The Legends of Orkney
Page 48
How did I get myself into this? Keely wondered with mounting dread. And what was Galatin about to tell her? Was Galatin a traitor? Who could she trust?
A pair of ravens flew through camp, their blue-black bodies nearly taking Keely’s head off.
Rifkin got to his feet. “I think I’ll stretch my legs. We’re running low on wood.” He took off whistling through the woods.
“I should try to get us a rabbit,” Keely said, determined to keep busy. Where was her bow? She must have lost it when the horse had reared up. She searched in the snow and then sagged with disappointment. The precious bow was broken in half. Two jagged pieces hung from the bowstring. It was useless, but she uncovered her satchel in the snow.
Keely grabbed the bag, struck by an idea, and went back to the fire. She knelt by Galatin and rummaged in the sac. She pulled out the pink soul crystal.
“Ooh, I didn’t know you brought that!” Mavery crowed.
The crystal glowed faintly in Keely’s hands. She had an urge, a sense that the crystal could help Galatin. King Einolach had said she had the hair of a healer. She removed her gloves and held the crystal over Galatin’s head, passing it back and forth over his wound.
“What’re you doing?” Mavery asked.
“Shh.” Keely was concentrating. It was probably a stupid idea, and she didn’t want Mavery to laugh at her, but if the king was right, then maybe, just maybe, she could use the crystal to help Galatin. The pink stone glowed under her hands. She concentrated on sending healing thoughts toward him. Her skin tingled as a faint shimmer of electric energy ran up her spine to her shoulder and down her arm into the stone. It glowed brighter, casting a rosy glow over Galatin’s face. Shock mingled with awe as she realized it was working.
His eyes flickered, and then opened.
She pulled the crystal away, smiling down at him.
“Look who’s awake.”
Galatin sat up, woozily rubbing his head. The bruise was yellow and black, but his eyes were clear. “Is there any water?”
Keely poured him some in a cup and held it to his lips. His hand shook slightly, but he managed to swallow the whole cupful.
“Where’s Rifkin?”
“Getting wood.”
“You were about to tell me something important,” Keely began, but another pair of ravens took flight through the trees, flapping their wings and sending out a harsh caw. Rifkin sauntered out of the woods, clutching a few sticks.
Galatin laid into him. “Rifkin, you shouldn’t have left the camp unattended. If the troll hags had returned—”
The soldier dropped the wood by the fire, glaring at his comrade. “Glad to see that knock to your head didn’t affect your personality. If they had come back, we’d all be dead. One sword wouldn’t stop them.”
“He’s right,” Keely said, gripped by a sudden terror that the troll hags were going to pounce any second. “I don’t even have my bow anymore.”
There was silence save for the crackling of the fire.
Galatin cleared his throat. “It’s not all bad. We still have one horse. I just need some rest, and then I’ll be ready take on the troll hags if they come back.”
Rifkin harrumphed loudly. “It’s not the troll hags I’m worried about.” He licked his finger and held it up. A layer of frost formed on it instantly. “Feel that drop in temperature? A storm’s coming. The ache in my bones tells me it’s a bad one. If we don’t find shelter, we’ll freeze to death in our beds.”
Galatin stood, staggering slightly, one hand to his head before he steadied himself. “Then we must ride. Immediately. Get across the pass and find shelter.”
“I wasn’t finished,” Rifkin said. “The troll hags scavenge in the forest and sell their secrets. They will have told the Vanir we’re coming. As soon as we cross the pass, we’ll be in their territory. They’ll be waiting to pluck us like fattened berries on a bush.”
“Then we’ll fight them.”
Rifkin spat into the fire. “There are two of us, saddled with children. Against frost giants that could tear your head off with one swipe of their hand. There’s no fighting them. There is only surrender.”
Galatin stared him down and then closed his eyes. “We’ve made it this far. I say we keep moving. Find shelter and see if we can make our way past the Vanir.”
