Darkness & Lies: A Brotherhood Novel (#1) (2 page)

He and Ta
bitha had recently begun dating—
as in last night when they found they would be sharing a room in the too cramped B
&
B back in town. She had to give credit to the man though, anyone who could stand being in Tab
i
tha’s presence for more than a
two-hour 
stretch and still look at her with eyes that adoring was definitely a keeper in her
book.

The others, Cathy, a
twenty-three-year old
banker teller from Toledo (
also where she was from);
Harol
d, a
fifty-two-year-old  stockbroker 
from New York with more muscle th
en a man his age had a right to;
and
Sebastian, a
twenty-eight-year-old 
col
lege dropout and self—
proclaimed momma’s boy from New Hampshire. Tim was the glue that held them together
,
always having the right words to offer to dispel any proble
ms
that
might arise among
them, and
considering the amount of testosterone flowing through their little family
,
that
was a blessing in itself. Tabitha, chronic complainer and socialite, lived off the trust fund her parents set up for her before their untim
e
ly death. See
k
ing a name for herself and an excuse to get on the cover of any major magazine that would have her, she funded their yearly trips with zeal. And Hadley, her newest addition to her circle of friends who had been r
e
cently elevated to BFF number two status, was a wife and mother of three who had stopped aging on her twen
ty-
ninth birthday roughly five years ago, rounded out her
troupe.

Except for
Hadley, they had all met during their sophomore year
of
college at OSU. Sharing the same pa
s
sion for life, they became fast friends with each of them contributing something to their adventurous
lifestyle.

Harold introduced them to hang gliding. Cathy taught them how to handle a wave runner. Sebastian intr
o
duced them all to the art of drinking without vomiting, and Hadley was the quiet one, content to follow the
crowd.
She had a feeling that it was
more
because she was still ge
t
ting acclimated to their colorful group than a lack of adve
n
ture. Hadley had an aura about her that told Cheyenne that b
e
hind closed doors
,
the woman was a
freak.

Kris and Cheyenne introduced them all to the world of climbing. Two weeks out
of
the year, all of them dropped what life they had and got together for another a
d
venture, one of exploring ancient myths and legends around the world.

They had arrived in Iceland two days ago on a commercial plane landing just outside the small town of Hvolsvollur. With
a mere eight hundred inhabitants,
their crew had zero
hopes
of slipping in under the radar. As it was, news of their arrival and their reason for coming had already spread like wild fire and came crashing down on them in the form of Ranga, the head fisherman and owner of the little
ta
v
ern/
B & B they were booked to stay at. The sight of his large, burly frame descending on them would forever haunt
Cheyenne. 
 

From the moment they crossed the threshold it was made abundantly clear they were t
reading
on
dangerous territory.
The Icelanders were very much
people 
of hist
o
ry and fully believed in their g
ods. Their journey of disco
v
ery was an invitation to death and
destruction,
and they were the harbingers of sorrow, making their reception as cold as the surrounding
environs.

Dinner was eaten in the mess hall of the reprodu
c
tion Viking farmhouse. At
least,
she thought it was a repr
o
duction. It was hard to tell with the moss laden roof and the rough
, stone cut masonry foundation. Massive wood
slab tables filled the length of the large room with benches lined on either side. Bodies filled every available seat leaving no room fo
r the personal space their west
–lander upbringing desired. Fire pits staggered at key points
around
the room staved off the draft brought on by the crisp evening winds battering the walls, seeking a way
in.

Maidens filled the halls complete with period garb
,
slapping down thin metal plates filled with whole salmon and heavily salted potatoes and cabbage. Beer soon fo
l
lowed, and lots of it. The predominately male crowd grew louder by
the hour creating near deaf
ening decibels of laughter and thickly accented words.

Cheyenne cringed at the memory of looking into the eyes of her food. She’d had fish
before,
of course, but it was one thing to have a fillet and another to have it staring back at you with accusing eyes. She had gone to bed hu
n
gry that night, as had most of her troupe. Not wanting to offend their keepers, they had made a
good-faith effort
the follo
w
ing night and joined the townsfolk once again for dinner, tensely waiting for the next horror to be placed in front of them. They were rewarded
with one of the best meals they’d
ever
sunk
their teeth
into.

Kris settled down next to her
,
summoning Che
y
enne from her reverie, and offered her a handful of dried strawberries in his upturned palm. Cheyenne glanced up at his forlorn expression and couldn’t help the smile that crept over her face.

“You’re forgiven,” she sighed, reaching o
ver and accepting the small peac
e offering.

She and Kris had been arguing for the last week over who was the best candidate to lead the group to the summit. Every year it was the same thing, Kris wanted to be the one while she argued over how much more ex
per
i
ence she had. The fact was—
since they had both been climbing alongside each other since they had practically started walk
ing—
t
hey were both a shoe
in for the position.

