by TR Rook
“And that is something you all are required to learn by heart? The spells and the incantations?”
“It is hard to learn them all,” Liv chuckled, her mood improving vastly now that she was clean and having her hair combed. “We learn the most basic, but the more complicated spells we keep written down. Most witches always carry a book containing spells with them. It is the most important thing a witch owns. Nothing can ever replace it if it is lost.” Liv kept her own safely secured in her saddlebags, spelled so that only she could touch it and open it.
“There. Your hair is done.” Amala handed her comb back, then stood up from the bed. “It was nice meeting you, Liv, but it’s getting dark and I better be on my way.”
“What?” Liv turned around, surprised at the sudden talk of leaving.
“Don’t worry,” Amala smiled briefly. “I paid for the room tonight. You relax and get on your way in the morning.”
“But...” Liv searched for words, but couldn’t come up with something intelligent to say. “Let me come with you!”
Amala turned around, regarding her curiously. “You were stalled by one lindworm. Why would you want to come with someone like me, who hunts them?”
Yes, why do I want to go with her? Liv asked herself drily, but she already knew the answer. “Because I think what you do for people—common, defenceless people—is good and noble. I want to be a part of it. I know defensive and offensive spells. I shan’t freeze like that again, I swear to it.”
Amala still looked reluctant.
“Just give me a chance. If I do slow you down, or mess up, I will gladly go on my way.” Liv held the towel closed as she turned around to face Amala completely. “I just want to do something that matters and this does. You help people. You make them feel safe. I want to be a part of that too.”
Amala tilted her head up, staring up at the ceiling for a long moment. She sighed and looked back down at Liv. “Alright, you can come with me. It would be nice to have company for a change. But you should still sleep here tonight.”
Liv frowned. “What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me.” Amala made for the door. “Sleep well, Liv. We leave at dawn.” She closed the door after her, leaving Liv to her solitude.
Liv sighed and lay down on the bed. What have I got myself into now? she thought, playing with a lock of her hair. She did not regret it though. She wanted this. Wanted to be a part of something good, something that helped people, and this was it. Nothing was going to stop her.
Liv watched the mountain range looming ahead in wonder. The mountains were the tallest she had ever seen, and the entire mountain range was covered in forest, except for the peaks.
Not even two days into her time spent journeying with Amala, they had reached her destination: the Black Mountains. Only the mountain range shielded the land from dangerous territories. Not a lot was known of the land beyond the mountains, but it was said to be a great wasteland where people rode dragons and breathed fire just like the marvellous beasts themselves.
Of course, all of that was just hearsay. It sounded too incredulous to be true, but those were the stories. Liv could not argue with them.
“There’s a small village further up the mountain that is continuously plagued by lindworms,” Amala told to her. “It has been three months since I was there last. Let us hope it is still standing.”
Liv had not yet seen another lindworm and she felt her stomach churning at the thought that she soon would. At every stop they had made the past two days, she had been continuously going through her book, trying to learn both defensive and offensive spells that she thought would help against the reptilian creatures.
They were closing in on the mountains fast. The Black Mountains loomed high into the sky, the angle of the sun causing them to cast the land in front of them into shadow.
Amala urged her horse into a faster gallop and Liv followed. Liv had always snuck off for a ride whenever she had free time, but she had certainly travelled slower when she had been on her own. Even still, she was glad she was used to riding, because Amala was relentless with the speed.
Not that she was complaining. She liked that they were on their way to actually help people from a very real danger. She was with a beautiful woman, whose company she enjoyed more every day.
Amala was like no one Liv had ever met before. Not just because of her exotic look, but because she did not treat Liv any better than others—they were on common ground. She was not a peasant and Liv was not the princess. They were equals, and that was something Liv had never felt before.
Back home everyone was so formal, so phony with their friendliness, wanting to get closer to the princess. Out here she was liked for the person she was, not because of her higher status. No one here knew who she really was and she preferred to keep it that way.
She did not like the lie, but she did not regard herself as a princess now. She was a witch, first and foremost, and she was helping Amala on her mission to keep people safe. Why did anyone need to know she was a princess? They would regard her differently. They would not be able to trust her as their equal. It was better to keep quiet about it. Even to Amala, no matter how much it bothered her.
The day was slowly turning into evening, darkness seeping over the landscape. It made their road even darker as they had reached the mountain shadows and were riding into the little village a bit up the mountainside. The village lay on a flat expanse, trees cleared back around it, yet still surrounding the village all the same.
“See why this village attracts the lindworms?” Amala nodded to the trees as they let their horses walk slowly up the road and into the village. “Surrounded by forest on all sides. Lindworms thrive in the woods, especially when there’s people and food right in the middle of it.”
“But they seem to be all right,” Liv offered, looking out over the quiet houses. “Nothing is broken. All looks calm.”
“I have taught them a manner of protecting themselves,” Amala replied. “They do not carry swords here, but I taught them to use what they have. Knives and pitchforks, mostly. But it can be enough if you’re swift and strong.”
Liv glanced over at her. “Maybe you could teach me some of that fighting? I might be a witch, but being able to physically defend myself would be nice.”
