by Nicole Hall
“You have provided us a service once before, mitt barn, and we again see that you are worthy.”
Maddie raised her eyebrows in surprise. “That’s a new one.”
He kept talking as if she hadn’t said anything. “Ahead of you is the test. Fail, and we part ways here.” Sadness swam in his eyes for a moment, and Maddie marveled at the impression she’d left on him last year. At the time, she’d been awestruck that trolls were real and hadn’t even considered saying no. Oskar’s terrible sense of humor had endeared him to her. He laughed at all her snarky comments and told the worst dad-jokes she’d ever heard.
“Pass, and you may have the necklace which you seek.”
She felt Aiden tense up next to her, though they weren’t strictly touching. The air around him sharpened. As much as she liked Oskar and believed Aiden that they needed this necklace, Maddie wanted some clarification first.
“I have questions. What is the test? What does ‘part ways’ mean specifically? No offense, but how do I know you actually have the necklace we’re looking for? You said before that my description was vague and never confirmed you had it or that it was the same necklace we want.”
Oskar squinted over his shoulder at one troll, then the other. They didn’t speak aloud, but they seemed to come to some agreement. His hand came up between them, and when he opened his fist, a golden necklace sat in his palm. The light from the fire caught the Celtic knot design etched onto a simple oval medallion. The necklace appeared normal, but she could feel the weight of the magic emanating from it.
The power in the standing stones was trivial compared to what this necklace appeared to hold.
“We have this artifact that once belonged to a selkie and came to us on a pirate ship. It is very powerful with ancient magic that we do not like to meddle with.” Oskar let her look for a moment, then closed his hand and returned it to his side. Maddie would bet a week’s worth of steak dinners that he wasn’t holding the necklace anymore. The heaviness of it dissipated from the air.
“When we say ‘part ways’, we mean you will be asked politely to leave.” He shrugged with a rumbling of stone. “We don’t like violence, so we try to save it as a last resort.”
Maddie relaxed and smiled. “I fully support that philosophy, and we’ll be glad to politely leave if that’s what happens.” Her smile slipped away at Oskar’s next words.
“The test is in the fire. Impurities burn away. What remains is precious.”
Her hands were toasty warm from holding them up a couple of feet from the flames. How hot would the middle be? The fire danced and swirled higher than her head, and the longer she stared at it the harder it got to breathe. She took an involuntary step back and bumped into Aiden. His hands dropped onto her shoulders, and his hair brushed her cheek as he leaned down to whisper to her.
“We should leave. There has to be another way to get the necklace.”
She shook her head. “You saw the necklace appear and disappear. It’s probably like your pocket trod. Do you have an idea of how to convince them to let it go without passing the test?”
“It’s not worth death, Maddie.”
She closed her eyes. The heat from the fire had chased away the chill, and the silent forest around her seemed to hold its breath. Maddie nudged the icy shard of magic she carried, and it bloomed and spread, coating her inside and out. With heightened senses, she recognized tendrils of power moving sinuously in front of her where the fire should be.
The magic inside her reached for the power, but her shields stopped it. Slowly, she pulled down several layers until the power of the fire curled toward her. She knew that power. Knew what to do with it.
“Trust me,” she whispered, and Aiden squeezed her shoulders.
His hands slipped off of her as she moved forward. Maddie didn’t dare open her eyes for fear she’d lose her concentration. Three steps should have brought her close enough to be seared, but she asked the fire for space. The tendrils of power bowed away from her and allowed a path through. She didn’t waste any time, but she didn’t rush either. One steady step after another until the fire warmed her back. She released the tendrils to their own devices, and settled her shields around her once more.
Maddie opened her eyes to see Oskar standing in front of her. He smiled and patted her on the back, nearly toppling her over. She looked over her shoulder and saw Aiden on the other side of the bonfire, his face impassive, but Oskar drew her attention forward again.
“I told them you were clever,” he said.
