Chapter 13
Thirteen
Gunnar
"You think you'll earn a troll wife looking like that?" Gunnar nudged the troll next to him, snickering at the choice of jewelry that decorated the other male's chest.
They had all been joking with each other for hours now.
He'd been waiting with them in the glen, watching the others primp and prepare themselves.
This one in particular—he thought his name was Sven—had spent a lot of time asking all the other trolls if he was appropriately eye catching.
Gunnar had told him then that he would only receive attention because the light reflecting on all those gems was blinding.
Apparently, that had made him think it was a great idea to put on more jewels.
Sven elbowed him before looking him up and down. "You are so plain, they won't even notice you standing next to me."
"I think most troll wives are rather discerning. They will be confused why you are trying so hard and then turn their attention to others." Gunnar leaned closer to him and whispered, "A peacock is pretty to look at, but a rooster gets more work done."
Then he wandered out through the crowd, already pleased with himself.
They'd put on a good show for all those who were watching.
The stands were pretty packed with people, but he wasn't interested in who was there.
Gunnar was only standing with the others because his king had bid him to.
Gunnar had no interest in finding a pretty wife to sit at home and wait for him when he was off on adventures.
Not that he'd been on a lot of adventures lately.
No one was leaving Trollveggen with so many humans teeming over the surface.
King Egil had sent out hunting parties, of course.
Gunnar had been in every single one of those, but that wasn't all that helpful in the long run. Humans multiplied so quickly.
A troll woman grabbed his arm, her body painted with streaks of bright yellow that stood out in lovely contrast against her bright blue skin. She apparently was as interested in the proceedings as he was because she immediately asked, "You were there when King James was killed, were you not?"
"I didn't watch him die. I saw his body, though." Gunnar shrugged. "Dead as he could be. I don't think the man had any magic that would stop a twisted neck from killing him."
She seemed unnerved by what he said. An odd reaction considering how much trolls hated the humans.
She glanced around them, as though she didn't want anyone to hear what she had to say.
"It's just... I've been seeing things out there.
On the hunts. Things that make it seem like someone else is running the show again.
The soldiers are fighting like they have orders, not like they're running around scared. "
That was odd.
Gunnar narrowed his gaze on her, focusing entirely on this woman next to him and not the spectacle they were all about to take part in. "What do you mean? What we've seen so far are the last stragglers and those who are angry their king is dead. We haven't seen any organization."
"I have seen that." She took another step closer to him, her voice hushed. "I've seen organization and, more than that, I've seen orders. Documents that soldiers had on their person. But before I could grab them, they destroyed them. One of the men burned himself alive so I couldn't get it."
That couldn't be right. He would have heard of that. Ragnar would have heard of it. By all the gods of the mountain, Bjorn would have heard of it.
"Listen, we've all been fighting for a very long time.
We know that there are plenty of reasons for humans to be doing strange things, but that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong.
Or even that there's yet another person coming out of the grave to tell them what to do.
" He clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Tell the king if you are concerned. "
"I did," she hissed. "The king told me that I should focus on the bridal games and nothing else. I don't know what to do, Gunnar. I can feel the change in energy out there."
She thudded her hand to her chest, hard. He had learned a long time ago that it was foolish to ignore the intuition of a woman. This warrior had paused in what was potentially the most important gathering of her life to tell him this, and he shouldn't brush her off.
"I will speak with Bjorn and Ragnar," he said. "I will make sure they hear your words. Yes?"
"Thank you."
"But do not expect any changes. I don't know what this will bring about, or if they will believe you any more than I do."
She was already leaving him, though. Apparently all she'd wanted was for someone to acknowledge that there was a wrongness in the air.
Gunnar tried to think if he'd felt it on the last hunting party.
Of course there was a frantic nature to the way the humans were fighting right now.
There was a hole where there had once been a king.
No one knew who to listen to, or who was giving orders that they actually had to follow.
The soldiers were fighting blindly. Some of them returned home because they had no interest in fighting creatures who could kill them with one hand if they weren't getting some form of payment from their king.
And yet... His gut said that she was right. There was something wrong, and he had missed it.
Maybe he had. Maybe he hadn't.
King Egil wanted them all to focus on what was happening right now. He wanted all of Trollveggen to be here, watching a bridal game that hadn't happened for years on end. One certainly hadn't happened in Gunnar's lifetime.
This was a time for happiness. A time to celebrate what had been done, the victory they had claimed over the humans, and for the trolls to heal.
They would find new love. Life would grow once more beneath the mountain until they could all feel the hard edges of war disappearing from their shoulders.
Perhaps that was King Egil's plan. To convince the trolls that there was something to be done beyond fighting and war.
Sighing, he turned his attention to all the trolls who were gazing up at the stands with hope in their eyes.
A few of the men were flexing for troll maidens and eating up the attention.
The maidens were catcalling the men, whistling through their teeth and shouting encouragements as a few of the younger trolls flexed their arms and bared their tusks.
If it had been a few years ago, Gunnar would have been among them. He would have shown off just as hard, trying to catch the eye of a pretty woman who might take him to her bed. That was how he'd always been.
But war had hardened him, he supposed. Or maybe it was simply that he wasn't all that interested in a cold bed in the morning, even though he knew someone had slept in it with him.
He wanted... Well, he wasn't sure what he wanted. But he knew it wasn't the same life that he had been living two years ago. That much he was certain of.
"Gunnar!" a voice called out, yet another of the warriors who fought with him in his war band. "Show us that flip you did before, when you were fighting the big human! The one we last fought."
