Chapter 31
here are too many of us for the horses, forcing us all to double up. I sidle up to Caz. ‘Can you ride with Thessa?’ I ask her.T ‘What? Why?’ I keep my voice low. ‘You’re the perfect person to question her. You know more about the Sannings than any of us, and you’ll know if she’s actually telling us the truth or not. See what you can find out.’ She agrees, and Loch doubles with Benny, leaving Stide with either Kyor or Ruben, and the way she’s looking at Kyor and Elska makes me bristle. I push it down because it’s ridiculous, but nonetheless … ‘Stide, you go with Ruben.’ Her gaze flickers between the two men, as if she’s genuinely weighing up whether she’s going to agree with me or not, but then she offers a small shrug and walks over to Ruben’s horse.
Ruben hands her the reins and comes over to me, clearing his throat awkwardly. ‘I thought you should know … Kyor didn’t leave your side, Rose. The whole time you were out, he was taking care of you, watching over you. I don’t know the ins and outs of your fallout, but …’ He grimaces. ‘He
does love you. Even I can see that.’ ‘Why are you telling me this?’ He offers me a lopsided grin. ‘I’m out of the running, right?’ I wince but nod.
It’s harsh, but he was never truly in the running, not in my eyes. Ruben is my past. Kyor is my present. The future? That remains to be seen. ‘May as well see you with a prince then. At least that way I know you’ll be taken care of.’
I glare. ‘I can take care of myself.’ ‘True,’ he agrees equably, ‘but Kyor would treat you like a princess.
Literally. And if I can’t have you …’ He trails off with a shrug. ‘It would be great to have a buddy who’s queen. I’m just thinking of advantages, you know.’ He winks cheekily before turning back around to mount up.
As I watch him go, I see the friendly smile on his face as he greets Stide, trying to set her at ease with sharing a horse with a man she barely knows.
My heart aches at his goodness, and I wish it could be different, wish it
could be Ruben I dream of.
But it isn’t.
I turn to Kyor, my stomach fluttering. He watched over me while I was injured. I’d be lying if I said the thought didn’t warm me. ‘Elska reckons we can make up some good time this morning,’ he says as I mount the wolf and wrap my arms around him, telling myself it’s for safety on the ride and nothing else. At least this way, sitting behind him, I’m spared the torture of him pressing up against me again. It gives me a modicum of control. Or at least the pretence of it. ‘She says the route up ahead is fairly flat,’ Kyor continues as Elska begins to walk. ‘Easy for the horses.’ ‘That’s good,’ I reply, realising how detached my voice is. And for once it’s not to do with him. It’s just my head is too full to add whatever’s going on with us into the mix.
Besides, easy is great, but what I want to know is whether it will lead to my mother’s ring. I know that this detour has taken longer than any of us wanted, but every time I think about abandoning it, that pressure returns to the base of my spine as if it’s pushing me towards it. And the thought of giving up, when I can feel in my bones how close we are, causes an ache – a deep ache that starts almost as soon as we move out of the camp and isn’t helped by the rain that begins almost immediately. ‘I think we’re going the wrong way,’ I tell Kyor as water runs down my face. ‘This is the way to Galreck,’ he tells me. ‘Elska knows where she’s going.’ The pressure strikes again, this time so sharp I have to fight not to gasp. ‘No, no we need to stop. I need to … I have to …’ I release my grip from his waist, sliding to the ground before Elska even has a chance to pause. ‘Thorn!’ Kyor yells after me as I race away from the group, water
splashing in my footsteps.
‘Rose!’ ‘What’s going on!’ The others yell after me, but their voices are blocked out by the pressure that’s now heightening into something entirely different. Something almost euphoric. My heart is all the way up in my throat, adrenaline surging through me and blocking out the cold chill of the rain as it beats down around me. I’m near it, I know I am.
With a feeling like bright white light filling my spine and abdomen, I drop to the ground and run my fingers through the waterlogged leaf litter only to come back empty, once and then again. I need it.
I can feel it more than ever. I need the ring. William and Kay need me to find this ring.