“I passed the test?”
“Well done, mitt barn. The necklace is yours. Take care with it.” Oskar revealed the necklace in his palm again, and this time he held it there until Maddie picked it up.
A thrill went through her when she touched it. The power pulsed and called to her, but she wasn’t about to lower her shields for a second time in five minutes. She shivered as the warmth from the flames faded. As scary as it had been, when she’d been in the fire, answering the call of magic to magic, she’d felt whole. The magic had felt like hers, and the icy remnant had dissolved.
Her head drooped as the cold lodged inside her again.
She carefully tucked the necklace away in the inner waist pocket of her leggings. The slot was meant for keys, but it was the perfect size for an ancient magical artifact with unknown power. The other trolls nodded at her and wandered away. Oskar stayed by her side as she took the long way around the fire to rejoin Aiden.
“You will stay now, yes?” Oskar asked, still ignoring Aiden.
Maddie patted the back of his hand. “I’d love to, but we have important business to take care of.”
Oskar furrowed his brow. “You don’t understand. The fire has decided. You’re a treasure given to us to protect, and we will protect you.”
“Uhh…thanks?” Maddie realized she hadn’t gotten assurances that they’d be allowed to leave if she passed the test. “Oskar, I’m honored to be one of your treasures, but I can’t stay here. I have promises to keep elsewhere.”
“It is tricky when treasures have minds of their own.”
His face smoothed, as much as it could with deep furrows etched by time. “You’ll come back. If you need us, you only have to call…” He unclipped his satellite phone and waggled it at her with a smile. “And we’ll come rolling.”
Maddie groaned for his benefit and had the surprising urge to hug him. It would have been like hugging a concrete pillar, and the action didn’t have the same comforting connotations for trolls, so she refrained. “Thanks, Oskar.”
“I’ll walk you back to the trod, give me a moment to let the sentries know.”
Oskar plodded away, and Maddie watched him go.
“I wonder if treasure is a bad translation of a different word,” she mused.
Aiden shifted closer to her so he could lower his voice. “It seems likely given the way he was using it.”
He searched her face, and Maddie counted to eleven before she lost her patience. “What? What’s wrong?”
“You used elemental magic.”
“So?”
“I’ve seen you use Fae magic, and I’ve seen you manipulate my wards. Now elemental magic.” He shook his head. “It’s supposed to be impossible to effectively use different schools.”
She cocked her head. “But Torix is using magic that isn’t Fae. I can tell. It feels different.”
“Sort of. I think he’s using items as repositories for spells. All he has to do is turn it on or off. Unless it’s Fae magic, like what he did to Will. That’s why I classified it as an effective use of magic. You shouldn’t have been able to access the magic of the flames, let alone move them out of the way.”
Maddie grunted in frustration. “What do you want me to tell you? We needed the necklace, so I opened myself to see what I could do. Turns out, that’s what I could do. It surprised me as much as you.”
He laughed dryly. “I doubt that.”
“Are you seriously upset because I did
the thing without getting myself killed and now we have the artifact that will help us get rid of Torix for good?”
His shoulders relaxed. “No. I’m a big fan of all of that. It was terrifying to watch you walk into the fire, but you asked me to trust you. I hope you’ll trust me in the days that come. Your abilities keep surprising me though.”
Her hackles settled. “Good. Monotony is boring.”
He smiled, and it traveled from the slow, wicked curve of his lips to his eyes. In a second, she was on fire again, but with a different kind of flames. “I’d never call you boring, marenkya, and I can’t wait to see how else you surprise me.”
Maddie swallowed hard, but she couldn’t convince her overheated brain to come up with an answer that didn’t involve them naked in bed together. The knowledge in his eyes made it clear she didn’t have to say anything. She felt her face heating as Oscar joined them, and it gave her the impetus to break eye contact with Aiden.
“Do you have everything you came for, mitt barn?”