Born leaders, it had always been a power struggle between
them,
and they were constantly butting heads, but at the end of
the
day,
there were no hard feelings.
They a
l
ways made peace and that was why he would
forever
retain BFF number one status in her
book.

“Good, I was getting tired of the silent treatment. I miss my friend.” Kris leaned over and pressed his lips to her temple. “So,” he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tugged her into his side. “I give them another day.” He inclined his head toward Tabitha and Tim who were now inhaling each other’s face like some sort of ravenous an
i
mals.

“Hmm, I give it a week
,
tops.” Cheyenne grimaced at the display before looking away in an attempt to save her eyesight from any further onslaught of misplaced acts of PDA.

She looked up and took in Kris’s simple beauty that never ceased to stun her
,
if even for a minute. Unruly
dirty-blond hair
framed a masculine face. His
deep-blue
eyes were framed with a fringe of dark
,
heavy lashes and the high cheek bones and full lips coupled with naturally tanned skin betrayed his Indian heritage. Of course, with his mother being of full Irish blood
,
he hardly looked
it.

Working her teeth through the tough meat, Che
y
enne felt a stab of longing for the succulent lamb she had dined on the previous night. Smothered in butter with a hint of salt, surrounded by sliced potatoes and braised cabbage.
Suddenly,
the jerky just couldn’t sustain the hunger that was quickly consuming
her.

If she didn’t get off this train of thought soon
,
she was likely to turn tail and haul ass back down the mountain in favor a nice hot meal at a real table. Shoving the remai
n
der of the jerky into the Ziploc bag, Cheyenne closed her pack and slung it up over her shoulder as she straightened out.

“You think it’s really there?” Kris paced her while he crammed his
freeze-dried food
back into his own
bag.

She sighed. “Hell if I know. Everything in the hist
o
ry books points to something being up
there.”

Noticing they had resumed their assent, the others
moved
quickl
y to
ca
tch
up.

“How much you wanna bet it turns out to be not
h
ing more than old wives tales designed to scare kiddies when they wouldn’t go to bed at
night, like
the boogie man.” Sebastian wiggled his fingers in front of his face in mock
horror.

“Yeah, just like when we found out the real site of Atlantis was in the Aegean Sea
last year. Not,
” Harold’s sarcastic voice chimed in.

“I don’t
know. I
thought it had some promising a
t
tributes,” Hadley added. “I mean, the islands alone were a pretty big giveaway. And Plato did mention i
s
lands.”

“I’m with Hadley,” Tabitha said. “Besides, isn’t all mythology and what not based on some fact?”

Tim wrapped his arm around her waist and placed a chaste kiss to her lips. “I love your mind.” At which Tab
i
tha beamed. At which a collective groan ripp
l
ed through the group. At the rate they were burning the candle Kris might actually win the bet. The break up was going to be
mammoth.

“Fact or no fact, I’m siding with Edgar Cayc
e. N
ext year I say we go to the Bahamas and put this whole issue to bed once and for all.” Harold trudged through the snow with purpose, a broad smile breaking across his handsome face as the thought warmed him against the chilly air.

Cheyenne shook her head, smiling at the friendly banter. Harold, who was always pushing for an excuse for an island getaway, was not one for letting go of an idea once it had settled in. And it was obvious to
Cheyenne that it was settled. T
his time next year they would no doubt be scuba diving off the coast of the Bahamas.

Their trip to Santorini hadn’t been a total bust, ho
w
ever. Coupled with the great diving opportunity and the fantastic sites the gorgeous island provided, Cheyenne was able to bring back a few choice bottles of wine the city was known for. In anticipation of their coming discovery (cross fingers), she had tucked away a bottle of their famous
vinsanto
into her bag along with a few small plastic tu
m
blers. Known as the “holy
wine,"
Cheyenne could think of no better way to commemorate the event than rewarding themselves with the sweet nectar of the
gods.

Casting her gaze heavenward and seeing nothing more than a blanket of white as far as the eye could see, Cheyenne had only one wish: that they were already at the
top,
so she could crack that baby open and taste the swee
t
ness of vino coating her tongue while nibbling on a choc
o
late
bar.

A chocolate bar that was currently sitting on the nightstand beside the bed back at the B & B in town. Damn! Talk about bursting bubbles.

Thoroughly peeved, Cheyenne dug the spikes of her crampons into the ground and continued the trek up the mountainside with much less enthusiasm
,
allowing Kris, who grinned like a kid let loose in a candy shop at the a
l
lowance, to take the lead.

Chapter 2

They finished setting up camp just before sundown. Tabitha and Tim chose to bunk together in their own tent while
Harold, Sebastian
and Kris bunked together in theirs
,
and
Cheyenne, Cathy
and Hadley opted for a little girl time in a tent of their own.