The Morning Flower

by Amanda Hocking

  Illaria kicked me, her foot connecting painfully with my abdomen, and I stumbled backward and fell to the ground. My head hung over the edge of the plateau beside the falls, the cold water misting my face, and when she came at me again, I kicked her back with both my feet. She went soaring backward, and I scrambled up away from the edge.

  When I was up again, she charged at me. I faked to the left toward the edge, and when she got close, I jerked to the other side. I caught her, and I slammed her back into the solid rock wall surrounding the waterfall, and she let out a pained scream.

  “What is your problem?” I shouted at her. “What do you want from me?”

  “I want this to be over.” She grimaced, and then in a high-pitched scream she shrieked, “Nohkihit!”

  Pain shot through my skull, my body went limp, and then everything went black.

  49

  Memorialize

  The medica wasn’t the only thing on the floor beneath the living areas in the Älvolk’s underground compound. There was also a dungeon, with thick iron bars and cold stone walls. That’s what I found out when I woke up, sharing a cell with Dagny. Across from us, locked behind their own bars, were Pan and Elof.

  The story they’d been told, after Noomi and Tuva found them, put them in shackles, and dragged them down here, was that Illaria had caught me breaking into someplace where I didn’t belong. To restrain me, she’d been forced to knock me unconscious, and now none of us could be trusted, so they’d had to lock us all up.

  Dagny recounted the incident while she was sitting on a wooden bunk, and then she mentioned that they had stolen from her. They’d dumped out her backpack when they dropped her here, taken anything of interest, and left her with some of her clothing, a few paper clips, a pen, and scraps of paper.

  Apparently they’d done that with Pan as well, but he had gotten the rest of his clothes back. Neither Elof nor I had gotten any of our stuff back at all. Pan had piled up his shirts to make a pillow, and he was sprawled out on the bunk attempting to sleep, while I stood with my face resting against the cold bars, staring down the dark empty hallway.

  “So do all your sisters hate you?” Dagny asked.

  “It really does seem that way, yep,” I agreed tiredly. “It kinda seems like they were right to abandon me as a baby.”

  “No, Ulla, don’t say that,” Pan said, apparently ditching his attempt to sleep.

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” Dagny said, her tone soft and apologetic. “Honestly, it sounds like your family is all a bunch of selfish jerks.”

  “Maybe I’m a jerk,” I said with a tired shrug, and I wasn’t sure if it was true or what I meant anymore. My head still hurt from whatever had happened with Illaria, and I felt exhausted and sore deep within my bones.

  It was hard not to wonder what I might have done to deserve this.

  “Ulla,” Dagny chastised me. “You’re not a jerk, and you know it.”

  “None of this is as bad as it seems,” Elof chimed in, managing to sound a bit more optimistic than the rest of us. “I have a dead man’s code in place.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “It’s a fail-safe. If Patrik in Isarna doesn’t hear back from me, I left him with specific instructions to let the Mimirin and the Vittra Kingdom know, and as soon as the Vittra Queen hears her prestigious adviser and scientist is being held hostage, she will work to get us back,” Elof explained. “The Vittra might not be able to find our location, but Indu will eventually leave, to trade, to find his daughters, to make more daughters. The Vittra will make him miserable until he releases us.”

  “The Vittra can always be counted on to make everyone miserable,” Dagny muttered.

  “No matter what, it seems like I’ll have plenty of time to think about whatever the heck I’m going to do when I get out of here,” I said with a groan. “I blew my internship, I found my family but they’re a nightmare, and I will probably never see Eliana again, which might be for the best because she probably hates me.”

  “Eliana definitely doesn’t hate you,” Dagny corrected me. “And we’ll get out of here, and we’ll figure out what is really going on with you. I don’t trust everything I’ve heard around here, and I don’t think you should either.”

  “That häxdoktor told me some interesting things about hemosterin and glimocytes,” Elof said. “I think they may know more about blood here than we do back at the Mimirin.”

  Dagny stopped her doodling to look up at him. “What do you mean?”

