Legend of the Realm

by Alexandra Ott

  “Is that so?” Seeker Larus says. “Well, we can’t have the best healer in the village kept out of work. I will speak to Dr. Baldur on your behalf, Runa.”

  “Thank you, Seeker,” Runa says. “But don’t waste your time on my behalf. Dr. Baldur has never taken a female apprentice.”

  Seeker Larus smiles at her. “I will speak to him nonetheless,” he says. “And besides, how could he refuse to employ the Council’s appointed Healer of the Realm?”

  Runa stiffens. “What?”

  Seeker Larus exchanges a smile with Seeker Ludvik. “I’ve been thinking for some time that we needed to appoint someone to a special position,” he says. “Seeker Freyr is certainly a skilled healer, and the two of us are able to handle the day-to-day needs of the Realm’s creatures. But when there is a widespread illness, like we’ve seen with this plague, it would help to have someone else we can call on. Someone who is not only a skilled healer but also quite familiar with the Realm, and who has already demonstrated an ability to heal magical creatures.”

  “You mean…?” Runa’s voice trails off in wonder.

  “I call an official vote,” Seeker Larus says, using his formal voice. “All in favor of appointing Runa, daughter of Benedikt, as the Healer of the Realm?”

  My hand shoots into the air immediately, and so does Ari’s.

  “Aye,” Seeker Ludvik says, raising his mug toward Runa in a toast.

  “A wise choice,” Seeker Freyr says firmly.

  “It’s settled, then,” Seeker Larus says, turning back to Runa. “Assuming you accept the appointment, of course?”

  “Of—of course I do,” Runa says. “I mean, thank you, everyone. I’m honored.”

  Seeker Larus claps his hands. “You’ll have to forgive us if we postpone the discussion about your official duties in this appointment for another day. I believe it’s been a long night, and there are other concerns to attend to first.”

  Runa nods fervently as Seeker Freyr sits forward. “The most pressing concern,” he says, “is what we’re going to do about Agnar and the Vondur. We can hardly leave them trapped behind a boundary spell forever.”

  “I have an idea,” I say, but before I can continue, Seeker Freyr speaks again.

  “And who’s to say there aren’t even more dragons where this one came from? Who’s to say how many eggs or other materials Agnar managed to pilfer before we caught him? We could be dealing with this problem for a long time, unless we take firmer action. I propose—”

  Ari clears his throat again. “Sorry, Seeker Freyr,” he says, “but I think you interrupted Seeker Bryn. She said she had an idea.”

  Everyone turns to me, including Ari, who smiles encouragingly.

  “I was thinking…,” I say. “So we don’t have any way to imprison them on the island, and exiling them without imprisoning them doesn’t work. But couldn’t they be imprisoned on the mainland? The Vondur have been trying to steal land from their neighbors, the Laekens, for a long time, right? They’re our trading partners, and they have a court and prison system on the mainland, don’t they? So all we have to do is hold the Vondur until the next trading day, and then we can ask the Laekens to take them back to the mainland themselves. I don’t think they’d object to imprisoning the very same Vondur they’ve been trying to capture for years.”

  The room is quiet for a moment. “I’m not sure I like the idea of relying on others to implement justice,” Seeker Ludvik says. “How do we know that the Laekens will treat them fairly and humanely? I won’t agree to sending the Vondur to be executed.”

  Seeker Larus looks thoughtful. “Ordinarily, I’d agree with you, Seeker,” he says to Ludvik. “But perhaps we could work out an agreement and make sure the Laekens accept our terms. In all our interactions with them before, they have proven themselves to be trustworthy and have always honored our agreements. I’m not certain they’d be willing, and I’m also unsure whether they have facilities capable of holding someone with Agnar’s magical gift. But I think it’s worth discussing with them, at the very least. Does everyone agree?”

  The rest of us murmur our assent. “Good,” Seeker Larus says. “The next question, then, is what to do about the water.”

  The room falls silent as the meaning of his words sinks in.

