Surtr Chasm

By Candy Rae

This world is not ours alone. We share it with the Cuetiachtli, the Children of the Gods. The Goddess Flidais has charged the kindred of our world, the Faie, with defending us from her vindictive sister, Cailleach, whose determination to take the place of Flidais would have devastating consequences should she succeed.

This world is not alone. It is one of six; each cared for by their own deity and kindred, and linked only by the vortexes, which can only be crossed by those with mixed blood: the descendants of kindred and native species.

Closing in on Cailleach’s Stronghold, the Faie and their allies must turn to the past to save the future, but Cailleach’s influence is spreading and just finding the Stronghold may no longer be enough. Researchers work to develop a failsafe, a way to stop her from taking over for good, but the Faie and their allies are left to wonder just how much they’re willing to sacrifice to save the Sixth World. In the World of the Faie, the very air holds its breath.

PLANET WOLF
(1) Wolves and War - (2) Conflict and Courage - (3) Homage and Honour - (4) Dragons and Destiny - (5) Valour and Victory - (6) Ambition and Alavidha - (7) Paws and Planets - (8) Tales and Tails

DRAGON WULF
(1) Journey and Jeopardy - (2) Gossamer and Grass - (3) Flames and Freedom

FLYING COLOURS
(1) Rascals and Renegades - (2) Outlaws and Overlords - (3) Sparkles and Sphinxes (forthcoming)

T’QUEL MAGIC
(1) Ephemeral Boundary - (2) Enduring Barrier - (3) Eternal Bulwark

MULTIVERSE MUDDLE
(1) Vampyre Crypt - (2) Faie Castle - (3) Surtr Chasm - (4) Demon Citadel

SAMMY THE CAT
(1) Cat in Charge - (2) Cat at Christmas - (3) Dog not in Charge

• Language: English
• Publisher: Candy Rae
• Release date: Jul 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463542699

Candy Rae

Candy Rae has been an avid reader since childhood, with fantasy and science fiction appearing on her bookshelf in her first year of university when a friend introduced her to talking dragons. All her life, she has wanted to write, but it wasn’t until Christmas Day in 2003 that she sat down and started planning the book that, after many revisions, became the first book in the Planet Wolf series: Wolves and War.As a former accountant, Candy was notorious among her family for elongating her commute home by parking in a safe space and starting to write, having got into the habit of carrying a notebook with her wherever she went, a habit she continues to this day. When she’s not writing, her hobbies include knitting, tapestry, and trying to figure out ‘whodunnit’ in murder mysteries.Candy lives in Ayrshire, Scotland, with her large black cat, Sammy, and her Labrador-Corgi cross, Alex. She writes her books in British English with a Scottish flavour.

Book preview

THE MULTIVERSE MUDDLE

BOOK THREE

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SURTR CHASM

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Candy Rae

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SMASHWORDS EDITION

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SURTR CHASM

Copyright © 2019 Candy Rae

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead; is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes.

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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BOOKS BY CANDY RAE

Planet Wolf - Wolves and War - Conflict and Courage - Homage and Honour - Dragons and Destiny - Valour and Victory - Ambition and Alavidha - Paws and Planets - Tales and Tails.

Dragon Wulf - Journey and Jeopardy - Gossamer and Grass - Flames and Freedom.

Flying Colours - Rascals and Renegades - Outlaws and Overlords - Sparkles and Sphinxes*.

T’Quel Magic - Ephemeral Boundary - Enduring Barrier - Eternal Bulwark.

Multiverse Muddle - Vampyre Crypt - Faie Castle - Surtr Chasm - Demon Citadel*.

Sammy the Cat - Cat in Charge - Cat at Christmas - Dog not in Charge.

Stand Alone - Kill by Cure.

(* Forthcoming)

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Surtr Chasm is dedicated to the people of my beloved country, a country that is known by many names, Albion, Alba, Cruithintuait, Caledonia, Scotia, Land of the Scots, and Scotland.

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Cover Artwork by Harri Crawford.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE

Surtr Chasm is written in what is known as Britannic, or British English but with a Scottish flavour, the occurrence of Lallans, or Lowland Scots being the most predominant. There are spelling and pronunciation differences between Lallans/Lowland Scots and the different dialects and versions of English as written and spoken in other parts of our wonderful, diverse world.

As well as English, the Faie speak Cuetiachtli, the Old Tongue, which is a mix of English, Lowland Scots, and Scottish Gaelic together with some other languages, primarily Russian and German. For the purpose of this story, the Faie and the other races and kindred speak the same as how the author writes, which is rather handy otherwise no one but she would be able to make sense of large chunks of this book.

