by Tom Hansen
Kalda’d been relentless. All of the Skarmyord had been relentless.
So why had the woman in black only stabbed Stefan twice? Not only that, but why had Nora missed? One stab took away your ability to wield magic, another, your voice. Yet another prevented you from walking.
Ynya had seen Nora move. She was so fast it almost seemed she could teleport. A pregnant woman and a noble who took horses everywhere hardly seemed like formidable foes.
Something about their story is wrong.
Ynya opened her eyes. Synol lay on her side, eyes closed. Stefan was nowhere to be seen, but the torchlight bounced off the curved ice walls down one of the tubes leading to the surface.
Down the tube that led toward Marsfjord.
Ynya noticed markings on the ice wall. At first she thought they were claw marks from the bear, but a pile of bear fur on the floor told her otherwise.
Stefan was marking the tunnel back to Marsfjord.
Terror struck Ynya. Too many things don’t add up here.
“Synol.” Ynya whispered. She needed to rouse her sister without alerting Stefan. “Synol.”
“Huh?” Synol woke, her eyes shooting awake. “Ynya, how are you–”
Ynya shushed her. “I think something is wrong with Stefan.”
Synol’s eyes widened, then concern, worry, and finally a fierce resolution flashed across her face in the dimly-lit cave.
“Why do you say that? He loves me. The baby. He’s helping us.”
“I fought with the white mage, Synol. She nearly killed me. If you two really were fighting the black mage, you would have died. She’s too fast, and too deadly with her dagger. She never missed when she took me down. He shouldn’t be walking right now. He should have crumpled to the ground immediately after she stabbed him.”
Synol’s eyes narrowed. “Ynya, listen.”
“No, you listen, Synol. I know you want to think the best of him, but you know we’ve both been used this entire time. Maybe he is clean. Maybe he didn’t know about anything that was going on with his father, but the woman in black would have killed him in a heartbeat if she thought he was any sort of threat. She doesn’t answer to his father, she answers to the Frost Queen. All I’m asking you to do is be careful.”
Synol’s eyes went wide, but not at Ynya. She focused farther through the cave.
Ynya realized the room was a brighter than it had been.
“Be careful of what, dear sister-in-law?”
Ynya turned. Stefan stood at the cave entrance. The torch lay on the ground and Stefan had his fur coat off.
He was a lot more muscular than Ynya had expected for a foppish nobleman.
“Be careful of my father? You think he’s the only one with plans? You think he’s the only one with power?”
Stefan took a step forward and held out his hand. “Synol, come here.”
Synol shook her head. “I need to be by my sister.”
He frowned, flexing his hands. For the first time Ynya noticed the old cuts and scrapes along the man’s knuckles. He’d been in some fights.
Stefan pointed at the ground. His voice carried an edge. “I said come here, wife.”
Synol tensed. “Just because we are married does not make me yours to command.”
He grinned. “I think it does, and it’s time you learned your place by my side. I have plans for you, and for your sister. It wasn’t my father who made the deals with the Queen, it was me. His wealth only started to flow once I was old enough to learn numbers, but no one would do business with a young boy. So he was the face, and I was the brain. I was also the brawn, for anyone who got in our way.”
Stefan cracked his knuckles.
“NOW GET OVER HERE, WIFE!”
Synol shook her head.
Ynya tried to pull up her magic, she tried to move her toes, her pained leg, but all she could move was her head. She was too weak to do anything to help.
Please, Mama. Please help us. Gods Above or Gods Below, hear my plea.
Stefan moved across the room. He was fast, but not nearly as fast as the woman in black. He was human fast. He grabbed Synol by the hair and yanked her to her feet.
“When I tell you to come here, you will come here like the obedient wife you are!”
Stefan tossed her against the wall.
Synol screamed as she sailed through the air. She went silent as she hit the wall and crumpled into a fetal position on the hard packed ground.
Ynya watched, helpless.
Stefan strode up to Synol and kicked her. He kicked her again, and again.
Each time, Synol’s breathless cry was cut off by his boot to her midsection.
Each time Ynya felt the sickening blow as Synol took her husband’s abuse.
Ynya tried to heat up, she tried to pull forth any energy she could muster, but nothing came.
The only thing she felt was the steady strum strum strum of her heartbeat as she watched her sister get beaten.
“Please, Stefan. I will do anything.” Synol finally managed, still crumpled on the floor.
“Anything? You barely do anything I ask already. How can I trust you will do anything for me? How about I make sure you never forget your lesson. It’s the only way to trust the words that come from your mouth in the future.”
Stefan reached down and grabbed her coat, ripping it off Synol and tossing it across the room. “How about I let you freeze in here for a while to learn your lesson?
He punched her in the side.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Ynya cried, furious she couldn’t do anything to help her sister.
Synol lay in a heap, still breathing, but unmoving.
Stefan stormed over to Ynya. “You have no idea how long I have been planning my marriage to her. For years, my father and I had to watch while she and your father showed up to town to sell fish. Years, I pined for her, tried to talk to her, but she never spoke back. Or worse, your bastard of a father told me to ‘run home, son’.