With a disapproving snort, Rifkin shrugged and loaded the horse. Mavery and Keely rolled up their furs and handed them off. As Keely turned away, Rifkin gripped her arm and yanked her in close.
“You want to find Ymir and the Cave of Shadows, you best be ready to run.”
“What do you mean?” Keely whispered.
“Galatin’s going to hand you over to them on a silver platter. No one in their right mind goes up against the frost giants. They’re too powerful. Sneak around them, outsmart them,” he tapped his forehead. “That’s where I come in. You and I can make it on our own.”
“I can’t leave Mavery behind,” Keely said, watching the witch-girl dance around the camp.
Checking that Galatin was busy with his gear, Rifkin jerked Keely within an inch of his face. “You want to get that Moon Pearl or not?”
“Yes.”
“Then be ready when I say run.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
By midday, they were nearly to the pass separating Torf-Einnar from Rakim. Galatin steadfastly led their lone horse with Mavery on top as temperatures fell and a stiff wind picked up. Rifkin and Keely followed behind, trudging steadily uphill through the snow-covered trees. Between gasps of air that burned her lungs, Keely mulled over Rifkin’s words, liking him less and less as the hours passed. Whatever happened, she wasn’t leaving Mavery behind to face the fate Keely had glimpsed in her vision.
After a short rest at the pass, they began the treacherous job of making it down the other side without falling into the steep abyss that rimmed the trail. How far down they would fall was impossible to know because a gray fog covered the valley below. Keely caught glimpses of a dark river winding through more forest.
She lost count of the number of times she slipped on the slick surface and fell to her knees. Worse, the storm Rifkin had warned about moved in, hurling sleet in their faces and slowing the horse to a crawl. Galatin lifted Keely into the saddle, ignoring her objections that she was fine, and told her to hang on. Mavery wrapped her arms tight around Keely’s waist.
The wind cut through the thick furs they wore like they were nothing more than fine silk. Growing up in Pilot Rock, Keely had never imagined such cold. Her skin burned like it was on fire. She pulled her hood tighter, not daring to open her eyes in the keening storm. They made slow progress. With each minute, Keely ticked off another part of her body she could no longer feel. Toes, gone. Fingers, numb. Nose, frozen.
“There!” Galatin shouted.
Keely peeked out through stiff fingers.
A darkening in the white ice. An opening.
Shelter.
Galatin lifted her down, and Rifkin held Mavery. They trudged through the wind and snow to the opening in the ice. The cave was a mere slit in a granite wall, too small for their horse to enter. Keely looked at the animal over her shoulder, wondering how long it would last before it froze, then slid down a steep plane of rough rock into a broad cavern. Behind her, Mavery followed, then Rifkin and Galatin.
It was pitch black. Keely took the phoralite out of her bag and warmed it in her hands. It glowed faintly, enough to see the interior of their safe haven.
Cobwebs patterned the ceiling, glittering with ice. There were scattered piles of sticks and dead leaves that had blown in. Rifkin pushed them into a pile.
“Can you light a fire, child?” Galatin asked Mavery. The girl’s teeth were chattering so hard that the sound echoed off the ice-covered walls.
Keely reached for Mavery’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Come on, kiddo, we need some warmth,” she coaxed.
“Oh, n-n-now you’re gl-glad I-I’m here,” she stuttered out.
Maver
y knelt down and stuck her hands in the pile and muttered, “Fein kinter, calla fi.”
Nothing happened.
“Come on, witch-girl,” Galatin said sharply. “We need heat.”
“I can do this,” she insisted, “just be patient, would ya?”
The two men backed off.
The witchling turned to Keely. “I’m too cold to think up my magic,” she whispered. “I need your help.”
“What can I do?” Keely asked.
Mavery shrugged. “I don’t know, but you’re different than before. Not just your hair. Your aura, too. You don’t just look Eifalian, you feel Eifalian to me. And they have their own kind of magic. You used the soul crystal to help Galatin.”
