I wanted to cry at the sight of him. Tor was climbing down on his own. “Yeah. I’m fine. Let me hand you Henry Mancini first.” I lowered my puppy a few feet to the invisible man, grateful when he was gently taken from my hands without a struggle.
“Okay, just jump. I’ll catch you.”
I whisper-yelled at him, afraid to break the quiet that was falling over the early night. “Are you kidding me right now? I know your arm’s torn up. There’s no way you can catch me! Mine’s barely usable.”
His answer was remorseful. “Oh, Lucy! I’m sorry! And I knew, I just forgot in the heat of battle. Laplanding’s not exactly a common thing. Are you okay?”
“I’m exactly as okay as you are, minus the freak-out I’ve got going on up here. I’m fine, but I’m not jumping on you in your condition. Move back.” I peeked around the rock and saw that the dwarves and boars were a long way off, running in the opposite direction. If I was quick, no one would see me. I turned around and lowered my feet from the platform, my fear of heights pinging my confidence, but not crippling it. If I fell, on the other hand, an actual crippling would be something to be dealt with. I froze for a second, the fear gripping my knuckles and shaking their hold on the rock. I really hated heights and the whole falling from them thing.
I breathed anew when Jamie’s bloody but strong hands wrapped around my hips and lowered me gently to the ground. He scooped Henry Mancini back up and held my hand with his scraped one, ensuring that we were both invisible. Tor gripped Jamie’s elbow to remain hidden from the enemy.
“Are you alright?” Jamie inquired.
I gave him a look to let him know he’d just asked me that. “How about you stop asking me, so I won’t have to lie to you.” My hands were shaking from adrenaline and the pain from my open injuries. “Let’s find the others. Jens?”
Jamie nodded, still struggling to keep himself steady. “He’s okay. I sent him further up the mountain path with Alrik and all them. A little banged up, but that’s nothing. He’s a better fighter than I.”
“Let’s go,” Tor insisted, starting us toward our destination.
Jamie held tight to my hand, his nerves making him squeeze my fingers tighter than was comfortable. I stroked his arm to calm him down. “I saw you fighting, Jamie. You were heroic.”
Jamie motioned to the path that was a few feet ahead. “The others aren’t far. Let’s sit for a minute. I need to clear something up.” He turned. “Tor, can you duck along the brush until you reach the bend? I need to speak with Lucy.”
“Be quick.” Tor took Henry Mancini to the others, crouching the whole way and looking, well, kinda comical.
I scrutinized the horizon to be certain we had a wide margin of escape. The enemy was set on pursuing away from us, getting smaller by the minute across the stadium-sized field with a pile of bones from the torn-down portal in the center. I slumped to the ground next to Jamie, holding him upright as he sagged against the mountain and me. “What’s up?”
“I don’t want to get married either.” His brown curly hair was windswept with splashes of blood in it. He was sweaty and cut and looked like he needed a good nap. “You told Tor you didn’t want to marry. I understand. It’s nothing to do with you. You’re lovely. Absolutely everything Jens said you would be. For a while I was certain he was exaggerating your beauty and strength, but he was not. Even so…”
“You’re in love with Britta.” Before he could confirm or deny, I rushed to say my piece. “That’s good! I like Britta. If we’re stuck together, I don’t mind spending lots of time with her. She’s great.”
He smiled in that patronizing way adults did when I talked about Martin Luther King’s ideals. “If only the world existed as you see it. I do love her, yes.” He let out a nervous cheer for his bravery. “I never permit myself to say it out loud, but I do. I’m promised to Freya, though.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” I said, not wanting to hear his millions of ways things with Britta couldn’t work. “I can fix it, I think. But we’ve got to get to the others. I know I look awesome, but if one of those rhinoceroses comes this way, I’m useless.”
“Gullin are wild boars that belong to the Nightdwarves. They actually glow underground so to be used as a light for them when needed. Not rhinoceros. Boar.”
I laughed at his explanation. “Really? You don’t say. Come on, Hercules. Up you get.” I stood and extended my less banged up arm to him and hoisted him up.
