Realms Gate Read online

  REALMS GATE

  BY

  JULIET ANDERSON

  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 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 1

  Erin was pleased she had a long, cross country run ahead of her, it would help blow off some steam. And she had plenty brewing. A phone call with her mother was never particularly good, but this time it had left her at boiling point. Her mother had dropped the bombshell that she was off to New York for the summer to help Erin’s sister, Veronica, with the imminent birth of her twins. Where did that leave Erin for the entire summer holiday? With her Aunt Birdie in the far north of Scotland.

  She stretched out her ham strings and did a few lunges. It irritated her majorly that her mother gave her so little consideration. That she was only ever an afterthought.

  “That face can only mean you’ve been speaking to dearest mother,” Amanda gigged, making sure she kept her distance.

  “Is it that obvious?” Erin scowled.

  “Yep. You look like a bulldog chewing a wasp.”

  “The witch hasn’t bothered to visit the entire term and now isn’t even waiting for me to come home from school. She’s packing me off for the summer to some maiden aunt I haven’t seen for a decade, who lives in a tiny backward hole in the mosquito infested highlands.”

  “Ooh, sounds tempting.” Amanda pulled a face. “You should join Jess and me in Italy.”

  “Regrettably until I turn eighteen at the end of August, my horrible mother is still my legal guardian.”

  “Too bad,” Amanda sighed. “And now you have a five mile run to contend with.”

  “That’s actually a blessing in disguise. It might stop me from doing something I regret.”

  Erin put her earphones in, did a couple more stretches and was first off the mark when the coach gave the signal.

  She knew the route well through the beautiful hillside surrounding Bath, down along the valley floor, before a long rise up and back to the school. She set a fearsome pace, one foot pounding the ground angrily in front of the other. It wasn’t just annoyance pushing her on, it was hurt. Her mother regularly treated her like a second class citizen, more often putting Veronica first. It hadn’t always been like that. But since her father’s death ten years ago, everything had changed. Any warmth from her mother seemed to have been buried alongside her father.

  Just a few more months to go, she told herself. As soon as she turned eighteen she would be free to do whatever she wanted to do. To go where she wanted to. Her father had left her a sizeable income to pay for university so she would not have to rely on her mother for anything. She would truly be free.

  She had been looking forward to spending the summer on her dirt bike. She loved it, riding off road and getting thoroughly muddy. On the bright side, she could take her fencing swords with her to Scotland, so all was not completely lost. Apart from having anyone decent to practice with.

  Leaping with grace over the style, Erin headed down along the river, ignoring the whistles from some friends who were out rowing. Boys would be boys. She turned away from the river after a short while and headed into the woods. The heavy foliage from the trees blocked out a lot of the sunlight. She continued on, pounding fiercely along the valley floor. She might even set the school record at this rate. A bright side to every cloud, Amanda would say.

  She let out a loud, frustrated howl which echoed through the trees. Her mother had got well and truly under her skin and it was going to take a lot more than this bloody run to get it out her system. Veronica had a wealthy husband, a nanny in place, and a whole host of staff to help look after the damn twins when they finally arrived. Besides, she could never actually recall her mother being the hands-on type.

  A thought sprung into her frazzled mind. Perhaps there was more to this trip than just Veronica? Her mother had, after all, been on her own for ten years. Maybe there was another man on the scene? Husband number three? Poor bloke, Erin sighed to herself.

  She glanced around to check her bearings. She was sure she hadn’t passed the right hand turn back to the school. She carried on a bit further, still not entirely recognising where she was. But then how do you tell one tree from another?

  Great, she snorted loudly, pissed off and lost. There goes the school record. If she had missed the turn off, then she would just take the next one that came along. She glanced back, not seeing any of her fellow runners. But then she had set one hell of a pace, so it was unlikely anyone would be behind her. In fact, Amanda had probably warned them to give her at least a ten minute head start!

  She stopped a few minutes later to assess her situation. The forest canopy was becoming thicker and thicker, she was definitely in an area she did not know. Her options? The valley floor would run out eventually so if she carried on, she would be fine. She could turn back and retrace her steps but she had no idea how far out of her way she had come.

  A loud screech made the hair on her arms stand on end. She glanced wildly around. Don’t be a wimp, her logical brain told herself. There are no wild animals in the English countryside. But there are knife wielding maniacs, the creative side piped up.

  She rubbed her arms frantically to stop the chill spreading over her. “Get a grip, girl,” she muttered aloud.