“Sure, I can do that. Even have an extra sword.” Amala patted her saddle gently, but the sword she was talking about was wrapped in a blanket and strapped to the back of the saddle. “Now, this village actually has an inn. It only has three rooms, but they don’t have many visitors here, so nothing else can be expected. We’ll have somewhere to stay and food to eat. The woman living there makes marvellous stew.”
Liv smiled at that, her stomach rumbling in agreement. Chuckling, she stopped her horse when Amala did and jumped down.
“Hi, there!” A man came towards them, greeting Amala warmly. “Let me get your horses settled, ladies. You two go in and my wife will have food on the table for you.”
“Thank you, Tob. That is greatly appreciated.” Amala grabbed her saddlebags and slung them over one shoulder, then made for the inn.
Liv grabbed her own saddlebags as well and hurried after her. The inn was small, only one story tall, but it was nice and homey and the fire in the front room was lit. Liv felt instantly at ease.
“Lady Amala!” A very small, very round woman appeared in front of them, beaming up at Amala as she dried her hands on a cloth. “I knew you’d be back soon. I have some food boiling on the oven. Are you hungry?” Her eyes slid over to Liv and her smile grew a fraction. “You’ve brought someone with you this time? Hi, my lady, I am Elly.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Liv replied with a smile and small curtsy. “I am Liv.”
“Come on, ladies, sit down. I’ll bring some food out for you in just a moment.” She ushered both Amala and Liv over to the table closest to the fire, then bustled back into what Liv could only assume was the kitchen.
“They seem nice,” Liv told Amala, sitting down with a
sigh in the comfortable chair.
“They are.” Amala issued a small, wry smile. “This is my favourite village.” She then turned sharp eyes on Liv. “When we get up in the morning, we’re going into the woods and I will teach you some swordsmanship, as per your request.”
Liv felt her stomach knot nervously at that. “That is much appreciated,” she said and she meant it. “I really do want to learn, though I expect I will be horrible.”
“Who isn’t their first time?” Amala grinned. “You’ll do great, Liv. I am an excellent swordswoman, and I believe you’ll take to it quickly.”
Liv could only hope so, though she doubted it. She was normally slow at learning. It took relentless studying and training for her to pick things up. She would do her best though. That was all she could do.
Wood clashed against wood as Liv parried Amala’s strike. She tried to hold the stick in position, but Amala was much stronger than her. She easily pushed Liv’s hands out of position and held the tip of her own stick to Liv’s throat.
Liv stepped back, and instantly collapsed on the ground, letting the sword roll out of her hand onto the grass. “This is exhausting,” she groaned. “I am not made for this.” She had never held a sword in her life—and if she had known just how heavy they were, she never would have agreed to it.
“Don’t women in the capital get warrior training?” Amala sat down next to her, crossing her feet under herself.
“A woman can choose it at the University, but few do. I did not—I had enough to do taking my magic courses. They might not be hard for the body, but they certainly are hard for the mind.”
“Why don’t more women take the warrior path?” Amala questioned.
Liv shrugged, though it was awkward, as she was lying flat on the ground. “It is just looked down upon. Women are weaker than men physically, so men should be the fighters, women the nurturers. That is the way it is among the royalty and the concept has spread to the rest of the people. I can say for certain that no noble woman has chosen to fight, at least not in my time. Those that do choose to fight are commoners—people who do not have much else going for them.”
“That’s bollocks.” Amala tilted her head back to look up at the sky. They were in a small clearing in the forest that Amala had found the previous day. “Men might be stronger than women physically, but women have other attributes. Like, we’re smaller, faster and more flexible. A woman can get close to an enemy and have him out of commission by using those skills instead of facing the opponent straight on.”
Liv tilted her head to the side, looking up at Amala. Her profile contrasted against the trees behind her. Even overcast, the sky shone light on her, making the blue highlights in her hair all the more visible. The braids were still tied back by the sash she used as a headband. Liv found the braids to be quite fascinating. She had never seen anyone with quite that colour of hair and certainly not someone with that many braids. It had to take a full day to braid it all.
She turned her head away when a rustling sound reached her ears. The ground started shaking slightly and Liv propped up on her elbows, frowning. “What is that?”
Amala slowly got to her feet, sword gripped tightly in one hand as she let her eyes travel over the woods around them. Liv stood up as well, snatching up her own sword, though she would not be much help with it if something were to happen.
The rustling was coming closer and the shaking grew in size. Liv stared at the ground and saw the leaves at her feet move with the ground’s quaking. “Amala?” she asked, her voice full of dread.
Amala stood poised to fight, eyes trained straight ahead.
Something burst out of the tree line ahead of them, something enormous and grey and ugly. Liv screamed.
“Troll!” Amala shouted, grabbing ahold of her arm. “Run!”
Chapter Two
The Troll
“Run, Liv!” Amala shouted at her. “I cannot fight a troll and win!”
But Liv could not move. Not because she was paralysed with fear this time but because she felt magic. Powerful magic nearby. And it certainly could not be the ugly, hairy troll approaching at high speed having such powers, so someone else had to be out and about in woods...