  “It’s all still contaminated,” Seeker Freyr says. “The glacier, the stream, the pool in the Valley of Ash. We can set boundary spells to prevent creatures from drinking in those locations, but what if the spells fail? What if the water spreads to other areas? We have no means of combating Vondur magic.”

  “Actually,” Ari says quietly, “I think we still do.”

  Everyone stares at him, and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. Seeker Larus says, “Please continue, Seeker Ari.”

  Wordlessly, Ari reaches into his pocket and withdraws a small vial. Gold glimmers within it. Runa gasps softly.

  “It didn’t take much of the potion Runa made to cure the icefoxes,” Ari says. “I still have plenty of it left over here. I’m not sure if it will still work after dawn, given the legends about Fairy’s Gold, but… well, it still looks the same, and it hasn’t vanished completely, so it might be worth a shot.”

  The room is suddenly full of energy. Seeker Larus leaps to his feet. “Worth a shot indeed,” he says. “I think we should move at once. Seeker Ludvik, could you be prepared to remove the boundary spells around the quarantines if this works?”

  Seeker Ludvik rises and sets down his empty mug. “Of course,” he says. “I’ll fetch Snorri at once.”

  Seeker Larus turns to me. “Could you return to the glacier where you found the Vondur magic, Seeker Bryn?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Why don’t you take some of the potion there? Seeker Ari can help you. Seeker Ludvik, you can take some of the potion to the stream below it, and Seeker Freyr and I will take the remainder to the Valley of Ash. We should move at once.”

  The room is a flurry of activity as everyone rises and heads for the door. Runa stands back, but I grab her hand. “You’re coming with us,” I say. “It’s your potion; you should be there to see if it works.”

  “But I’m not…”

  “Healer of the Realm,” I remind her with a grin. She smiles back.

  We divide the remainder of the potion into several separate containers that Seeker Larus rummages from his cupboard. I hold a clay jug with a tiny shimmer of liquid gold in the bottom. Seeker Larus takes another jug, and Seeker Ludvik takes the vial with the remainder.

  Together, we walk toward Dragon’s Point, hoping for one more miracle.

  TWENTY-SIX

  Lilja is very indignant about this whole situation.

  “I know you don’t usually carry three people,” I say impatiently, “but it’s just this one time, Lil.”

  She huffs, looking from Ari to Runa to me. She was excited to see all of us when she and the other Seekers’ dragons arrived at the Point, but she’s had a long night and is clearly not enthusiastic about continuing to fly three people around the Realm.

  “I can leave if you need me to,” Runa says, but I shake my head.

  “Don’t worry about it. She’s just being dramatic.”

  Runa bites her lip, looking unconvinced.

  Little Puff chooses that exact moment to pop his head up from Runa’s pocket and let out a chirp. Runa fetched him from the stable so that we could return him to the gyrpuff nests now that he’ll be safe from the plague. He still hasn’t shown any symptoms, so it seems likely that he isn’t infected.

  Lilja’s eyes widen at the baby gyrpuff’s sudden appearance, and for a second I wonder if she’s considering eating him for a snack. Then she lowers her head and lets out a soft, warm breath, ruffling his feathers. Little Puff chirps happily.

  Runa stares at Lilja with wide eyes. “Guess they’re friends now?” she says.

  Ari tosses Lilja a bilberry, his gift sparking around his hands. He sends soothing waves toward Lilja. She looks almost annoyed at being soothed, but
she snaps up the bilberries and lowers her back, allowing the three of us—four, counting Little Puff—to climb up.

  “That’s a good dragon,” Ari says, giving her a pat.

  “A ridiculous dragon,” I say, rolling my eyes, and Ari laughs.

  Despite her protests, Lilja flies us to the cliffs at her usual speed, and in no time I’m leading Ari and Runa toward the glacier where I first spotted the Vondur magic, following the path of the stream. It looks even worse than it did last time I was here; everything growing along the banks of the stream has shriveled and died, and the water is murky and still.

  “Wow,” Runa says, gazing sadly at the water. “I never knew anything in the Realm could look so… magic-less.”

  “Your potion’s going to fix that,” I say. “This place will be full of life in no time.”