Keely knelt down next to her. “Fine. I don’t know if I can help, but I’ll try.” Keely stuck her own hands over the pile. “What do I say?”
“Say what you feel.”
“How?”
“The words come from inside you.” Mavery took Keely’s hands in hers and planted them on the ground. “Magic is you needing something and believing it can happen.”
“Well, right now we need fire,” Keely said, “so let’s make it happen.”
Keely closed her eyes and imagined the biggest bonfire she had ever seen. It was the last time she had gone camping with her parents, before her mom had gotten sick. She remembered the crackle of the flames on her face and the smiles on her mom’s face as they toasted a bag of marshmallows. She could smell the burnt sugar now.
“You’re doing it,” Mavery whispered, and she squeezed Keely’s hands.
Keely smelled the smoke from their fire that night and the burning sage that had singed her nostrils. Logs had popped and snapped as a desert wind blew across the mesa.
Another log popped, loudly, spitting sparks that tingled Keely’s skin.
She opened her eyes. Three faces stared at her across a blazing fire.
Keely jerked her hands back, suddenly realizing they were still in the flames. They should have been burned to a crisp, but they didn’t hurt. And they weren’t cold anymore. She could feel her fingers again. Galatin grinned at her. It was the first time Keely really saw him smile. It was nice. It made him look younger.
“Well, looky here, the little mouse has some magic in her,” Rifkin said.
They huddled around the small blaze, sheltered from the wind screaming outside their chilly nest. Keely’s stomach was so empty, it was hollow. The only sound was the chattering of Mavery’s teeth.
When their eyes grew too heavy to keep open, Galatin and Rifkin made bookends around the two girls. Keely slept in fits, finding snatches of rest between shivers. It felt like the night would never end. She cradled the phoralite in her hands, enjoying the tiny yellow glow. Every so often, Galatin would toss another stick on the fire. Their little pile dwindled until there were only a few twigs and scraps left.
Outside, the wind howled like a legion of banshees, whipping in through the narrow opening and crawling under the fur to chill them where they lay. Keely looked at her hands—her magical hands—and wondered if Odin had made a huge mistake when he had chosen her for this job. At this rate, she wasn’t going to make it out of this cave without freezing to death. How would she ever face the frost giants or find Ymir and his Cave of Shadows?
Sleep finally overtook her. When Keely opened her eyes, something had changed.
It was quieter outside. The wind had calmed to a murmur. A dim gray light, the first sign of day, filtered into the cave, illuminating dark granite walls layered with a shiny covering of ice.
Galatin stood up, swaying slightly. “I’ll go look for wood.”
But for once Rifkin took charge, jumping to his feet. “No, you sit down and rest. The girl and I will go.” He nodded at Keely.
She slipped her cloak over her head and put the phoralite back in her satchel. Mavery huddled under the furs, her lips blue with cold.
“I’ll be right back,” she said to the girl.
Rifkin pushed her up and out of the cave then climbed after her.
The world was completely white, covered in frozen sheets of snow. Their poor horse was a frozen statue, head down as if it were grazing in the snow.
“This way, child.” Rifkin took off, striding across the terrain, his boots crunching on the crusty surface. She followed as best she could, trying not to slip. They entered a small stand of trees. The snow was softer and deep.
Rifkin kept going, plodding steadily, as if he was in a hurry to get somewhere.
“Wait up,” she called. “Where are you going?” There were branches here, poking up out of the snow, but Rifkin charged onward.
“Keep up, little mouse.”
Keely struggled to wade through waist-deep snow, feeling it slide into her boots. Panting, she had finally caught up with him when behind them, back on the trail, shouts rang out.
The sound of hoofbeats carried across the crisp air. Had someone come to rescue them? Keely stopped and turned around.
There were men, all right, but not the rescuers she hoped.
The Vanir had arrived. Through the trees, Keely could make out giant men circling the mound of snow where their horse was buried, investigating.