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THE MULTIVERSE MUDDLE

VAMPYRE CRYPT - Bhampair Làrach Todhlacaidh

FAIE CASTLE - Caisteal Na Sìobhragan

SURTR CHASM - Surtr Glomhais

DEMON CITADEL - Deamhain Daingneachd

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE STORY SO FAR

CHAPTER 1- AMERICANS ARRIVE

CHAPTER 2 - ‘PERMIAN’

CHAPTER 3 - HUNT FOR CAILLEACH

CHAPTER 4 - ‘CRETACEOUS’

CHAPTER 5 - ISLAND OF HANDA

CHAPTER 6 - ‘PLEISTOCENE’

CHAPTER 7 - UNDERSTANDING

CHAPTER 8 - ‘CRETACEOUS’

CHAPTER 9 - A FINE OLD TANTRUM

CHAPTER 10 - ATTACK THE FAIE!

CHAPTER 11 - ATTACK THE LJOSALFAR!

CHAPTER 12 - ATTACK THE FLADHAICH!

CHAPTER 13 - FOINAVEN MOUNTAIN

CHAPTER 14 - CAISTEAL NA SÌOBHRAGAN

CHAPTER 15 - SURTR CHASM

CHAPTER 16 - CUAIRTEACHADH DAINGNEACHD

CHAPTER 17 - NINES

CHAPTER 18 - DEMONS AND DOUBT

CHARACTERS AND APPENDICES

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SURTR CHASM

(Surtr Glomhais)

THE STORY SO FAR

Author’s Note - If, in recent days, weeks or months (for those of us who have a good memory - I am most definitely not on that list), you have read the previous books, Vampyre Crypt and Faie Castle, you might want to skip this part …

There are six parallel worlds in the multiverse. They can bump into each other and when this happen routes between them appear and disappear.

The six worlds are …

1. The World of the God Ra - The First World - The Proterozoic World - The Time of the Air.

2. The World of the God Lir - The Second World - The Silurian World - The Time of the Water.

3. The World of the Goddess Nantosuelta - The Third World - The Permian World - The Time of the Supercontinent.

4. The World of the God Herne - The Fourth World - The Cretaceous World - The Time of the Dinosaurs.

5. The World of the God Aja - The Fifth World - The Pleistocene World - The Time of the Ice.

6. The World of the Goddess Flidais - The Sixth World - The Holocene World - The Time of Man. Our World.

There is also a world of the future (The Seventh World). It does not yet exist but it does have a God in waiting.

Each world has its own God. There also exists a renegade Goddess (and her less than bright brother) who does not have a world and have turned to evil. She wants to take over the Sixth World.

Over the last year, exploratory teams have gone to the other worlds to find Cailleach’s Stronghold and some individuals from the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Worlds have become stranded on worlds not their own.

‘Stranded groups’ include two experienced Daonna warriors who have been missing for quite some time in the Cretaceous and two geology students who know nothing about the Faie, parallel worlds or Daonna. They are about to find out more than they could ever have imagined.

These teams consist of individuals of mixed ancestry and blood, a mix of Cuetiachtli and those of the worlds themselves who have interbred. Purebred Cuetiachtli cannot travel between the worlds. Those of mixed blood are the Daonna (origin - Sixth World/Holocene), the Guem (origin - Fifth World/Pleistocene) and the Bloden (origin - Fourth World/Cretaceous).

At the end of ‘Faie Castle’ a group of eight Daonna have just left the Holocene World and are heading for the Cretaceous to find out what has happened to the group that went before them.

And, I almost forgot …

On the Sixth World a hundred plus Faie legionaries from Lost Eagle Peak, Wyoming, United States, are travelling to Caisteal Na Sìobhragan (Faie Castle) in the Highlands of Scotland to help defend Alba (and the rest of the world - but it is in Scotland the initial strike will come) against Goddess Cailleach and her minions.

Faie researchers are trying to find Goddess Cailleach’s primary fortress. They are making steady but slow progress.

Finally, in the Sixth World are a number of young Faie who are very angry that they cannot travel between the worlds. They are working on a way to circumvent this inhibition.

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Surtr is mentioned in the poem ‘Völuspá’, translated as ‘Seeress’s Prophecy’ (see note - The Poetic Edda). A seeress tells the Norse God Odin that during Ragnarök (a series of events, including a great battle, the deaths of a number of great figures, natural disasters and the submersion of the world in water), Surtr will arrive from the south with flame and sword. He will do battle with some of the Norse gods and the flames will engulf the Earth.

"Sutr ferr sunnan með sviga lævi: skinn af sverði sól valtiva." This translates as Surt comes from the south with branches-ruin: the slaughter-gods’sun glances from his sword.