“So, I had them followed, back to your precious town, to find out where she came from. And I changed myself. Started working on the ships with the sailors so I gained muscles and sea legs. If she wanted someone who worked on the ships like her father, then I was going to give it to her.”
Stefan grabbed Ynya and pulled her to her feet, holding her at eye level.
“So imagine my surprise when the Frost Queen’s soldiers come into town announcing rewards for the capture of four girls with the last name of Oblique. Do you know how many families in this area have the surname of Oblique? None!”
He tossed Ynya to the side.
Ynya fell hard, her forehead hitting a bone that cracked under the force. Hot blood welled and streamed down the side of her head.
“Did you know your father took your mother’s surname when they married? I bet you didn’t. That little fact took a lot of digging, and a little bit of torturing.”
Ynya looked up at her sister. Synol lay on her side, clutching her stomach, sobbing. Blood pooled on her skirt. “There’s something wrong with the baby! Stefan, what have you done?”
Stefan pulled some rope from his pack and bound Ynya’s hands.
He paused tying up Ynya to look at his wife. “Don’t worry, honey, we can make another baby. That one wasn’t conceived on the correct night anyway. You must bear me a son first.”
Stefan yanked hard, pulling Ynya’s shoulder back at a painful angle.
Ynya cried out from the pain.
Stefan punched her in the side. “I better not get any trouble from you on the way back.”
The two sisters stared at each other through sobbing tears. Ynya mouthed how sorry she was.
Synol nodded, frowning. She mouthed “me too,” in reply.
“Everything was going perfectly. Soldiers were supposed to come and take all of you, but apparently, they can’t even do that right. Now I have to hand you over and tell them Synol was killed by the bear in order to get her onto a boat and hide her away.”
&nb
sp; He yanked Ynya to her feet, but she couldn’t stand. She crumpled to the ground once again. Pain lanced through her side as her hip hit a rock.
Stefan kicked her. “Am I going to have to drag you all the way back?”
He turned to Synol. “On your feet! You’re going to carry your sister back down the tunnel.” When she didn’t move, he screamed at her, balling his fist. “I SAID GET UP!”
Synol slowly stood, her body trembling. Her focused, concentrated stare never left her husband’s. She flexed her hand over and over like she’d done earlier in the carriage.
Ynya saw the motion. Did Stefan break her hand? No, Synol moved it that way on purpose.
The blood on Synol’s skirt slowly dripped down between her legs, pooling on the ground and staining the bones a deep crimson red.
Finally, Synol spoke. Her voice was eerily calm for having been kicked so many times. She locked gazes with Ynya.
“I’m so sorry for what I’ve put you through, and I’m sorry I haven’t been listening to you this whole time. You were right. I should have seen the signs sooner.”
Stefan shoved Ynya forward with his boot. “I’m glad we’re all in agreement. Now grab her and let’s get moving.”
“I don’t think so, Stefan.”
He whirled on her.
“You…you don’t think so? Did I not demonstrate what will happen if you don’t do what I say?”
Synol didn’t move, didn’t waver, didn’t tremble. She looked solid, immovable, like she was made of stone.
Finally, she pursed her lips. “You are right, my husband. You are sorry about the baby, but you were wrong about me having another son.”
He chuckled. “And how is that?”
“It will be hard for you to fuck me when you are dead.”
Synol threw her hands out, her fists clenched and knuckles white.
The ground around them trembled.
Ynya looked around at the tunnels for signs of the bear, but there were none. Then she felt the tug of magic in the cave. Instead of the fiery river that flowed through her heart, it was a rocky, stony river.
And it flowed from her sister.
Stefan’s eyes went wide. “What is going on?”
“You are done harming anyone, Stefan.”
A long, jagged rock shot from the ground, puncturing Stefan in his right thigh, connecting him to the ground.
“You are done scheming, Stefan.”
Another rock shot from the ground behind him, stabbing through his shoulder, pinning him between two long rock shards.
Screaming, Stefan looked between the two sisters, trying to figure out where the magic came from.
“You are done harming girls, Stefan. I heard the whispers of the maids, and I know what you made them do.”
Another rock shot from the ground, up Stefan’s free leg, impossibly curling around his hips, and finally puncturing him between his legs.
Blood poured out of his pants leg, splashed the bare ground below.
Stefan sobbed. His eyes rolled wildly. “Please stop this, my love.”
“You never loved me. You loved the idea of me.”
Synol turned her hands, and the ground beneath Stefan opened up. The three shards of rocks, like golem arms, dragged Stefan into the ground, stopping when his head was about level with the earth.
Synol twisted her hands once again and the earth closed up around Stefan, trapping him with just his head sticking above it.
He screamed. Tears flowed down his face. He tried to move but the packed ground was solid around him, looking like it hadn’t been disturbed in ages.
“Yolphinir won’t stay away forever. I’m sure he’ll be back eventually and will be hungry, so you be a good boy and stay right here.”
Stefan screamed while Synol gently picked up Ynya and carried her part-way down the tunnel leading back to Marsfjord.