I don’t know how I know it, but I do. My pulse drums in my ever-drying throat as my fingertips finally brush against cold metal. Triumph and relief surge through me as I lift my mother’s ring up from the sodden ground it rested in. ‘By the Mother … you found it.’ Caz stands over my shoulder as I rub the mud from the piece of jewellery, revealing the stone beneath it. The blue is even more beautiful than I remembered. ‘You actually found it.’ ‘I did.’ The words slip from me as a whisper as I slide the ring onto my middle finger. Another surge of that white energy ripples through my body, this time strong enough to make me gasp, and my sight is lost, a crisp, icy pattern burning into my retinas. William’s skin. It’s the pattern on his skin,
I’m sure of it. ‘Rose?’ Caz questions. ‘It’s fine.’ I shake my head, trying to brush the moment off, though the vision remains a fraction longer. ‘Just … happy. That’s all,’ I lie, my eyes fixed on the stone.
I’ve never worn it, I realise suddenly. I’m not sure why the ring passed to Kay, as I don’t remember it being an explicit bequest from my mother, but maybe it was because she was the one of us who cared most about pretty things? Regardless, it’s the one piece of jewellery Kay wore day and night without question. But if she ever felt anything more than simple sentimentality towards it, she never told me.
So either this, like so much that’s happening to me right now, is new, or Kay has been keeping things from me since before the Retterheld. Strange as
it is, given recent events, I’m still leaning towards the former. She wouldn’t hide this from me.
As I stand, Caz looks at me with her brow creased. ‘You know this means that these things that are happening to you – visions or slips, whatever you want to call them – they’re real. They really are trying to tell you something.’ I stare at the ring. She’s right. I can feel it in my bones.
For once, I’d love it if whatever the Gods were trying to tell me was clear-cut, like words on a letter. No games. No guessing. No risk to my
family or me.
I guess that’s too much to ask for. ‘I’m just glad I got it back,’ I tell her.
While the rest of the group remained on their horses, they’ve all seen what I’ve found, and no one speaks as I head back to Elska.
The rain is yet to let up, though the wolf’s dense fur is still surprisingly dry, and this time I sit in front, Kyor’s body sheltering mine from the worst of the inclement weather.
It’s far more dangerous for my heart, even if his arms rest perfectly respectfully at his sides. ‘Those are some pretty steep hills in front of us,’ Ruben says after a while. ‘Are you sure the horses are going to be able to make it up there?’ ‘We’re not going that way,’ Kyor responds curtly. ‘We need to go northwest,’ Caz argues. ‘Those hills are northwest.’ Kyor shakes his head. ‘No. They’ll take a day to cross. At least. And with this rain, it’s better we go a little wide as the horses could easily fall on the wet earth. Rockslides could also take them out.’ No one questions his decision further. ‘Elska says it gets easier up here,’ he says as we’re both forced to duck beneath low-hanging branches.
But luckily Kyor’s right. As we break through the line of trees, we find ourselves in a far sparser part of the forest. Not only that, but the rain clouds seem to have passed, too, settling over the higher ground instead. ‘Elska is restless. What do you say to having a run?’ he whispers against the shell of my ear. ‘I’ll have to hold you tight, for safety reasons of course.’ ‘Of course,’ I say, fighting the grin that I’m grateful he can’t see. After the last couple of days, a bit of careless sprinting on a wolf feels like exactly what the healer ordered.
I brace myself, ready to feel the lurch of the wolf beneath me, but before
she moves, a shout comes from behind us. ‘Stop! Everyone off! Off their horses now!’ I twist my head around, and even though my view is partially blocked by Kyor, I can still see Stide racing towards us. ‘What have you done, you stupid boy?’ she says, glaring at Kyor. ‘You have brought us to a hule – the home of the vätte.’ It is the first time since I took back my dagger that I have seen such emotion from the Sanning, who stands directly in front of Elska yet seemingly unaware of the manner in which the wolf is baring her teeth. She doesn’t love Stide calling her rider stupid. ‘You cannot walk across their ground,’ Stide continues. ‘The old burrows are here.’ ‘I’m sorry, did you say vätte? As in the goblins?’ It’s Ruben who asks, and he’s not trying to hide his incredulity.
I understand his scepticism. In the slums, they mutter that all the creatures of myth are just that – myths. Father always told me such beings were real, though, and since facing a jötunn and a kraken, I’m much more open to the idea that the creatures of folklore are exactly as real as he claimed.
But even in folklore, in terms of dangerous creatures, the vätte are hardly up there with the Myrkr or the jötnar. They’re a pest, a nuisance, nothing more. Everyone knows that.