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CHAPTER 1 - AMERICANS ARRIVE

AYRSHIRE - SCOTLAND

The plane touched down at Prestwick Airport at eighteen minutes to midnight. Prestwick had been chosen for a reason. It was far less busy than Scotland’s other airports capable of landing transatlantic jets and odd, late flights were no stranger to those who lived nearby. The time had also been chosen with care. There would be only a few people around to see the plane’s unconventional arrival and to take note of the fact that the passengers didn’t go through customs.

It was, as the locals would have called it, a dour, dreich twilight. The moon was notable by its absence and the clouds were black and threatening.

Accalia-Chi looked out of the little round window as the plane continued along the runway and turned left. So this was Scotland. She wasn’t impressed.

How long is the journey to Foinaven Mountain? she asked Dasani. He was in possession of a travel booklet he had found tucked into the pocket-back of the seat in front.

Dasani-Chi grinned as he unfolded the map attached to the back cover.

I can’t find Foinaven, he admitted after a few minutes.

It’s a small-scale map. It won’t show much, observed Accalia, peeking over. She turned to Thelonius in the seat over the aisle to ask if he knew but before she could utter a word a voice stopped her question.

Find the top left corner of the land mass, said the voice from the row behind. It was Mato-Chi. He had visited Foinaven Mountain in his younger days. Then go a little bit south, down the coast.

It doesn’t look as if it is that far away, said Accalia as she made some mental calculations.

Mato laughed. Looks can be deceptive. It might only be three hundred miles but it’ll probably take us the best part of eight hours to get there, possibly more.

Eight hours for three hundred miles, marvelled Dasani.

The roads aren’t what we are used to and we’ll take a couple of breaks to get something to eat and use the restrooms. Except they don’t call restrooms restrooms here.

"What do they call them?"

Toilets. Bathrooms.

Dasani decided that the first word made sense. His grandmother sometimes called restrooms toilets. Perhaps the language differences he had heard about wouldn’t be so bad after all.

What do you mean about the roads? he asked, turning so he could talk to Mato face to face.

Mato laughed again.

"Apart from the fact that they drive on the left hand side? Well, some of the roads up there don’t just go up and down, they go right and left and up and down and are single track. We’re travelling by coach too, okay on the freeways but not so good on the single tracks. Good, we’re moving towards our disembarkation point."

The plane taxied towards a large, grey hanger, with huge, yawning-wide doors. The plane entered into the darkness (there were no interior lights), came to a stop and powered down.

Everyone looked at each other, wondering when they would be told to disembark.

Ah, and I think that’s the coaches arriving, said Mato, peeking out of the window. There should be four.

Accalia watched as the coaches entered the hangar and came to a stop not far from the plane.

Some people jumped down from the lead coach and hurried on to the one at the end.

The legionaries waited until the non-military others had disembarked then Tesserarius Mato led the way off the plane and to the coaches. Accalia and Dasani, because their seat on the plane had been close to Mato, were in the lead coach. Accalia liked this because she would be one of the first to hear about anything. Mato wasn’t that type of commanding officer who kept his legionaries in the dark.

Accalia settled into her seat.

The coach burst into life. The doors whooshed shut and there was a lurch as the driver engaged the gears.

They were off!

* * * * *

Accalia had taken possession of the window seat. She thought it only fair because Dasani had purloined the window on the plane.

It was dark but not so dark that she couldn’t see anything. In fact, the daylight and night dark hours were very similar here to back home.

Everyone settled down to get some rest.

Accalia had slept on the plane so she wasn’t that tired. She amused herself by looking for the road signs and trying to work out where she was on Dasani’s map.

She spied the sign for Glasgow early on directing the bus on to a motorway called the M-77. Motorways were the freeways here. She felt a bit disorientated because they were travelling on what she thought of as the ‘wrong side of the road’ but got used to it pretty quickly. She realised she was looking right to see if a vehicle was coming when the coach was going left and chuckled.

They drove over a dark area of what she thought might be farmland, she found out later it was called the Fenwick Moor, the light coming from intermittent street lighting and the vehicles coming the other way. The area lit up as they descended into the City of Glasgow, the driver braking as he obeyed the urban speed limit of 50. They moved on to the M-80 and Accalia read the first sign that said Stirling. She recognised the name from the map. They went past Stirling and she strained to see the details of a large hill in the middle of it.

That’s Stirling Castle, said Mato, who was returning from having a quick word with the driver. We’re going to stop for a break soon.

Scotland has a lot of castles, doesn’t it?