"It wasn't a flip," he growled. "It was me moving out of the way of a sword."
"Without a single limb on the ground."
Well, he had done that. And he remembered there had been quite a few shocked gasps from those who had been watching him, but that was mostly just instinct. He wasn't like some of those other trolls who were already participating in shocking displays of acrobatics.
Gunnar was a fighter. He was the only person here who had been fighting his entire life, and he'd spent most of those years seeking out dead bodies to bring them home.
What he was doing in the midst of all this, he had no idea. Pretty trolls were meant to compete, but his king had been adamant that he would be part of this.
Why? Gunnar still didn't understand.
Angrily, he shook his head at the young troll who was still pushing for him to do something "impressive".
Surely the legendary Bone Keeper could prove them all to be little children compared to his prowess.
Give them a show! That was what everyone in the stands was waiting for. That was why they were here.
"Unless you're waiting for a certain blonde human woman?" the young man asked.
Time stood still.
How dare he?
He didn't have any right to bring up Rose.
Not when she could very well be in the stands, not that Gunnar would ever think she would come to a showcase like this.
She was too fragile for any of them to tease her like that.
She would disappear from him again, meandering into that other world she had built in her head, and it would take him days to pull her out.
Rose could not be perceived by others, or she would leave. Gunnar hated it when she left like that. She was in a place he couldn't reach, her soul gone, and he still hadn't figured out how to keep it in her body where it belonged.
Anger ran through him and he rushed for the younger man. Gunnar's tusks weren't long like the others’, so when they did lock tusks, he could press his forehead against the younger troll's. Intimidation had always been on Gunnar's side, though.
"Don't," he warned. "Don't say a word about her. You don't get to speak in her presence."
"I thought you were here for a bride?" Again, the bravado of this young man was as impressive as it was foolish. "Or do you already have one? You're wasting all of our time if you aren't going to take someone here."
"Why? Do you want her?" Gunnar ripped himself away from the troll and shoved him so hard on the chest that the young man staggered back multiple steps. "You think she'd have you?"
He wanted to shout that Rose wouldn't give a youngling like this one the time of day.
When she was in her own mind, she knew quality people.
She always knew which troll to seek out when she was lost, and who would bring her back to Gunnar.
She had never once given her attention to anyone other than him.
And yes, maybe that had given Gunnar some kind of complex. He liked that she trusted him and only him. He liked that she got nervous when he wasn't near her.
That meant nothing, though. She was his ward. He was her guard. The vow he had made to her burned between them, nothing more and nothing less.
He would have fought the young man. He needed to put a fist into his face and hear the sound of his nose crunching.
Then they would see how pretty the young man really was.
Already Gunnar could see the blood dripping down his lips and the shocked expression he would wear after realizing Gunnar was not the person to joke with about Rose.
But then he heard the sound of his king's voice, and they all stood to attention.
In a rare appearance outside of the castle, King Egil stood on a dais at the end of the clearing.
His massive wings were draped behind him like the impressive tail of a cloak, only made of membrane and veins.
Still tall and broad, even in his advanced age, he looked over all of them with pride in his gaze.
"Welcome to the bridal games!" their king shouted, and all the voices of the surrounding trolls lifted in excitement.
It took a long time for the clearing to quiet down after the ringing echoes of glee from all the trolls who were here. But once they did, the king spoke again.
“We've all seen an impressive show from most of the trolls competing.
" Gunnar felt the king's eyes on him before Egil continued.
"Now, I want to remind you all that there is no requirement of a choice at the end of this.
These games are merely for all of us to remember that there is a beating heart at the center of our mountain. And that heart is you."
A breath filled Gunnar's chest, along with all the other trolls around him. He could feel it. There was a power in all of them, and the mountain gifted them with it. Her love was what gave them life, and he could feel every tendril of that magic reaching into his body.
Egil reached his arms up, gesturing at the glowing fauna all around them.
"We honor her with these games. The mother who shields us.
The land that gives us food and water. The ancestors who watch over us.
The bridal games are all in remembrance of what we have.
Now, these competitors have given us a show.
If there are any trolls or humans who are interested in one of our warriors, please make your way down to the clearing. "
Gunnar nearly rolled his eyes after that. Yes, there was an honor that filled him knowing that he was competing in this, but he didn't want any of these women. They knew it. He knew it. He was only here to appease his king, who seemed to think that Gunnar owed him something.
Ridiculous. He shouldn't even be here. There were so many other things he could be doing.
Ragnar wasn't required to be here, although he already had a mate, but still.
His brother was in the healing dens, already doing what he could to help their people.
Gunnar should be doing the same thing right now.
He was elbowed in the side, clearly not putting on a face of interest enough for the rest of them to believe.
Grunting, he turned his attention to all the people who were lining up in front of them. He pretended to actually look at those who wanted to find a mate. A partner. Someone to walk through life with them.
He'd almost be sentimental if the idea didn't terrify him. He didn't want or need a partner like that. His life was already complicated enough as it was.
A flash of blonde hair caught his attention.
He hadn't realized there were new humans who had joined them in Trollveggen.
Astrid and Rose were two of the few with hair that color, and the hair of the woman slinking to the end of the line was certainly similar to his Rose, whose hair was nearly white.
Stress, one of the healers in their den had claimed.
Stress could do that to a person's hair.
The more he stared at the woman, though, the more he realized that wasn't a new woman at all. Rose had stepped down out of the stands and was at the very end of the line of people interested in a troll here.
Gunnar's world turned red.