  “You know,” Ari says, turning to me, “even if the potion works, we’re going to have a lot to do to restore the Realm.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He gestures toward the stream with one hand. “What happened to all the fish who lived in this stream? If the plague killed everything that lived here, we have to reintroduce them. Otherwise, what happens to the creatures who hunt here and rely on this stream for food? Sure, there are others in the Realm, but what if they’re used to this territory? We should try to restore things to the way they were before the plague hit, or there could be more problems for the Realm.”

  “I hadn’t thought about that,” I admit. “And what about the phoenixes? They moved their nests because of the plague, but their new territory might not be well suited to them. We should make sure they migrate back to their old nests if they need to.”

  “Right,” Ari says. “There’s going to be a lot of work to do.”

  “Well, good thing we’ve got two of the best Seekers ever to handle the job,” I say, grinning at him. “Next time people tell legends about Fairy’s Gold, they’ll tell the story about us.”

  Ari’s eyebrows rise. “Did you just call me one of the best Seekers ever?”

  “Of course not. I was referring to myself and Seeker Freyr.”

  “Very funny,” Ari says dryly.

  “Um, what about me?” Runa asks. “You Seekers can hardly handle anything on your own. You’ll definitely need the Healer of the Realm to sort this mess out.”

  “That’s for sure,” I say, grinning at her.

  “You know, I think this Healer of the Realm thing is an excellent idea,” Ari says. “Now we can just call Runa to do all the hard work, and we can still get all the credit for it!”

  Runa scoffs. “As if anyone would ever believe you could have done my work. I don’t think so.”

  “I think you’re onto something, Ari,” I say. “Let’s make Runa do all the tough chores so we can go play with the dragons every day instead.”

  “Seekers have chores?” Runa says, wrinkling her nose.

  “Oh, sure,” I say, exchanging a smile with Ari. “I mean, you’ve got to feed the icefoxes, defang the sea wolves, and then there’s all of that dragon poop to clean up…. If you think mucking horse stables is bad, wait until you see all the dragon dens!”

  “Ewww,” Runa protests. She stomps ahead of us. “That’s it, I’m not doing a single favor for any Seeker ever again. Do your own chores and count me out.”

  Ari and I burst into laughter. “You think she actually believes that?” he whispers to me.

  I shrug.

  “Defang the sea wolves? Really?”

  “I was making it up as I went along.”

  We laugh again. Ahead of us, Runa huffs loudly.

  Ari’s expression grows serious, and he turns to me again. “Does this mean you’re not still mad at me?”

  I slow my pace, staring at him. “I thought you were mad at me.”

  “Oh, I was,” he says. “I can’t believe you put Lilja at risk like that.”

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I’ve been trying not to think about how sick Lilja was, about her eyes turning black. We came so close to losing her, and it was all my fault. I’ll never take any risks with her again.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “You were right about that. I wanted to save the Realm so badly that I didn’t stop to think, and that put Lilja in danger. If we hadn’t gotten the cure… if anything had happened to her… It would’ve been my fault. I’m sorry. I should’ve listened to you.”

  Ari nods once. “Lilja might have gotten it anyway,” he acknowledges. “But neither of us should be careless about protecting her. And I could’ve helped you with that if you’d let me.”

  “You’re right. I… I forgot that we’re supposed to be a team. It’s just, ever since the competition, I kind of feel like I’ve been on my own. Becoming a Seeker, proving I can do the job, taking care of the Realm… It’s important to me, and I felt like I had to do it all alone. Like I didn’t have anyone on my side.”

  “I’ve always been on your side,” Ari says quietly. “Even during the competition, remember?”

  I nod. “I’m sorry. From now on, I won’t forget that we’re a team. When we have big decisions to make, we make them together. And I’ll never be careless when it comes to Lilja. I promise.”

  “And,” Ari says, “I’m sorry too. You were right that sometimes the other Seekers don’t listen to you and that I should’ve stood up for you. You were right about the Fairy’s Gold, about being able to find a cure, all of it. We should’ve listened more.”