In fact, I’m pretty sure you need to be more scared of some of the starving rats in the slums than you do of these creatures. Sure, the tales say they like a bit of mischief – in our house, the vätte always got blamed when socks went missing – but after everything we’ve been through these past few days, a little harmless humour wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. ‘We’ll leave an offering,’ Kyor says, unperturbed. ‘I’m sure we have something in our bags we can give them. Maybe one of Rose’s tinctures.
That’ll ensure they leave us alone.’ ‘Why are you not listening to me, dog boy?’ Stide barks back. ‘It is not the vätte you need to fear. It is their burrows.’ She waves around us. ‘Look at the size of the horses. The weight of you with your big-city belly. It is not safe to cross.’ Behind me, Ruben and Benny fail to stifle their laughs. I can’t imagine anyone has ever accused Kyor of having a big belly, let alone called him ‘dog boy’.
I feel the crackle of his annoyance in static against my skin, and yet he
manages to keep it in. Stide, however, is clearly fuming at Kyor’s nonchalance. ‘She’s right.’ Thessa’s voice is far more measured than the other Sanning’s. ‘These lands are unstable. Can’t you feel it?’ She looks at me as she asks the question, though I’ve no idea what I’m meant to feel, not from up here on Elska. ‘So what do you suggest we do?’ Kyor asks in exasperation. ‘You want to turn around and find a different route?’ ‘Yeah …’ Benny’s voice is low and wary. ‘I’m not sure that’s going to be possible.’ My stomach tightens as I twist around to see what he’s talking about, only for my jaw to drop. ‘Where in the Gods’ names did that come from?’ I stare at twelve feet of smooth stone wall – solid, opaque, and utterly impossible considering we just passed through that spot only moments ago. ‘Vätte magic,’ Stide hisses. ‘Vätte magic?’ Caz questions. I can tell from the tone of her voice that this is something she knows nothing about, and she doesn’t like that one bit. ‘Illusions, right?’ Benny asks. ‘That’s what I read.’ ‘Fucking hell, are there any mythical creatures that are, well, myths?’ Ruben mutters.
None of us respond. We all know the answer.
I was so focused on finding the Issen that I neglected to worry about the dangers of the journey itself. Navigating land riddled with goblins’ burrows wasn’t something I’d anticipated.
Still, I’ve dealt with illusions before. Seiren, one of the Rettlings from Dorain, was one of the most powerful illusionists I’ve ever come across.
Unfortunately, she was almost more unstable than Loch and would frequently plunge us into darkness, or storms, or some entirely unknown environment without warning. Normally, when we were trying to relax and eat. ‘If it’s just an illusion, then can we walk straight through it?’ Ruben offers the exact same response that I was considering, and from the way Kyor turns Elska and stalks towards the wall, he’s thinking the same. ‘Come on, girl. Back we go then.’ Following his instructions, Elska moves towards the wall, only to stop with her nose six inches away. ‘Come on,’ he presses her forward, but she refuses to move. ‘It’s not there. It’s an illusion. Look.’ He drops down to the
ground and walks towards it. Yet as his hand touches the stone, it transforms into a wall of flames.
Heat billows outwards as black smoke clogs my lungs, and the horses rear, their whinnying shrieks sending all the nearby birds flying from their roosts. ‘Do not let them near the burrows! They will fall,’ Stide yells out, but how the hell are we meant to tell where the burrows are when they’re underground?
As Ruben and Caz fight to keep their mounts from bolting, Kyor steps away from the wall of flames. The cold stone reforms, no hint of the treacherous flames remaining. ‘Fuck,’ Kyor swears. A crack of thunder rumbles above us, and I know it’s annoyance at himself more than anything else. With a tentative step, he edges back towards the wall, only to change his mind. With his jaw locked, he turns back to Stide. ‘What do we do?’ he asks. ‘We could blindfold the horses, right? Get them through the illusion that way. That’d work, wouldn’t it?’ I try to remember the last time I heard him so unsure, seeking the suggestions of another, and I come up empty. ‘Perhaps,’ Stide says noncommittally. ‘It may work. But the vätte may follow us. They like their games. And you, I think, are fun to play with.’ Her eyes glint at Kyor, but I’m too busy thinking about the ramifications of these damn goblin games to care. Exactly how long will these creatures find entertainment in toying with us, and how long can we travel with blindfolded horses and hope to get anywhere? And as for their burrows, exactly how far do they stretch? All are questions I have no way of answering. So maybe I need to ask a different one. ‘If we go around, back across the hill path, how much longer will it take us?’ I ask Kyor. The last thing I want to do is put any of us at risk, but I can’t forget the icy patterns that stole my vision when I placed the ring on my finger. If Caz is right and everything that’s happening is trying to tell me something, then maybe it’s telling me I need to move faster. That William is running out of time. ‘It’ll add at least half a day,’ Kyor tells me. ‘Maybe longer, depending on the state of the hills.’ As I draw in a long breath, I become acutely aware of all the pairs of eyes watching me, waiting for my response.