  Another screech and Erin was running as fast as she could along the path. She looked over her shoulder to check no-one was following and that was when she must have missed the root sticking up. Her right foot caught it, sending her flying head first into the undergrowth. The landing itself was not that painful, her head connecting with a tree stump was. She felt like she was in a cartoon, with stars jumping up in front of her eyes before everything went black.

  Erin was cold, very cold. Something was poking into her back. Had another spring gone in her already very uncomfortable mattress? And what was up with her head? Had she snuck out to the pub with the boys? Whatever it was she had drunk was giving her nightmares. She opened her eyes groggily and felt her blood all but freeze. She hadn’t had a freaky nightmare, she was in one. It all flooded back to her. She was lost in the middle of the Avon forest, with a twisted ankle, possible brain damage, wearing a short gym skirt and polo shirt. And night was falling. Fabulous. The perfect end to her crap day.

  She hauled herself up into a sitting position and leant back against a tree, before reaching inside her gym skirt to fish out her mobile. Her relief that it hadn’t fallen out was short lived. No bloody signal. Of course not, she was in a valley surrounded by dense woodland.

  For the first time in her life, she was actually truly afraid. She was alone in the woods, unable to move and no-one knew where she was.

  “Use your brain, Erin,” she scolded herself. “Think this out logically.”

  Her father always told her that the key to any problem could be found with logical thought. All well and good when sitting in a warm, safe environment, but out here she was petrified and her thought process had gone into hibernation. She shivered as another loud screech filled the silence.

  “Mangled ankle or not, yo
u’re going to have walk out of here,” she told herself sternly. That was the only viable option.

  Taking a deep breath and using the tree behind her, Erin pulled herself up onto her feet. An ear-piercing scream echoed through the trees. That was her. She sank back to the ground. Her ankle was not going to support any weight.

  She rested her head against the tree trunk. Tears were starting to spill out, they felt very hot against her cold skin. This was it. Not quite how she expected to end her short life, dying of hypothermia, alone and scared. Was she being melodramatic? No. The logical side of her brain had worked it out. It would be night time before her dorm mates noticed her absence and raised the alarm. After much deliberation, they would realise that no-one had seen her return from the run. By then it would be close to midnight. The police would be notified but a search would not be instigated until first light, and she was so far off track, it would be near impossible for anyone to locate her. That’s if she survived the night.

  She regretted using her logical side. She shut her eyes and tried to stem the tears.

  “No bright side to this, Amanda,” Erin sighed. And then a sad smile crossed her face. She would get to see her dad again. She hated that mantra from Amanda, mainly because she was always right!

  It was dusk when Erin opened her eyes, she must have dozed off. She was frozen and could barely feel her toes. She had a problem keeping her eyes open, she knew it was the cold affecting her.

  “Hang in there, Goldilocks. I’m on my way.” The voice was soft, with a hint of an accent she couldn’t trace.

  Her eyes flew open. “Who…who’s there?” she shivered.

  “I need you to focus, Erin. I’ll be with you shortly.”

  “Where are you?” she looked around wildly.

  “You can hear my voice in your head.”

  “Shit, I’m hallucinating,” she muttered.

  “No, you’re not. I’ll explain how I’m doing this when I get to you. But for now, I need some identifiable markers as to where you are.”

  “A bossy hallucination,” she grunted.

  “Concentrate, Erin,” the voice barked.

  “Fine,” she sighed. “I’m next to a tree.”

  “Ha, bloody ha,” came the response. “Any identifiable marks on this tree?”

  “Yeah, my blood.”

  “Let’s try another approach. Can you remember your route a short while before you fell?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Good. I need you to visualise it, as though you were re-running it. I will see what you see.”

  I’m definitely losing the plot, she thought. But at least her hallucination was taking her mind off her current perilous situation. She shut her eyes and retraced part of her route and then re-ran it in her mind. She could actually remember the last couple of minutes quite clearly.

  “You’re fading, Erin. Stay with me,” the voice instructed.

  “Did anyone ever tell you you’re very annoying,” she groaned. “If I’m going to die, I’d rather not torture myself.”

  He gave a deep chuckle. “You’re not going to die, I’m almost with you.”

  “So, if I’m not hallucinating, how come you’re out here in the middle of the woods looking for me? No-one knows I’m lost yet.”

  “That’s a question for another day, Goldilocks. For now, let’s just say I’m your guardian angel.”

  She gave a sleepy giggle. “Why the nickname?”

  “With your hair, you couldn’t be anything else.”

  “In that case I’ll call you Gabriel.”

  “I’m a guardian not an arch angel.”