  “The blood they gave Pan had glimocytes, a more powerful form of leukocytes unique to trolls, and that—in combination with the dadarud—is what made him so happy,” Elof elaborated.

  “I was very happy.” Pan smiled wistfully. “I’m still kind of a little happy right now, honestly, even though this situation is objectively really terrible and I feel so bad for everything that you’re going through, Ulla.”

  There was a loud bang at the end of the hall when the door swung open, followed by fast, deliberate footfalls echoing off the walls. The light cast Noomi’s long shadow, so I saw that before I saw her stalking toward me.

  Her hair was pulled up the same way it had been yesterday, but she’d forgone the makeup, so the staggered scarred lines beside her eyes were far more pronounced than they had been. Her eyes were more noticeable, too, a pale foggy blue below beneath harsh eyebrows.

  She was smiling as she approached, which I immediately took to be a bad sign, and then she reached through the bars and thrust a book at me. “I went through your things, and I took this book for a good laugh.”

  It was Johan’s book about Jem-Kruk, and I took it from her tentatively, afraid this was a trick I didn’t understand. “I’m glad that invading my privacy and mocking me is so entertaining to you.”

  “You know this is all elk shit, right?” Noomi sneered at me.

  I tried to laugh her off. “It’s a fairy tale for kids.”

  “No, it’s all exaggerated to make Jem-Kruk sound like he’s some sort of folk hero, but he’s not.” She shook her head forcefully, making her ponytail sway. “He’s a selfish coward, and I easily bested him in hand-to-hand combat.”

  “What are you talking about? You know Jem-Kruk?” I asked.

  “Of course, I do.” She scoffed at me like I was an idiot. “He was friends with your mother. He visited with her once before she died, back when Illaria still lived here. And all that stuff about Senka, that sounds inflated to me too. Your mother never seemed that brave.”

  Dagny came up behind me and asked her, “Are you guys saying that you actually know the characters from this storybook in real life?”

  “They aren’t storybook characters,” she corrected sharply. “They’re real.”

  “No, wait, go back,” I said, as my mind replayed what she had been saying. “Senka. Senka from that book is my mother?”

  “No, I told you. The Senka from this book is a caricature of your mother,” Noomi said. “She was rude and not brave at all.”

  “That doesn’t…” I stared down at the worn cover. “This book was written a long time ago, and Jem-Kruk is still young. But in the book, it says he’s the same age as Senka.” I looked up at her. “When were the twins born?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t care enough to get into it,” she replied dismissively, and her smile was slowly returning. “Besides, it’s not like you’ll remember any of this anyway.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “I will say this about you. Your friends work very fast,” she said, sounding pained to voice even the briefest of commendations. “Father has already gotten word that he is to return you to your home across the ocean. We will let you leave, because we have to, and because Father can never bear to sacrifice one of his children.

  “You will go, but you will not remember any of this,” Noomi promised me. “The Ögonen here are very mighty, and they are under Tuva’s command. She will harness their power for the inovotto muitit. The inovotto
muitit is absolute agony as the memories are ripped from your mind, and it will make the leat fámus seem like a stroll through a meadow.”

  “Why do you hate me so much?” I asked her emptily. “What did I ever do to you?”

  “I hate you because you exist,” she said coldly. She tossed my bag into the cell—now empty of so many of my belongings it had become deflated enough to easily fit through the bars—and then she turned and stalked off down the hall.

  “Do you still have the pen?” I asked Dagny after I heard the door swing shut again, sounding Noomi’s departure. I started digging through my bag right away, tearing through my clothes, but I couldn’t find my Moleskine notebook anywhere. “They must’ve taken it.”

  “What?”

  “They’re going to try to make us forget,” I said, and then I had another idea. “I need your pen.”

  “Here.” She handed it to me.

  I opened the Jem-Kruk and the Adlrivellir book to a blank page near the back. I didn’t know how much time I had, so I started writing everything I knew I’d want to remember.