We walked, leaning on each other like coherent zombies until we reached their camp higher up on the mountain, out of visibility of the Nightdwarves and their pack of yellow rhinoceroses. I tugged on Jamie’s shirtsleeve and placed my finger to my lips. I wanted to see them interact without us for a moment. I knew better than to sneak up on someone with an axe. I just wanted to watch Jens as he’d watched me for so long.
Jamie observed me staring at Jens for two whole minutes before he turned his attention to Britta. The group was discussing what they should do if we did not turn up shortly. Jens was in the conversation, but not. He was on the outskirts of the cluster, looking right past us for me. Anxiety was clear on his face. The emotion welled up in me, seeing how much he cared. Of course, I knew I was his job, but I could see with my own eyes it was more than that. He was pacing as he half-listened to the others.
Henry Mancini finally gave us away. Jens scooped him up and whipped his head around to find us. “Jamie?”
Jamie dropped my hand with a triumphant grin. “You look so worried, brother. I had no idea you cared so much for my well-being.”
Jens gripped the back of Jamie’s neck and they did that two-kiss Italian brother thing I really loved. Then his eyes fell on me. “Lucy! What have you done?” He picked up my bloody arm while Britta fretted over Jamie’s identical wounds.
“Seriously? What have I done? I sat still and waited for you to come back in one piece. That’s what I did. Thank your bestie here for running after you to save your tail.”
Jens looked from me to Jamie and back again several times before it all sunk in. “Never again, Jamie! I didn’t need you to sacrifice yourself like that. I was fine out there.” His voice broke the reunion by turning sharp as he shouted as his best friend. “You can’t ever do anything like that again! Do you understand me? You could’ve gotten yourself killed!”
Jamie postured. “I fared just fine out there by your side. My title does not make me useless.”
“You can’t play fast and loose with your life anymore! You’re done fighting forever, you hear? You picked up your last sword!”
“Hey,” I chimed in, placing my hand on Jens’s tattooed cheek to bring him back to earth. “Calm it down. Take a breath before you say something you’ll regret. Jamie’s fine. He went out there to save you. I think what you’re searching for is ‘thank you’.”
Jens spoke through gritted teeth. “I’ll thank you not to put yourself or anyone else at risk. You take a hit, and she bleeds too! Did you think of that? What if you’d died? What then? I just lose both of you? Think, Jamie!”
Jamie pushed past Jens and moved to Uncle Rick so the elf could take a look at his wounds. Jens scooped up my bloody arm and dabbed at it with a rag from his pack that he wetted with water from his canteen.
“Jens, are you in there?” I asked, trying to look into the eyes that were avoiding mine. “Hey, buddy.” I dragged my fingers through his messy black hair.
He batted my hand away in anger. “Don’t you dare make light of this. You have no idea how bad this could’ve gone.”
I wanted to argue, but sensed this was not the time. Instead I kissed the forehead that was bent over me, examining my injuries. “I love you, too.”
He paused his negativity and wrapped me in a crushing bear hug. “Loving you sucks so bad, because this kind of thing happens! It would be so much easier if I didn’t care at all.”
“Sure, but then you wouldn’t get these.” I leaned up and kissed his stiff lips, knowing I’d won when they became mallea
ble.
“Don’t think Jamie’s off the hook for this just because you work your magic on me.”
I kissed him again, slowly savoring each movement that brought our passion to the surface. “Sure he is. My Kung-Fu is strong.”
A hint of a smirk touched his full lips. “Alright, Jackie Chan. Let me wrap this up so Henry Mancini’s friends don’t smell you a mile away.”
Eleven.
Stripping Foss
Jens and Jamie were still not speaking after an entire night and then a whole day of trudging along on our mountain trek toward Nøkken. The sun was just dipping down, and we were all a little the worse for wear. My whole body hurt from not sleeping and from Jamie’s bout with the gullin. I kept a pleasant expression in place, though. Anytime I made any noise of discomfort, Jens barked his anger at Jamie. I was getting good at being quiet.
Britta had gone up ahead of the group to try to find some food for us. I couldn’t imagine what berries could be found on the sparsely greened mountainside. Everything was gray and brown, except for the occasional non-fruit bearing bush.