She pulled the necklace out of her pocket and held it out. The subtle glow in her palm could have been from the sunlight, but she didn’t think so. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
Oskar trudged into the trees, once again making his own path. Maddie shoved the necklace into her pants again and noticed that Aiden waited until she started moving to follow. He kept pace a step behind her, but close enough to touch.
“What are you doing?” she muttered over her shoulder.
His hand grazed her back as she stumbled on a root then righted herself. “You heard the troll. We have to protect the treasure.”
“So you’re walking behind me like a creeper?”
“You protect the necklace. I’ll protect you.”
Maddie tripped on another root and cursed her inability to talk to someone behind her while watching the ground in front of her. The problem was that his presence distracted her in a distinctly non-creepy way. She wanted him to touch her, and it made the rest of her clumsy.
Since her magic fire trick, the cold air hadn’t bothered her. Too bad, the frigid temperature might have cooled down her raging hormones.
Oskar paused in front of a small creek to let them catch up. As she got closer, Maddie realized the creek had only looked small next to the massive troll. She didn’t remember passing over any water on the way to the encampment, but to be fair, she hadn’t been paying much attention at the time.
“We’re not far now. Do you need a break?”
The water looked clear and fresh, and Maddie’s bottle could use a refill. “Maybe a quick one.” She eyed the speckled green and grey rocks on the embankment. They glistened in the sun, and she’d bet they were slick. The current whipped leaves and sticks away from them faster than she was comfortable with.
Oskar crouched near the water, and Maddie watched him curiously. All he did was dig his fingers into the mud at the bank and close his eyes. His strange meditation offered another example of the many things she didn’t understand about trolls.
She waited a moment, but Oskar looked like he might be there for a while, so Maddie slipped off her pack and dropped it on a dry-looking patch of brown grass. She stretched her arms over her head, arching her sore back, and caught Aiden staring. The hunger on his face sparked an answering heat in her. She took her time holding the stretch, letting him look his fill. Their eyes clashed and held.
Maddie knew she had a decision to make when they returned to his cabin. The tension between them had only increased during their travels, and she badly wanted to release it. She’d been reticent to get involved with him in the beginning, but that had been before she’d gotten to know him. Before she’d trusted him. While she still had no intention of letting her feelings get out of hand, Maddie could see no harm in enjoying themselves together if it was what they both wanted.
And Aiden’s heated gaze assured her he wanted it as much as she did.
Her arms dropped to her sides. Aiden took a slow step toward her, and prickles washed over her. For a second, her reaction to Aiden seemed weird, but then her brain caught up. She knew that feeling.
The prickles were a warning.
Realization dawned on Aiden’s face at about the same time that she figured it out, but they were too late. Oskar shouted in surprise and fell forward into the pool. He made a mighty splash, and his head surfaced as he sputtered incoherently. Something dragged him downstream before he braced himself and plunged his arm into the now-frothing current. Maddie flung her pack over her shoulder and tried to run to him, but Aiden grabbed her around the waist.
“No, wait,” he said quietly, watching the water.
Oskar bellowed, and Maddie struggled against Aiden’s hold. “Let me go. He needs help.”
“If you rush in, he’ll have to stop fighting or risk hurting you too. Give him space to defend himself.”
Maddie connected with a heel to Aiden’s shin. He grunted in pain, but didn’t let go. “Dammit, Aiden.”
“Maddie, use that clever mind of yours.”
Oskar heaved something grey and slimy deep into the trees. The water calmed. His hip cloth dripped into the stream, which had leveled out somewhere above his knees. Maddie’s fear began to recede, and she noted that the water went deeper than she’d first thought. Aiden kept his arms around her, but less restraint, more embrace.
She leaned back against him and sighed in relief when Oskar snarled in the direction of the grey thing and climbed onto the bank.
“What was that?” Maddie asked.
“Bäckahäst.” He spit the word out as he continued to watch the forest around them, but it didn’t mean anything to her.