  Senka is your mother, Indu is your father

  Don’t Trust Noomi or Illaria

  They’re Your Sisters but they LIE

  Áibmoráigi is on the northwest mountain beyond Lake Sodalen

  The Woman in the Long White Dress is the waterfall

  Find the waterfall, find Eliana

  Jem-Kruk might be a liar

  You and Pan kissed (and you both liked it)

  When I finished, I handed the pen back to Dagny, and she made her own list in the margins of my book.

  With that done, we were left to wait, and hope that we’d done enough. That we had left ourselves enough bread crumbs that we’d know what really happened here no matter what Noomi or Illaria or any of the Älvolk had planned for us.

  GLOSSARY

  Abisko National Park—a national park in the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden. It is located over an hour’s drive away from Kiruna Airport.

  Adlrivellir—the name of a legendary troll kingdom.

  Áibmoráigi—the oldest troll establishment on earth. It is located somewhere in Scandinavia, but its exact location has been lost since before 1000 CE. Frequently referred to as the “First City.”

  akutaq—a traditional Inuit food often referred to as “Eskimo ice cream.” It is not creamy ice cream as we know it, but a concoction made from reindeer fat or tallow, seal oil, freshly fallen snow or water, fresh berries, and sometimes ground fish. It is whipped together by hand so that it slowly cools into foam.

  álfar—the name given to the trolls from the legendary kingdom of Alfheim.

  Alfheim—a mythological realm. To humans, the legend is that it is one of the Nine Worlds and home of the Light Elves in Norse mythology. To trolls, the legend is that it is a utopian kingdom hidden across the Lost Bridge of Dimma.

  Älvolk—a legendary group of monk-like trolls, who guard the Lost Bridge of Dimma, along with many troll secrets and artifacts.

  angakkuq—an Inuit word that roughly translates to “shaman” or “witch.”

  ärtsoppa—a Scandinavian soup made of yellow peas, carrots, and onions. Traditional versions have ham, but vegetarian trolls skip that.

  Attack on Oslinna—a surprise military attack by the Vittra on the small Trylle village of Oslinna, Wyoming, during the War for the Princess. It left the city destroyed since January 2010.

  attempted assassination of Chancellor Iver—the attempt on the life of the Kanin Chancellor Iver Aven by the Queen’s guard Konstantin Black in January 2010. It was an attack unrelated to the War for the Princess. It was eventually tied to Viktor Dålig and his coup against the Kanin monarchy that lasted over a decade and ended in the Invasion of Doldastam.

  Aurenian Ballroom—a grand ballroom in the Mimirin named after the old Vittra King Auren.

  Battle for the Bridge—a legendary battle over the Lost Bridge of Dimma that took place in Áibmoráigi over a thousand years ago. In old myths, it is known as the Vígríðabifröst.

  Bay of Bothnia—the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The bay today is fed by several large rivers and is relatively unaffected by tides, so it has low salinity. It freezes each year for up to six months.

  Bedtime Stories for Trolls of All Ages—a children’s book of troll fables and stories. It contains an origin story about how all the tribes separated.

  beetroot salad—a common Scandinavian dish. It is traditionally made with diced beetroots, apples, vinegar, herbs, olive oil, red onions, yogurt, and lemon zest.

  blodseider magick—a type of taboo occult practice in extremist troll sects. The practice of seiðr is believed to be a form of magic relating to both the telling and shaping of the future.

  bullhead kabob—a common meal in Fulaträsk, made with the swamp fish bullheads and peppers. It is described as salty and chewy.

  Candida viridi—a fungal infection that afflicts trolls, similar to Candida auris in humans. The differences are that C. viridi is hearty enough to thrive in cold temperatures and that it leaves a greenish tint to the skin of the affected individuals. The fungus causes invasive candidiasis infections in the bloodstream, the central nervous system, and internal organs. With modern medicine it is easily curable, but without proper treatment it is often deadly. Troll historians believe that C. viridi is what caused the Green Death (Grændöden) in the thirteenth century, which wiped out most of the trolls that remained in Scandinavia.