These men were larger than a team of hulking linebackers. They wore fur skins as capes. Long, wild chestnut hair ran down their backs. Their barreled chests were bare, as if they didn’t feel the cold. They had horses the size of Clydesdales they rode bareback. The animals wore shiny silver face guards and tail ornaments woven in the hair.
Keely was about to shout a warning to Rifkin and Mavery, but a hand closed over her mouth.
“Keep quiet, girlie. You don’t want the Vanir on our heads, do you?”
That’s when Keely realized Rifkin had planned this. He must have known the Vanir would come once the storm cleared. She bit down on his thumb, and he jerked it back, cursing. She started to run, but he tackled her in the snow, crushing her under his weight and burying her face in the powder.
When she came up, he held her in a tight grip, keeping his hand over her mouth and a knife to her throat.
“Not a word, or I’ll cut you and leave you here to die,” he whispered.
She watched in horror as Mavery was pulled kicking and screaming from the cave. Then Galatin was dragged out between two of the frost giants. He appeared unconscious. Or worse.
One of the giants backhanded Mavery to silence her. Keely screamed into Rifkin’s hand as the witch-girl was knocked off her feet, flying into the snow. She was tossed up on a horse like a bag of grain while Galatin was loaded onto another. Then the giants took off in a thunder of hooves.
Rifkin finally released Keely.
“Sorry about the knife,” he said, without sounding the least bit apologetic. “I couldn’t have you getting us caught.”
“You knew,” she said, giving him a shove backward. He just laughed.
“I warned Galatin the Vanir would attack. He didn’t listen.”
Keely shoved him again, not caring that he was bigger and had a knife. “You knew they’d be taken. We should have saved them.”
“And then what? We’d be on the back of them horses, too, and for what? Rifkin doesn’t get caught.” He tapped the side of his head. “I’m too smart for that.”
“We have to go after them.”
“We have to find the Cave of Shadows—or have you forgotten about your little quest?”
No, she hadn’t forgotten. But she couldn’t abandon Galatin and Mavery.
“I did this for you, girlie. If we’re going to save this realm, you’re the only one who matters now.”
Keely crossed her arms defiantly. She hated his logic, but he was right.
“What will they do with them?” she asked.
His eyes shifted downward. “The Vanir won’t kill them. Not right off, anyway. They’ll want to know why they’re here, and if the Eifalians sent them.”
“And if they think that?”
“Then things will get ugly.”
“Back in Ter Glenn. You were going to kill me, weren’t you?”
Rifkin scowled, looking away. But he didn’t deny it.
“Why?”
He laughed bitterly. “Let’s just say the witches can be very persuasive. And they pay well.”
“You’re working for Catriona!” Shock ran through her. She got to her feet, backing away, ready to fling herself on the mercy of the frost giants. Anything but this despicable traitor.
He stubbed a finger at her. “You should be thanking me. When she sent her ravens to check up on me, I told those brainless birds to tell that witch you were dead. So no one’s looking for you, little mouse, and now ol’ Rifkin can get his payday when you help me break into that treasure trove.”
Keely turned her face away from him, listening to her heart racing in her chest. The wind blew through the trees, sending a chill down her spine. Every fiber of her being wanted to walk away through those trees, but she didn’t move. If she did, her chances of reaching the Cave of Shadows dropped to nothing.
She came to a decision. “I’ll go with you on one condition. You have to swear that once we get the pearl, we rescue Mavery and Galatin. And don’t lie; I can read your aura.” Keely’s Eifalian powers were still tiny, but she had enough for her to sense the lip service Rifkin was about to feed her. “You need me, as much as I need you.”
He turned red, glowering at her. “That’s foolish—”
She grabbed him by his thick coat, shaking him as hard as she could. “Swear it, or I’ll go after them myself right now, and you’ll never see the inside of that cave or get your hands on all that treasure.”