“Was that a kelpie?” Aiden directly addressed him for the first time. She thought for a second Oskar would ignore the question, but he eventually turned back to them.
“Yes. They’re also known as kelpies. That one must have been desperate to attack me in such a manner.”
Maddie patted Aiden’s arm around her midsection, and he belatedly released her. “What was it trying to do?”
“Pull me deeper into the water.” He tsked. “It was a foolish plan. This water can’t hold me, even with the kelpie’s power.” Oskar shook himself and sent droplets flying.
Maddie wiped water off her arms and tried not to think about how close she’d come to being between the kelpie and Oskar. “I thought kelpies were native to Scotland…or maybe Britain? I can’t remember exactly, but further south than here.”
Oskar sent her an amused glance. “There are no laws that keep them there. We should leave.”
“Okay, but I have to pee first.”
Both men turned to look at her. “What? I’ve been holding it forever. I can be quick; it’ll only take a second.” Before they could protest, she walked a few steps away from them and slipped behind a couple of close-growing trees. She heard them grumbling behind her and smiled as she took care of business. “See, I can still hear you complaining. Everything is fine.”
Maddie adjusted her leggings back up and felt the pocket to make sure she still had the necklace. A rustle in front of her made her roll her eyes. “You don’t have to follow me everywhere, Aiden. I promise I can pee by myself and not—” Her words cut off abruptly as she made eye contact across several trees.
It wasn’t Aiden looking back at her.
The grey creature appeared wet, but it might have been a trick of the light. Its body resembled a seal but with four slender legs holding it up. Weird fins wrapped around each of the legs. They must extend out when it’s in the water.
The kelpie had seemed much smaller when Oskar had tossed it into the forest. On four legs, she only came up to its shoulder. It tilted its head at her and sniffed the air with a long horse-like snout. Unlike a regular horse, this thing had slitted eyes on the front of its face, and it was watching her.
Maddie stood as still as she could.
It hadn’t attacked yet, and she didn’t know what was holding it back. The thin lips parted to reve
al rows of jagged teeth as it made a clicking growl. Her chest tightened at the sight of those teeth, and she focused on getting air into her lungs without drawing more attention to herself.
A hand wrapped around her sore wrist, and a second later, she jerked backward. Maddie yelped, but by some miracle, she kept her feet and darted past Aiden, away from the kelpie.
“Run!” she barked, but the breath was wasted. They were already speeding back the way she’d come. He’d lost his grip on her arm as she twisted, but he stayed a step behind her the whole time. Her arm ached where he’d grabbed it, right over Torix’s mark.
Where was Oskar? She tried to listen for sounds of pursuit as she slalomed around trees, but she couldn’t hear anything over her panting. They reached the stream and veered away from the water. She’d seen it pull Oskar down and didn’t want to mess with it on its home turf.
Where was Oskar?
Maddie had no idea where her panicked sprinting led her. She abruptly stopped, and Aiden crashed into her. As she’d suspected, silence permeated the forest behind them. Either the kelpie was part ninja, or it had stopped chasing them…or it hadn’t started at all.
“Where’s Oskar?” She gasped the words at Aiden as she bent at the waist and tried to breathe.
He scanned the trees they’d run through, not even winded. “He was on the other side of the kelpie. I came in behind you, and he went around.”
“How…” Maddie held up a hand and gulped in air for a second, then stood. “How? I could hear you arguing?”
Aiden uncapped his water and handed it to her. She took several grateful swigs, then returned it to him. “We wanted the kelpie to think that.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You knew it was there?”
“Approximately, yes.”
“And you still let me go off to pee alone?”
His eyes found hers. “I believe your exact words were ‘you don’t have to follow me everywhere, Aiden.’”
Maddie threw her hands up. “That would have been a great time to actually follow me. What was the plan?”
Aiden shrugged. “I’d get you away from the kelpie, and Oskar would try to snap it in half.”