  Catacombs of Fables—a mazelike vault in the basement of the Mimirin that houses many of the fictional stories of the past, so as not to confuse fact with fiction.

  chadron—a thistle in Louisiana, semi-common in meals and in foraging.

  changeling—a child secretly exchanged for another. For trolls, it’s an ancient practice, with elite royal families leaving their babies in place of wealthy human babies. The humans unknowingly raise the troll baby, ensuring that the troll will have the best chance of success, with fine education, top health care, and rights to tremendous wealth. When they are of age, they are retrieved by trolls known as trackers, and the changelings are brought back to live with their tribes in their kingdom. The Trylle and the Kanin are the only two tribes that still widely practice changelings.

  chromosomes—DNA molecules with part or all of the genetic material of an organism.

  Churchill, Manitoba—a small human town in Canada. One must stop in Churchill if venturing to either Doldastam, Manitoba, or Iqaluit, Nunavut, and it may be the easiest way to get to Iskyla, Nunavut, as well.

  cloudberry—an herb native to alpine and arctic regions, producing amber-colored edible fruit similar to the raspberry or blackberry. It is commonly used in Scandinavian pies and jams.

  Dålig Revolt—the uprising that took place after the unmarried Kanin King Elliot Strinne died unexpectedly in 1999 without a clear heir. The Chancellor appointed Elliot’s cousin Evert Strinne to the throne, overlooking Elliot’s sister Sybilla and her three daughters. Sybilla and her husband, Viktor Dålig, contested Evert’s appointment, and they staged a revolt that left four men dead. The Dålig family was exiled.

  docent—a member of the teaching staff immediately below professorial rank. In the U.S., it is often a volunteer position, but it can be paid or done in exchange for room and board. At the Mimirin, docents are paid a minimal stipend in addition to room and board.

  dödstämpel—a form of martial arts practiced by trolls. The name means “death punch” in Swedish.

  dökkt rúgbraud—a Scandinavian dark rye bread.

  Doldastam, Manitoba—the capital and largest city of the Kanin kingdom, located in Manitoba, Canada, near Hudson Bay. The Kanin royal family lives in the palace there, and the city is surrounded by a stone wall. The population is a little over twelve thousand as of 2019.

  Eftershom, Montana—a small Trylle village located in the mountains near Missoula. It is nestled in the convergence of several (real) mountai
n ranges in western Montana. The terrain is notoriously rough and the winters are brutal. When it was originally settled by the Trylle, a Markis asked “Why do we stop here?” And the leader answered, “Eftersom vi har gått tillräckligt långt,” which roughly translates to, “Because we have gone far enough.”

  ekkálfar—an old term used for “troll.”

  eldvatten—a very strong alcohol made by the Omte. The name literally translates to “firewater.” It is also known as Omte moonshine, and it is used in Omte sangria.

  ex nihilo nihil fit—a Latin phrase meaning “nothing comes from nothing.” It is the motto of the Mimirin.

  First City, the—see Áibmoráigi.

  Förening, Minnesota—the capital and largest city of the Trylle kingdom. It is a compound in the bluffs along the Mississippi River in Minnesota where the palace is located.

  Forsa River—the river that runs through Merellä. It is a wide stream that slices the city in half and meets the ocean. The name means “rushing stream.”

  Frey—a mythological figure. To humans, he is known as the legendary Norse deity of virility and fair weather. To trolls, he is a troll from Alfheim who stayed behind to help rebuild their kingdom after the Battle for the Bridge. He is a prominent figure in the Älvolk cult, the Freyarian Älvolk.

  Freyarian Älvolk—the followers of the Älvolk who began following the more extreme teachings of Frey. See Frey.

  Fulaträsk, Louisiana—the capital city of the Omte, spread out in the trees and swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana.

  gädda—the Swedish name for pike. See: northern pike.

  geitvaktmann—a goat watchman, similar to a shepherd or a peurojen.

  giant woolly elk—a name that trolls have given the line of Irish elk they breed. See Irish elk.

  gräddtårta—a Swedish cream-layer cake. Common during Midsommar.

  Grændöden—a plague. See: Green Death.

  Green Death, the—a mass death of Scandinavian trolls that took place in the thirteeth century. Troll historians believe that it was caused by an outbreak of C. viridi.