Chapter 15
Fifteen
Astrid
Astrid stared at the rigging he’d wrapped around himself and wondered what he was expecting her to do here. She certainly wasn’t going to be seated on his back like cargo for the entire trip, was she?
It had made sense when they’d been fleeing the castle.
She couldn’t run as quickly as he could, and there had been people chasing them.
If she had slowed them down any more, someone would have caught them.
But they hadn’t heard any soldiers since they’d been in this witch’s hut, and surely she could travel without being carried like a misbehaving child?
“Are you sure I cannot walk?” she asked, eyeing him with no small amount of distrust.
She really didn’t want to climb onto him and swing in that strange little sling for days on end. Not to mention she was wearing just a shirt.
Astrid had done what she could with it, of course.
There had been plenty of belts inside the trunk, and she still wasn’t all that certain what the trolls had used them for.
But she’d managed to loop a few of them around her stomach to give a sort of corseted look to the ensemble.
She’d worn more revealing clothing in her time.
All the priestesses did, so she didn’t mind her legs being bare.
But it was nothing like any other garment she’d ever worn, by far.
Bjorn merely grunted at her question.
She would not let him respond to her like an animal, though.
“I’m serious,” she said, leaning into the words. “I don’t want to ride you like you’re a horse. What if I walked with you?”
“You remember how many miles I said we had to traverse?”
“Of course I do.”
“You think we can do that with you walking?”
He... had a point. She didn’t like the point, but it was correct nonetheless. Grumbling, she walked toward him. “And you’re sure I won’t fall right through this?”
He had already slung it across his chest with multiple straps that looked sturdy enough. The back was cushioned by what looked like rolled up blankets.
Bjorn nodded and then helped her in. It was impressive that he could pick her up one handed like that. His massive hand gripped her thigh with a surprising strength that made her feel suddenly flushed and a little speechless.
No. She refused. She wasn’t going to focus on how strong his hands were, or how capable he was as he hefted her easily onto his back.
This time, it wasn’t quite so much an uncomfortable harness as it was last time.
This was more like a swing. She was cushioned well, and nothing felt like it was digging into her thighs.
“All right,” she said. “I suppose this will do.”
And then they were off.
The world became a blur as he ran, and Astrid realized that he’d planned more than she’d thought. Slung around his hips were other sacks, each of them secured so they wouldn’t bounce while he ran. These she could only imagine were filled with supplies.
She was proven right a few hours into his running as he reached into one and pulled out a skein of water. He took a sip and then handed it back to her.
“We aren’t going to stop to drink?” she asked, nearly yelling the words so he could hear her.
Bjorn shook his head, only slightly out of breath as he responded, “Not until we have to! I plan to put as much distance between us and the castle as we can first.”
They didn’t talk again for some time. She would have liked to marvel at the world that blurred past them, but really it was hard to see any of it. Pressed against his back, she was lulled into a sense of security. She thought she might have even slept for a little while.
She blinked, and suddenly the light had faded from the world.
They had paused, apparently, as he looked up at a sheer cliff before them.
His hands were on his hips, only the finest sheen of sweat coating his lean body.
She had assumed he would be far more out of breath than this, but he didn’t seem to have exerted himself at all.
She looked worse after running up three flights of stairs.
He eyed the mountain before reaching up and hauling himself onto it. He climbed as if he had been born to do this. Like there wasn’t an ounce of fear in his heart in the slightest, but as the ground suddenly dipped away from them. She had never been more terrified in her life.
Astrid wasn’t even sure she could talk without screaming. She clung to him harder, almost climbing out of the sling around his back as she tried to get away from what was a drop to her death.
At one point, he hung from a single arm to reach back and pat her side. “I’ve climbed my whole life, bright one. I will not let you fall.”
Bright one?
It was almost enough to distract her from the fact that the next time he reached for a new handhold, it crumbled in his grip. They swung wildly from a single arm that had just been holding them, and she saw her entire life flash before her eyes.