‘What are you thinking, Rose?’ Benny asks. ‘What do you want to do?’ I remain silent as I cast my gaze across the expanse in front of us. How far is it? A mile at most?
Still not sure which way my decision is going to land, I turn to look at the Sanning. ‘You could tell the burrows were here. The vätte. Can you tell where the land is thickest? See where it is safe to walk?’ ‘You want to go across the hule?’ Stide questions. ‘Only if you think you can. If you don’t think you’re able —’ ‘Huh.’ The snort that comes from Stide is almost loud enough to drown out Thessa’s chuckle. Clearly the Sanning and Kyor have more in common than they’d like to believe. ‘I can walk across it. It is you who will have to follow what I say. That, I think, will be harder.’ ‘What do you all think?’ I turn my eyes to the rest of the group. I don’t want to make a decision like this without their input, but the reality is that, even blindfolded, I’m not sure we could get the horses through the illusions.
Not if the vätte continue to torment us. Not with the way the heat billowed from the wall of flames.
So much for imagining the vätte are nothing more than mischievous but lovable sock-stealing critters. These things are really fucking with my plans.
Ruben’s reply comes instantly. ‘I’ll follow wherever you want to go.’ ‘Stide thinks she can make it. We should believe her. It’s why they came with us after all. To guide us,’ Caz adds.
I look to Benny, the last one who needs to weigh in, not only for him but also for Loch. ‘Well, I’ll just look like a dick if I say no, won’t I?’ he replies. ‘Besides, I want to see one of the vätte fuckers. They’re a mainland thing. Might as well come out of the trip with a few stories, right?’ Next to him Loch is rocking and nodding. I’ll take that as his acquiescence.
All except Kyor have agreed. I look at him, already knowing there’s only one answer he can give.
He nods tightly. ‘Fine.’ He glares at Stide. ‘If you deliberately lead us into peril, know that I’ll kill you first.’ She smirks. ‘You’ll try, dog boy.’ I stifle a smile at her new nickname for Kyor. Honestly, his ego could do with being taken down a peg or two, and it actually makes me like the wicked
Sanning just a little. She’s not intimidated by the Prince of Morathka.
I wonder what she’d call Korvane. ‘All right,’ I say aloud. ‘So that’s it then. We all agree. We’re crossing the burrows.’ As we begin our walk, it is clear that Stide is happy to have her position as group leader, and it takes her no time at all to adapt to barking orders at us.
Particularly Kyor. ‘Your wolf is moving too fast,’ she snaps at him. ‘If you do not make her listen, she will fall.’ ‘She knows what she’s doing,’ Kyor responds curtly, only for a patch of land to give way beneath Elska’s paw. The wolf leaps forward to safety, but the prince pales notably.
My eyes, like those of the others in the group, are drawn down to the exposed pathways. ‘These burrows are incredible,’ Caz says.
She’s right. Even though we can only see a section, the intricacy is incredible. Like a rabbit’s warren, only with hints of sapience hidden in the maze. A scrap of fabric. Etchings of creatures made on the walls. Whittled wood. ‘If the hule is deserted, how come they’re still doing this?’ I ask as another illusion appears in front of us. A waterfall this time, although thankfully the horses are happy to be led through this one as we walk single file, following Stide, who is using her spear to tap at the earth, sounding out the hollowness before she decides where to take her next step. ‘There are always scavengers,’ Thessa tells us. ‘Making sure nothing has been left. It will be one of them. Maybe more,’ she adds as a writhing mass of snakes appears on the earth in front of us.
Elska snaps helplessly at the creatures, tossing her head as if she might be able to flick them away from her. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work. ‘Maybe those blindfolds weren’t the worst idea, after all,’ Benny says as he looks upwards, treading through the illusory mass of snakes. ‘For me, that is,’ he adds, shuddering. ‘Please tell me this’ll be over soon.’ ‘How about I give you a big hug for being so brave when we’re past all this?’ Ruben offers with a smirk.