Foss turned abruptly from his spot ahead of me with a gruff expression that I was beginning to realize was his only expression. “We’re not making good time. It’s you,” he accused, pointing a stabby finger toward me. “You’re moving too slow. You’ll get us all killed if you keep lagging behind like that.”
I wanted to put him in his place, but I recalled my favorite historical figure’s kind demeanor and donned a brave smile. “Sorry about that. I’ll try harder.”
The lack of a fight only made Foss angrier. “I don’t know why you expect us to just wait around for you. It’s you the Mouthpiece is after. I say we tie you to a rock if you fall behind again. Let Pesta find you so we can get some actual work done.”
Jens shoved Foss, but the effort wasn’t what I would’ve thought an indignant boyfriend would do. “Lay off, Foss. She’s not your slave.”
Uncle Rick stopped the progression, stomping his foot twice on the uneven path. “I think now is a good time to set up camp for the night. Charles, it’s time for your lessons.”
Mace’s head bobbed in Uncle Rick’s direction. He left my side for the first time that day and went to his adopted father. “You wish me to practice wind?” he asked, hands poised against the mild elements.
Uncle Rick motioned me over and spoke to me in a voice that carried to everyone. “Charles is the best and brightest. When they wouldn’t allow him to attend school because of his bloodline, I took it upon myself to train him at home. Charles can manipulate wind if there is wind to speak of, and he can multiply and divide water if there is enough of a source nearby to draw from.” His eyes twinkled at me, and I could see the pride he had in the boy so many cast aside as useless. “When your mother and father left him with me, he was fitted for a collar that kept him from whistling. It was precautionary. Just to make the public feel safe, really. Only Huldra women can control people with their whistle. The men have no extraordinary abilities.” He stroked the side of his gray beard, and I could tell he had more beneath the surface of this story. Everyone else was listening in. “I’ve never been one for limits. People put too much stock in them. If you’re cursed, you’re always under the curse. If you’re half-breed, you must not have enough magic in you to get out of bed in the morning. Undrans in general put too much stock in race and birthright, and not enough in study.”
I produced a sleepy smile. “But you’re not most men.”
“Neither is my boy.” He looked to Charles with sheer adoration. It did my heart good to know my brother had grown up with love. Uncle Rick leaned against the mountain and pointed at the surly mug that never cracked a smile. I wondered what Foss would look like if he grinned. “Charles, will you refill the canteens so Lucy can watch?”
Charles had the bashful grin one got when put on the spot doing a talent you were well-versed in. He picked up Jamie’s canteen, showed me its almost empty contents, and placed his hand over the mouth. A few seconds later, I heard a steady flow of water, as if from a tap. He took his hand away and showed me the filled canteen.
“Whoa! Seriously? That’s incredible!”
Charles’s cheeks turned pink as he handed the canteen back to Jamie. “It fares well for me that you’re so impressed with average elfin skill.”
I turned my head to Uncle Rick. “You can do that, too?”
“Indeed, I can. But we can only manipulate water when there’s a source to draw from. Had the canteen been bone dry, it would have been a disappointing parlor trick.” He clicked his fingers with his palm facing the sky, and water began pooling in his hand and dripping through his fingers. He kept speaking as I watched in awe. “Foss’s people were cursed when Pesta was sequestered to the Land of Be. It was a Fossegrimen who captured her and put her there, so the whole people bear a curse from her.”
I eyed Foss, who snarled at having his junk spilled out for me to examine. “What’s the curse?”
“Excellent question, dear. The curse was handmade by Pesta, and she named it The Depravity of Man. The Fossegrimen males don’t have the same conscience we do. They follow their depraved instincts much easier than we would. Hence, the Isle of Fossegrim is bursting with rapists, slave traders, violent men and thievery.” He paused to let that bomb sink in. “The more powerful the man was at the time the curse was made, the worse his curse. It turned Fossegrim from a thriving fish trade port to a den of horrors.” He motioned to Foss with his staff. “Now our Foss started out his life as a slave, so the curse isn’t as bad in him as it would be in two of the other powers that rule the island. I believe the chief also escaped the brunt of the curse, since he was merely a soldier at the time. Foss worked his way up and became the fourth power, using his cunning and depraved methods to get to where he is today. Foss is the fourth most powerful man in all of Fossegrim.”