She’d tried her best to be a good person, but losing her sister had been a major mistake.
She’d helped people. She’d given them a chance in a kingdom where people weren’t given chances.
At least, not regularly. But now she was about to plummet to her very early demise, without ever seeing the one person who had meant something to her.
But then he got it under control. Even though she was still staring at the ground that was so far away from them, at least she knew he wasn’t going to lose his grip.
Again.
“Sorry,” he muttered under his breath as he reached for what she hoped was a better handhold. At least this one didn’t turn to dust.
Bjorn kept climbing. Higher and higher until she swore it was hard for her to breathe.
She turned her gaze away from where they had stumbled, and her breath caught.
The view from up here was impossible to describe.
She’d never been so high in her life. She could see the castle, and all the human lands that had been her home for years.
But she could also see beyond that. Toward other kingdoms that were dotted about the landscape like she rode on the shoulder of a giant.
Night fell across the kingdom. The castle was illuminated by thousands of candles, like sparkling stars in the distance that mirrored the ones above their heads.
“Are you going to stop and rest?” she asked.
“Not until I’m tired.”
So they kept going.
They climbed to the highest peak just as day broke around them, and then she realized they were still going. They had to traverse an entire mountain range, and it was a journey he did with ease.
They spent the better part of three days moving from peak to peak.
He’d let her down to relieve herself and sometimes to stretch her legs, but it wasn’t ever for very long.
He said they needed to move, and she was going to trust him on that.
She had no idea where they were going, or who was following them.
But Astrid noted a few times that he looked behind them with a frown and then kept moving a little faster.
On the fourth night, though, she could sense a change in him. His body was shaking, his hands weren’t gripping as strongly, and he slipped multiple times as he hiked over a rather impressively scraggly peak.
This one looked more like the mountains she had been told existed. It wasn’t a sharp-edged area that she feared they would tumble off of. This was flattened by age and weather, much more manageable if they were going to stop.
“You need rest,” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder and trying to press the words into him.
A spark of her magic ignited, and she knew it was foolish to even consider using it. She didn’t want to force him to do what she wanted. That was beyond rude, but also unreasonable.
And yet... maybe magic wasn’t needed.
“I fear for your safety,” she said. “You are not making decisions you usually would. You’re tripping over rocks, and this is a fine area for us to rest. It may be cold, but you can start a fire. We will be warm for the rest of the night.”
And for the first time since they had started traveling, she felt the muscles in his body ease.
“Aye,” he muttered. “They are likely far enough behind us.”
Bjorn got to work removing all the straps that had held her to him, and all she could think about were his words. Astrid hopped down from his back, frowning at the thought that there had been people following them this whole time.
“They?” she asked, rounding him and smacking his hands as he worked on the buckles of the straps. His hands were shaking. She could make faster work of undoing them. “What do you mean they are behind us?”
“We have been followed.” He stared down at her with those large, dark eyes, and she tried not to look into them. Being around him did something to her chest that was uncomfortable.
It was a familiar feeling. She was getting closer and closer to him, and that made her want to protect him. Even now, removing these buckles and letting the straps fall off of him, felt like she was finally doing her part in all this. She wanted to take care of him, too.
“Are you sure they’re following us? We’ve been moving too fast for humans to follow.” She removed the last buckle, and somehow her hand ended up flat against his chest.
He took a deep breath, and Astrid could feel the air expanding through him.
It was hard to focus on anything other than the sensations of him, the powerful bellows of his lungs and the heart that beat against her palm.
Her lips parted slightly, and she looked up at him to see he was staring not at her face, but at her hand.
She looked too, startled by how small her touch looked against his grayish-green skin.
Then, his hand lifted to cover hers. Her nails were long and delicate.
Her fingers thin and graceful. His hand was tipped with rough edged nails, some of which had cracked down the center during one of his many fights.
His hands were calloused, rough, and so much larger than her own.