Suddenly, tree roots shot out of the ground and wrapped around the troll’s ankles and arms, stopping it quite effectively and keeping it locked in place. The troll, big ugly brute that it was, howled in anger and thrashed about but the tree roots did not budge.
Liv watched, completely mesmerised. She could feel Amala pressed up against her arm, watching as well. The troll was completely stuck and not happy about it, as indicated by its furious roaring.
An arrow came from behind Liv. It moved with such speed that she did not even see its flight before it pierced the troll’s chest. The troll instantly stopped struggling and turned to stone. It cracked apart, each huge piece of stone falling to the ground with loud crashes.
Liv whirled around, hoping to see the one that had killed the troll.
“What the—“ Amala mumbled next to her.
Two people stood a distance away, just past the tree-line. The one furthest back had dark brown hair that curled around his neck and over his ears, with a fringe that covered almost the entirety of his brow. The other one, the one in front, still held a bow in his hands. He had black hair that fell around his face in soft curls and his eyes... his eyes were completely black.
“Who are you?” Amala demanded as she stepped forward in front of Liv. “Who are you that you can kill a troll?”
“You should not be out in the woods by yourselves,” the one with the bow and the black eyes spoke. “These are dangerous territories.”
“And I keep the villagers residing here safe,” Amala snapped. “So don’t tell me what danger is. I know it well enough.”
The other man stepped up to his companion’s side. This one’s eyes were strange as well, the pupils were black, but instead of the iris and the white of normal human eyes, his were an odd mix of yellow and orange. Not human eyes, that was for sure.
She could not read them. Though the set to the man’s jaw could have been agitation or annoyance, she could not quite decide which.
“Then keep safe,” the second one spoke up, his voice deeper than the first. “And keep out of way of trolls.” The two seemed to simply vanish into the woods. They were out of sight as quickly as they had arrived.
Liv let out a shaky breath, her eyes straying to the cluster of stone. “Was that really...?”
“A troll, yeah.” Amala turned to the stones as well. “Quite an adventure for you. Your first lindworm, then your first troll. Lindworms aren’t unusual here, but... a troll. That is strange indeed.” Her eyes swept the woods.
“Why is that strange?” Right then, Liv felt every bit the sheltered princess that she was.
“Trolls usually keep to their territories, which lie in the Jotun Mountains,” Amala explained, “and we are very far from those mountains.”
“But surely they must want to wander?” Liv questioned, feeling silly, but the pile of rocks had her twitching in nervousness. It was unsettling, that whole scene. She did not like it. “Creatures are curious by nature.”
Amala cast her a look before going back to watching their surroundings. “Trolls are to the Jotuns what Neanderthals once were to the humans.”
Liv blinked, not quite understanding.
“Trolls are big, ugly, primeval brutes, stupid as the rocks they become when killed,” Amala explained. “Speaking of killing, I have never seen anyone actually kill a troll.”
“What?” Liv stared at her, frightened. She remembered what Amala had shouted when the troll had arrived, that she could not fight it and win.
“The only way to kill a troll, that I know of, is to bring it into direct sunlight.” Amala’s hand twitched closer to the hilt of her sword. “It kills them the exact same way as this one was killed, by turning them into stone. But piercing a troll with an arrow... a troll’s skin is almost as hard as a
dragon’s scales. It is impossible to penetrate. But this man, he managed it. I wonder how.”
Liv bit her lip. She had nothing to offer—she was just as confused as Amala. Even more so since Liv had never experienced anything outside the capital before. Yet here she was, on her own, with a warrior woman for a companion meeting lindworms and trolls. She had chosen this path herself, so she was in no position to complain. It was still overwhelming. And yes, frightening, but having Amala there felt safe, even if the woman had admitted to not being able to kill a troll.
“Let’s go back to the village,” Amala told her, turning away from her perusal of the woods. “It’s starting to darken. We’ve been away long enough. If trolls are so far out of their territory, there could be more dangers out there. Trolls scare lindworms because lindworms can’t kill trolls and the worms know it.”
Liv shivered at that and obediently followed Amala back the way they’d come.
Liv sat cross-legged on the floor, the contents of her saddlebag covering the floor around her. She grabbed her pouch, the one that she could tie to her side. Her grimoire was too big for it, it had to stay in the saddlebags, but she gathered all her herbs, taking extra care with the one Dragon’s Treasure leaf she had left.
The Dragon Tree was extremely rare and the leaves highly valued. Only a witch could harvest the leaves, thus their name, but once they were plucked anyone could use them. They were highly powerful if used properly and extremely dangerous if used otherwise.
Liv glanced up at Amala, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, her sword lying across her thighs. Amala was running her hand almost lovingly over the hilt, which Liv now noticed was made of what could only be gold and bedecked with tiny diamonds.
“That is a beautiful sword,” she said, successfully drawing Amala’s bright eyes to herself.
“Yes, it is,” Amala replied, her hand moving to grip the hilt tightly before letting it go again. “It’s been in my family for generations.”