Stefan screamed as Synol sealed up the opening behind them with yards of dirt. Enough that the bear wouldn’t be able to get through anytime soon.
Stefan screamed as Synol picked up Ynya once again and carried her through the tunnel.
And then, Stefan screamed no more.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Synol carried Ynya in silence. Ynya clutched the torch, holding a fire that for once wasn’t hers.
When they were about halfway back to town, Synol placed her down, gently leaning her against the tunnel wall.
Ynya burned with questions, but she also burned with love and admiration for the strength her sister had shown in the face of such peril.
Still, the silence was comfortable, unlike the silence they’d gone through last time the two were in this passage.
Using her magic, Synol opened the earth beneath the cave once again. Instead of a gaping maw, she pulled up just a few square feet of rich, earthy-smelling soil.
After long last, Synol spoke.
“I’m sorry I never told you. Mama insisted I keep my magic hidden from everyone. She told me it was too dangerous for anyone to know about us in town.”
Synol pulled a small paper envelope from her bloodied skirt pocket and held it in her hand. She gave it a shake. It sounded like a baby rattle.
“It was too difficult with you, however. You couldn’t wear the same clothes as everyone or you would overheat. You cooked fish with your hands and boiled water around you when you willed it. You started fires simply by touching things. You were too outgoing, so Mama was forced to embrace it.
“She raised you differently because you needed it. You wouldn’t be who you are today if you had spent your life hiding your gifts from the world. You were fire, you were bright. You couldn’t be contained.”
Synol unfolded the small paper pouch and poured a handful of seeds out into her hand. There were at least a dozen varieties. She moved them around slowly with her thumb, like she was counting them. In a sure and steady motion, she scattered them across the patch of earth and gently tamped them down into the rich soil.
“It wasn’t just Mama’s greenhouse that made her vegetables grow year-round.” A surge of magic filled the area.
Green sprouts poked out of the ground, working their way to the sky in seconds rather than days.
Ynya’s breath caught in her throat as she watched the plants grow so quickly. So much of her childhood, and the mystery of her mother’s magic made sense now.
Synol chuckled. “I bet her garden didn’t do so well once I left?”
Ynya shook her head, not trusting her voice.
Synol nodded, a serene and sad expression on her face. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for Mama and Papa. I might have been able to keep them safe. Build a wall around them, or bury the soldiers before they got into the village.”
The sprouts matured into full plants, their leaves reaching for the light of the torch. Synol waved her hand over them as they sprouted flowers.
One by one, she brushed her hands against the flowers. “Pollen, and bees. It’s the only thing I can’t provide with magic.”
The flowers shriveled, and small fruits formed in their place.
Synol took Ynya’s hand. “I hated you for so long because you were allowed to show your gift and I wasn’t. I didn’t understand what Mama meant when she told me how dangerous it was for us to be seen. I didn’t allow myself to feel empathy for your situation. You couldn’t control it, you couldn’t hide it if you wanted to live.”
Synol sighed and rubbed Ynya’s hands back and forth, building heat with friction.
Ynya hadn’t realized how cold she was until now. She was frigid, but she’d been so focused on her sister that she hadn’t realized her energy reserves had completely run out a long time ago. She was freezing to death.
Synol continued. “I’m sorry you had to go through what you did by yourself. I should have been there when you found the village destroyed. I shouldn’t have left. And I should have gone with you when you first came for me.”
Synol looked back down the tunnel to where Stefan lay buried in the
ground. “I wish I would have seen him for what he was sooner. I just…”
“You felt cheated that you couldn’t show your magic. You wanted a family that loved you in your entirety,” Ynya whispered.
Synol nodded, tears flooding her eyes. She wiped them away and turned, plucking a ripe strawberry from a plant. She put it up to Ynya’s lips.
“Bite, sister. I have everything here you need to regain your strength. You are correct, I thought I needed a new family, but I understand now, I had all the family I needed right there in Marsfjord.”
Synol smiled as Ynya took the first bite. “Eat, then we’re going to get our sisters back.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
They crept up over the small rise, looking down on the campsite below.
Anger rose in Ynya’s head again at the caravan she’d spent so much time trying to escape.
“Hold your fire in for now, sister. We are not ready.”
Ynya barely contained her rage. They had spent all night slowly circling the campsite, staying far enough out of reach that the soldiers didn’t know they were there, but close enough to make sure they accounted for everyone.
Stefan’s father was there, seldom leaving the carriage and sulking when he did. Ynya remembered him taking those coins from Captain Nora. He still needed to pay for his crimes.
Ynya accounted for all the soldiers but one. She imagined he must have ridden north to scout out where Synol and Stefan had disappeared.
Three days and no one has returned. Stefan’s father must be sick with worry. Good.
The woman in black was also gone. Ynya didn’t know if she stayed in one of the wagons all day or if she was able to teleport from a nearby town so fast that she didn’t bother sticking around.
Either way they had most, but not all, of the people who had wronged them.
The remaining prisoners still huddled in a single wagon. They hadn’t been fed for a day, but Synol had produced so many extra fruits and vegetables for healing up Ynya that she would be able to feed them all for a week.