magnus laughed. “She’d have shredded you into hundreds of pieces long before you could hit her with blue energy. I’ll make it easy for you. If you don’t visit her, I’ll make sure you sit next to Ingrid’s niece, Helgard, at the Banquet.”

  “That is low, even for you, Selvig,” Daman muttered. The lady in question, not that he could really call Helgard a lady, was as wide as she was tall and had more facial hair than most of the warriors in his army. And she had developed quite a crush on him.

  “But effective,” Magnus chuckled disappearing out the door.

  Damon turned back to Sven who was still studying the charts. “Something has caught your eye?”

  “Yes. Looking at the Fourth Realm’s geographical location, I think there could be gateways from both Muirhead and Vasmaar.”

  “Is there any way of finding the gateways with sorcery?” Damon asked hopefully.

  “Sadly not. And yes, your father tried on many occasions to do that. The only way to find them is through research.”

  Daman gazed at the rows and rows of books lining the vault and exhaled loudly. “I was worried you might say that.”

  “You can use your powers to find any reference to the Fourth Realm on those books. However, it is unlikely to be in a known volume otherwise we would have discovered it already.”

  “So research from a volume I have yet to find?”

  “Precisely,” Sven smiled. “I wish you luck.”

  Sven left Damon to contemplate his options. The majority of books of great significance were found in the McLomard ancestral home in Muirhead. Perhaps he would have a sneaky look there when he visited Arianna. With Erin back in Lokranor, no-one else would be able to detect the use of blue energy. Damn, now he really did need to visit Arianna. Perhaps he sh
ould go in full battle armour.

  “I only asked if I could borrow your bloody iPad, Kat,” Arianna snapped at her sister. “There’s no need to have a major hissy fit.”

  Kat tossed the tablet at her sister. “Here. Whilst you’re at it, why don’t you help yourself to anything else you fancy?”

  “Why would I want any of your crap?”

  “Oh yeah, I’m forgetting, most of my stuff is your old cast-offs. Sorry, I’m not the chosen one, I’m the second class citizen.”

  “I didn’t ask to be first born,” Arianna responded angrily. “So don’t lay that on me.”