I suppose I should’ve been impressed, but my skin was crawling with the descriptions of the men Foss lived near. “So I should cut him some slack?” I inquired.
“On the contrary. That’s all Undrans do is look the other way when a Fossegrimen pillages or a war breaks out on the island. We must teach Foss how to rise above his curse, otherwise we are telling him that he is weaker than his circumstance, a mere victim.” He smiled at the fuming Foss. “And I know him to have strength to rival anyone on the isle.”
There was a moment of quiet where everyone let Uncle Rick’s words sink in. Then Uncle Rick tapped his fingers to the side of the mountain three times. “Charles, it’s time for your lessons.”
“Yes, sir.” Charles stretched out his back, making sure to pay attention and show his father his due respect.
“You demonstrated that male Huldras have worth and can wield the whistle if they work hard enough. You’ve studied the whistle and its various components your entire life, as opposed to other Huldra men who dismiss the gift as inapplicable to them.” He smiled at his son and motioned to Foss. “Foss is buried under layers upon layers of Pesta’s curse. I put it to you to peel back the layers, one by one.”
Foss backed up, wary of becoming the lab rat. “You’ll not experiment with your illegal gift on me, half-breed.”
Mace’s eyes were wide, unsure of himself now that he was put on the spot. “Alrik, I don’t know about this. I mean, fixing Lucy’s eyes was an easy one. A siren’s curse? A skilled female Huldra wouldn’t be able to accomplish that! And I am not skilled.”
Tor rolled his eyes. “Though he whines like a female.”
I responded with a silent glower. Britta and I had barely spoken the whole day, and yet because we had ovaries, we were written off as weaker. She was off gathering food for everyone, and Tor had the nerve to cut us down.
Tor directed his words at Mace. “If Alrik says ya can do it, then ya have ta! Give it a try, halfy. Prove yer worth.” He shrugged. “The worst you’ll do is off this one, and I don’t think anyone’d cry much.”
Foss grumbled at Tor, but braced himself against
Charles. “I don’t need fixing, Alrik.”
Uncle Rick stood, and even though Foss was taller, Uncle Rick seemed to tower over him in his kind, yet forceful manner. In a voice that demanded attention and obedience, he said, “Yes, you do need fixing. Anyone who puts their hands on my niece needs a reckoning.” He held Foss’s stare in a game of chicken to see who would concede and look away first. Foss was stubborn, but I knew my uncle.
Jens’s head whipped around to me. “What’s he talking about?”
I shook my head, not wanting to get into it just then. “It’s not important.” I really couldn’t take another fight. Jens was already not speaking to Jamie and was constantly at odds with Charles. I didn’t want to deal with yet more drama.
Nik spoke up. “Foss lost his temper and shoved her to the wall with his hands around her throat.” He postured and ran his fingers through his sparkly hair. “If I hadn’t been there to save her, I shudder to think what the curse would’ve let him do. I rescued her from his clutches just before she closed her eyes that final time.”
Oh, brother.
Mace and Jamie whipped their heads around to gape at me with looks of indignant fury on my behalf. It was sweet, but I shrugged it off as if Foss choking me was no big thing. “I didn’t want to whine like a female. Tor hates unnecessary whining,” I groused, looking pointedly at the dwarf, who shrank marginally at my chastising.
Fire lit in Jens’s green eyes as he moved to stand between Foss and Uncle Rick to gain the angry man’s attention. “You and I go way back, so I’ve been cutting you some slack. She’s my charge. You won’t compromise my job like that again.”
Oh, Jens. Always the romantic.
“She’s fine,” Foss spat, angry at me, even though I hadn’t outed him.
“You’ll let Mace take a crack at you,” Jens ordered, pointing his finger at his friend. “You’ll do it for me. I bailed you out when Olaf tried to buy up the neighboring land around your property to edge you out.”
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