  “Picky, picky, picky,” was her response.

  “How badly are you hurt?” His tone had become more serious.

  “Busted ankle, gash to the head, and definite concussion with severe hallucinations.”

  “You’re fading again, Erin.”

  “Sorry, but I’m just so tired,” she yawned.

  Her eyes were just shutting when she felt herself being lifted up. Her nostrils filled with the delicious smell of a lightly spiced aftershave. If he was some mad axe-murderer, he had good taste in cologne.

  “Just in time.” He sounded relieved. “You’ll be in A&E in next to no time.”

  Erin managed to open her eyes a tiny bit, but all she could see was a black shirt and jacket. She remembered being carried a long way out the forest, she could not recall a time when she actually felt so safe, so secure.

  CHAPTER 2

  The small plane set down on the runway at Wick Airport in the smoothest of landings. Erin waited for the rest of the passengers to disembark before getting out of her seat. Her ankle was still heavily strapped but at least now she could put weight on it. She grabbed her backpack out the overhead locker and gingerly made her way down the aisle.

  “Do you need help getting down the steps?” the stewardess asked kindly.

  “I can manage,” Erin smiled back and took the steps one at a time.

  By the time she had gotten inside the small terminal, her luggage was already there. She slung the two suitcases and sword carrier on a trolley and headed towards the exit. She could guarantee she would be stopped, she always was when she transported her swords.

  “Is that a gun in the carrier, Miss?” the customs official asked.

  “Nope. Swords.”

  “Mind if I take a look?”

  Yes, I’m tired, fractious and in pain. “No, be my guest,” was her polite reply.

  The official unzipped the carrier.

  “Fencing swords. Epees and sabres to be exact,” she filled him in.

  “I guess you’re not here for hunting then,” he joked.

  “Unless you have any grizzlies who like one on one combat, no.”

  The customs official chuckled and zipped her bag back up. “Have a pleasant stay, Miss.”

  Erin wandered out into the arrivals halls. Actually, it was more like a shack. She glanced around nervously at the few people milling around, wondering which one was Birdie. One rather large woman who looked like she needed a visit to the dentist smiled. Erin’s heart sank, then skipped with joy when the woman hugged the boy standing next to her. Close call.

  That left something unidentifiable in a tracksuit, an elderly lady with a walking stick, and just coming in the entrance was a petite lady wearing light blue jeans, a crisp white linen shirt and faded tan boots. Memories of that light blonde bob, blue eyes and gorgeous bone structure flooded back. That was her Aunt Birdie. And it seemed she hadn’t gained so much as one wrinkle in the last decade.

  Crushed in Birdie’s embrace, Erin felt quite emotional. She could not understand why she had almost no memory of her aunt until now.

  “Welcome home, Erin.” Birdie kissed her cheek. “You’ve been greatly missed.”

  “It’s so weird, Birdie. I know I’ve been here before, but I just can’t seem to recall it.”

  Birdie smiled knowingly. “Trust me, lass, it will all come back soon.” She glanced at a nearby porter. “Jimmy, can you load my niece‘s luggage into the car?”

  “Certainly, Birdie.” The man sprang into action.

  Erin was impressed, her aunt drove a Range Rover. “Nice car.”

  “This one is for the road. We’ve a Landrover for the estate.”

  “Estate?”

  “You really have no memory?” Birdie grinned. “We own a few acres of highland. And you don’t need a licence to drive on your own land.”

  Erin smiled. She was liking her aunt more and more! “How far is Muirhead?”

  “About an hour, depending on how many tractors we meet.”

  Erin snuggled down into the comfortable passenger seat and gazed at the Scottish scenery. Everything seemed so familiar yet she could not recall ever being here. It was as though her memory of this place had been locked away in a chest. It was so irritating.

  Erin awoke with a start. “Sorry, did I fall asleep?”

  “Yes, dear. You’ve had a long journey. But we�
��re just coming into Muirhead now.”

  The small town was stunning, the houses crafted out the most beautiful granite. It looked like a picture postcard, with its tea room, pub, corner shops and quaint little boutiques.

  Birdie drove through the town and out the other side. “Home is just a few minutes away.”

  Erin watched with excitement as Birdie turned off the road through a huge set of metal gates, clearly marked “McLomard Estate”. They drove over an ornate iron bridge that crossed a flowing river and through a bank of evergreen trees. Erin would never forget her heart fluttering as she caught sight of the McLomard ancestral home. It looked like something Disney would build. The soft grey stonework gave rise to three floors with three turrets. It was one of the most beautiful houses she had ever seen.