Mato laughed. You have no idea how many. So have Wales and England, I like Bodiam Castle in Sussex but I think Scotland has three of the most beautiful. Caisteal Na Sìobhragan of course, Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye and Eilean Donan at the Kyle of Lochalsh. He spoke the ‘ch’ the Scottish way. I’ve always thought that you can get a good feeling about the character of the people in Europe by looking at their castles and houses.

Accalia was intrigued.

"How’s that?’ she asked.

If you get the chance at Caisteal Na Sìobhragan, go visit the library. They’ve got hundreds of books about Scotland’s history. Work out for yourself why the castles are where they are and are what style they are. I’d be interested to hear your conclusions.

I will.

His phone rang and Mato answered it. Accalia turned away and tried not to listen but it didn’t make any difference. She didn’t understand any of the words. Mato was speaking in the Old Tongue, not taught to many Faie younglings in America.

Mato stood up and coughed to get everyone’s attention. We’ll soon be at Perth, he said. That’s where we’re going to stop for a toilet break. After that we’ll continue along the A-9 northwards and on to the road to Inverness. It’s after Perth that the road gets more difficult. It’s about five hours from Perth to Foinaven. I hope no one is sick.

Accalia assured him that if anyone was sick it wouldn’t be her.

We’re picking up some more people at Perth, Mato added. Two of them are quite small. Perhaps you could help me get some seats ready at the front? They’ve got baskets of sandwiches and drinks. Dasani, of you would get them when the coach stops and let the other coaches in on the secret. Everyone will be hungry so don’t loiter.

Dasani’s face had brightened at the mention of food and he accepted the duty with alacrity.

Meanwhile, Accalia had wondered why three double seats at the front of the coach had been left empty. Now she knew. It was for the Faie they were picking up.

I’ll get some blankets, she said.

* * * * *

PERTHSHIRE

Four adults and two youngsters were waiting for the coach. The two little ones, they looked to be around seven or eight, looked half asleep.

They legionaries were told that their parents had been killed by the Kobold and they were being taken to safety.

Accalia, with Thelonius’s help, got them on to the bus and made them as comfy as they could with makeshift pillows and rough army blankets.

Accalia looked with interest at the adults.

One, he had been introduced as Andaerean, was of the Faie, that was obvious although he resembled a fussy little schoolteacher. The short dumpy female, Ahtna was her name … Accalia wasn’t sure what she was. She wasn’t Faie and with her yellow eyes she looked somewhat wolfish. The other two looked as if they were warrior-kerns. They had that no nonsense look about them that spoke of those who lived by the sword.

They were all very nice. Ahtna’s smile being of the kind that drew you in with the sure and certain knowledge that she was your friend.

It appeared that they had driven up from England that day using a hired car. They had returned it to the rental office that afternoon before taking a taxi to the motorway service station.

As Andaerean said as he sat down with a sigh of relief, it was nice not to have to drive any more. Accalia surmised from this comment that neither Ahtna nor the other two held a driving licence. She was quite correct. Ahtna had refused to learn and the other two had never seen the need.

It was at Perth that the relief drivers boarded the buses. The first drivers took a rest on the bucket seat behind the bag racks.

All aboard, the command rang out in car park, everyone boarded and people counts were completed. They set off again.

Accalia fell asleep as the bus drove past Dingwall, about fifteen miles north of Inverness.

* * * * *

SUTHERLAND

The coach is speeding up! Dasani exclaimed as he shook Accalia awake.

Two hours ago, the mist enveloped Foinaven Mountain, announced Mato. And there have been unconfirmed sightings of Kobold in the area.

This doesn’t sound good. Accalia knew, as all who had fought at Lost Eagle Peak knew, that there was a great big difference between ‘mist’ and ‘the mist’.

Dasani, who remained glued to her side, seemed unconcerned, but then he hadn’t been at the peak when the mist had arrived, heralding the attack by the Spriggan.

Dalach Mac Buiseif Oig at Caisteal Na Sìobhragan is in charge of the department monitoring the vortexes worldwide, continued Mato. "He has predicted that the vortex we are heading for will stabilise sometime during the early hours of the morning. That is why our driver is accelerating. We need to be there when that happens. We’re arranging for more food to be waiting for us en route and there will be another comfort break."

What about the non-combatants? asked Thelonius.

They will be taken to Caisteal Na Sìobhragan as soon as our Centum is as close to the mountain as it can get us, answered Mato. Please spend what remains of the journey wisely.

He sat down.

What does he mean by wisely? asked an excited Dasani.

Get some rest. Check your weapons, she whispered as she reached under the seat and pulled out her sword.

At the back of the coach some legionaries pulled the firearms boxes out from