  “I appreciate what you did at the meeting,” I say. “When you backed me up about the Fairy’s Gold and when you pointed out that Seeker Freyr interrupted me and made them listen.”

  Ari nods. “You’re always good at making yourself heard. But I’ll always back you up when you need me to. I should’ve been doing that more. I guess I wanted to prove myself to the other Seekers too. That’s probably why I didn’t speak up before.”

  “We don’t have to completely agree on everything in the meetings,” I say. “We’re going to have different opinions sometimes, and that’s fine. We just need to do better at listening to each other.”

  “Agreed,” Ari says. He offers me his hand. “Teammates?”

  “Teammates,” I say, and we shake.

  “Hey, Seekers!” Runa calls from ahead of us. “Are you planning to chitchat all day? You have work to do!”

  Ari laughs. “Why do I get the feeling we’re going to regret giving Runa so much power?”

  I grin. “She’s going to keep us in line, that’s for sure.”

  “Let’s go, people! Move it!” Runa yells. Little Puff lets out a screech from her pocket.

  We laugh and race after her.

  * * *

  We take a detour to the gyrpuff nests on our way to the glacier so we can say goodbye to Little Puff. When we arrive, a surprise is waiting for us.

  The gyrpuff who was sick before now sits in the nest outside the cave, his feathers looking bright and healthy, his eyes gleaming orange. He’s already made himself comfortable in the nest, and he lets out a happy shriek when he sees us.

  “Hey, little guy,” I say. “Feeling better?”

  “I don’t think it’s us he wants to see,” Runa says. She reaches into her pocket and withdraws Little Puff, who wriggles in her hands. “Is it okay to set him down?”

  “Yes,” I say. “Gyrpuffs are very social, and they love their babies. I have a feeling Little Puff will be safe with this one as his guardian.”

  Runa sets Little Puff down carefully. He takes a tentative hop forward, then another, then another.

  The grown gyrpuff watches him for a moment, head tilted to the side. He lets out a series of croaking sounds, and Little Puff responds with chirps.

  Runa sighs in relief as the grown gyrpuff nudges Little Puff gently with his beak and smoothly tucks him under his wing.

  Ari and I grin at each other. “Looks like they’re going to be the best of friends,” I say.

  “Bye, Little Puff,” Runa calls. “Grow up nice and healthy,
okay?”

  Little Puff chirps happily, nestling against his new friend.

  With one last goodbye, we leave the gyrpuff nests behind.

  We’re all out of breath by the time we finally reach the glacier. The Vondur magic is dark within it, just as I remembered.

  Runa gulps. “Maybe the potion isn’t strong enough for this.”

  “It’s Fairy’s Gold,” I remind her. “Straight from the heart of the Realm. What could be stronger?”

  “There isn’t much of it left,” she says. “And we don’t know if it’s going to work after dawn.”

  “We’ll never know unless we try,” I say.

  Ari studies the glacier with a frown. “So what’s the best way to do this? It’s not like we can chisel through the glacier to get the magic out.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” I say. “The thing is, the Vondur had to get the magic in there somehow, right? If they could get it in, there has to be a way to get it out.”

  “Like what?” Runa asks. “Looks like a pretty solid glacier to me.”

  “Think about it. Seeker Larus said the Vondur don’t really have magic. They use magical objects. So in order to cast that spell, they had to tie it to something physical. If the object they used is still here…”

  “Let’s spread out,” Ari suggests, “and search the area.”

  We each take off in a different direction, peering around rocks and into crevices, searching for anything unusual. I cast my gift out wide, since it’s hard to pick up on much of anything with so much Vondur magic emanating from the water. But if there’s one good thing about the plague killing off every living thing around the stream, it’s that there isn’t much else to interfere with my gift, so any magical item should be easy to spot—

  There. Something brushes against my gift, squeezed in the gap between two nearby rocks. It’s full of Vondur magic, but there’s something else, too. Something that feels like… like the Realm.

  “Over here!” I shout, hoping Runa and Ari haven’t gone too far. I crouch down and peer inside the gap, trying to get a good look at the object. Something long and dark gleams between the rocks.