Benny visibly brightens. ‘I’m holding you to that,’ he replies. ‘Though maybe you could hold my hand now, too. Just for moral support, you know.’ ‘Single file!’ Stide snaps as she spins around to glare at them. ‘You
follow only where I step. I will not die because of stupid, big-bellied city boys holding hands.’ Despite our current leader’s clear nervousness, I can’t help but meet Caz’s eye and suppress a smirk. At least she’s not calling us big-bellied city girls.
Still, Stide’s right to take things slowly. At one point, Caz is adjusting the weight on the horse she’s leading and drops a bag to the ground, only for the earth to swallow it up as a sinkhole the size of a small shack appears, stopping only inches short of her feet.
Another time, I’m the one who makes a misstep, drawn to an unusually pleasant illusion of snowdrops, only for my foot to sink beneath the earth.
Before I can topple, Kyor grabs me by the arm and yanks me onto more solid ground. ‘You want flowers, I will get you all the flowers you could ask for after this,’ he grunts. ‘If you cannot tell if it is real, focus on them for a moment before you move,’ Stide tells me. ‘The vätte illusions are not solid. They shift.’ ‘She’s right,’ Benny says. ‘That doesn’t stop them being fucking horrible.’ If I didn’t know better, I’d say the vätte are enjoying teasing Benny, because he’s the only one who’s been repeatedly targeted with snakes.
My attention shifts back to Stide, who is staring intently at me. ‘Look at the flowers again.’ I do as she orders, but they look just as real to me as they had a moment before. But then, as I’m about to look away again, I see something. The slightest shimmer in the petal. A shift in shade that doesn’t fit the light above
us. ‘I see it,’ I breathe. ‘It is more difficult with fire and water,’ Stide tells me. ‘Or snakes. The way they move is trickier to see. But for flowers, bricks, buildings – things that stand still – you just have to be patient.’ She moves on before I have a chance to thank her, though it is only a moment later when an opportunity arises for me to test her theory as several fallen trees have crossed our path trying to push us onto another route. The trunks look to be solid, chipped bark revealing young, white wood underneath, just the way you’d expect. Yet as I continue to stare at it, the tiniest flecks of blue flicker in the brown, and as I sweep my hand through it,
a spark of pride rises within me.
A few minutes later, when we come to a large rock, I try again, staring at the grey stone, waiting to see that shift in colour.
Stide turns back and looks at me. ‘Sometimes, The Rose, a rock is just a rock,’ she says, rolling her eyes and continuing on. Apparently, I now have a nickname too.
We’ve been walking in single file for almost an hour when Kyor turns back and looks at me. ‘I’m sorry,’ he murmurs. ‘I didn’t know this was here. I should have known.’ ‘How?’ I ask him pointedly. ‘You’re not perfect, Kyor. None of us are.
You can’t be expected to know every inch of the forest. And this is why we wanted the Sannings to accompany us, right? To guide us.’ He presses his lips together and doesn’t respond. ‘Look.’ I reach out, take his hand, and squeeze it lightly. ‘This is still going to save us hours. And like Benny said, we might even get to see a
vätte.’ ‘Still, I’m sorry.’ My eyes lock on his, and I know the apology is for so much more than this one slight error. Before I can reply, Stide calls out from up ahead. ‘You can mount again,’ she says matter-of-factly. ‘We are past the hule.’ ‘It is?’ Ruben says with a slight air of disappointment. ‘I thought we might see a vätte.’ ‘Yeah, but the plus side is we get to share that promised hug.’ Benny grins. ‘And you want it now?’ Ruben quirks an eyebrow. ‘With everyone watching?’ To my surprise, a pink hue colours Benny’s cheeks. It’s nice to see Ruben actually flirting with him, especially since I can take it as a sign he’s finally accepted there’s no point in pursuing me any longer. Still, the fact that his response has actually affected Benny makes me wonder if the future duke likes Ruben a little more than he’d care to admit.
As I let the moment of lightness linger, my eyes turn to Kyor, who’s staring straight ahead into the thickening forest. ‘Kyor?’ Whether the static that prickles on my skin is of his making, I cannot tell, but it’s accompanied by an uneasy squirm in the pit of my stomach.
Elska lets out a low, rumbling growl. ‘We need to go!’ Kyor calls out sharply to the group. ‘Now!’ ‘We need to sort the horses,’ Caz protests, but Kyor is already on Elska,
swinging her around to face the horses. ‘Later!’ he barks. ‘Mount up!’
