Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Gunnar
The king might’ve wanted him to compete in the bridal games, but he sure did not care in the slightest that Gunnar was busy.
One of the newer families that had come seeking asylum in Trollveggen was missing their oldest son.
He'd been taken by the humans on the way in.
A raid that had still been happening while the human king was still alive.
Bjorn had seen one of them. He'd killed every single soldier who had thought they could take trolls in cages back to the capital of the human kingdom. And yet there were more. So many more.
They had been hearing from many of the trolls who had arrived here that others were lost. They'd tried to track them down before, but it had never worked.
Maybe because the king had never sent Gunnar.
Usually he was sent after those who they knew were dead. He snuck in the middle of the night, heading out into the human kingdom so he could find what was lost. Body parts. Pieces. But this time he had been sent with the hope that he would find the young man still alive.
He'd known going in that the chances of being successful were slim. But it still broke his heart when he headed through the city streets that were full of turmoil, hunting down where the raiders must have taken the lost troll.
Gunnar searched through the rubble of the labyrinth first, but any remaining trolls there had already been taken out. They had been dragged halfway across the kingdom before it seemed like the soldiers who had brought them were a little confused about what to do with their captives.
Tracking them had taken more talent than Gunnar realized he had. The soldiers had brought all the trolls they could, and then split them up between the men. Likely as payment for risking their lives.
From the legal documents he found in one of those soldier’s homes, one of two things had happened.
The young man had been sold to a neighboring kingdom, and that was a place where Gunnar could not go.
The seas were too rough this time of year, and by the time the passes were open to climb the mountains, the boy would be nearly untraceable.
There was no way he could get there. Or he had been killed.
Quite a few trolls had caused too much trouble and they'd put them down.
Like animals.
He hated coming home without answers. Especially when he knew that there were people who wanted to know that their son was alive. He couldn't tell them that. He couldn't even hazard a guess at what had happened to the young man.
So when he returned to tell the king his news, he got down on his knees and begged. "I cannot tell them this."
"Gunnar, you are the one with all the information. They will have questions. You must tell them."
He fisted his hands on the floor. "With all due respect, your highness, I never signed up for this part of the job. I find what has been lost, but I do not find people. I find bodies. Pieces. I bring the bodies back together so that they can join the ancestors. I cannot and will not start this work. I don’t want to tell the families that I failed. "
King Egil sighed on his throne. He was looking older these days.
The lines on his face were far more evident, and his wings drooped even more.
He ran a hand down his face and replied, "These are the stories we now have to face, Gunnar.
Stories of loss and heartbreak. We are doing what we can to fix them, and the future is clearer moving forward. But we cannot give up on them."
"I'll tell them." Magnus's voice broke through their conversation. Gunnar hadn't even realized the prince was in the throne room with them.
It had been deserted when he’d arrived. Not even the king's loyal smoke reader was beside him. Instead, it had just been Egil on his own. Staring off into the distance as though he'd been trying to peer into the future on his own.
Magnus walked up to the throne and dropped to a knee beside Gunnar. "I heard everything, father. Allow me to be the one to tell them."
"You were not there, my son."
"I am the people's prince. I should be the one to guide them through this loss." Magnus seemed to hesitate for a moment, casting a brief glance over to Gunnar and then widening his eyes. With a flick of that gaze toward his father, the prince urged Gunnar to agree.
"Yes," Gunnar blurted, suddenly realizing that this was his only chance at getting out of the heartbreak he would bear witness to. "The prince is... good at conversations like this?"
The question hung in the air like a thread of panic.
He had no idea what to say. He thought Magnus would botch this in a royal manner that only a prince could do. But if it got him out of having to do it, then Gunnar would be glad to let the prince take this role.
Egil sighed. "I can see what you two are doing."
"We're doing nothing, Father." Magnus stood slowly. "I returned to take my place among the people. Thus far, all you've done is try to marry me off. I think perhaps it is time for me to do more than that."
Egil eyed his son for a long while before nodding. "All right. You have all the details from Gunnar?"
"I have ears."
"Then you will tell them. The guards at the door will bring you to the family. Be kind, Magnus. Be the prince they need."
And here Gunnar was, thinking Magnus didn't care about being prince at all. But Magnus straightened his shoulders and headed out of the room, radiating a surety and capability that he had not expected.
Weird.
Gunnar waited until he was dismissed and then rushed to the barracks.
He needed to sleep. He wasn't even going to wash before his head hit the pillow because he was exhausted in a way he had not been in a very long time.
Mental labor like this was even worse than finding a body.
At least a body he knew he could bring home to their people.
That troll boy was gone. Far beyond any of their reach. It weighed on him as nobody had ever done before.
He lay flat on his bed, breathing in a slow breath, and just like every time he was in his bed, his mind wandered to Rose.
What was she doing? He'd been gone for a few nights now, and he was certain the bridal games had continued during this time.
How much had Magnus wooed her? The prince was convincing and so stupidly handsome.
Groaning, he rolled off the mattress and stood. He should at least let her know he was back. He knew she didn't sleep well if he wasn't here.
So he staggered out of the bunk room and headed toward the private room that should have been his. Had been his for a while, actually. He'd had it for almost a whole year before he'd given it to her.
He could take back his family home and let her rest there. But Ragnar and Maia were so happy in the house, and really it was his brother's as oldest, anyway. They should have a space for their wedded bliss. Away from everyone else.
Still, Rose deserved better than the barracks. He needed to get her a home. A safer place. A quiet sanctuary where she could read and paint and do all the other activities she might like to do. Maybe she'd be interested in learning how to make jewelry, like what he had given her.
Knocking on the door, he waited to hear her invite him in. But he didn't hear her voice say a word, and that was odd. It was nighttime in Trollveggen, after all. She was usually diligent about her rest.
"Rose?" he asked, leaning a little closer to the door. "Are you all right?"
Footsteps came careening around the hall, rushing toward him.
He turned just in time to see a blonde head running at full force, and for a moment, he thought it was her.
He hadn't ever seen Rose run like that, though.
That's when he realized the color of her hair wasn't right.
That hair wasn't nearly white. It was golden.
"Astrid?" he asked just as she almost ran straight into him.
"Gunnar," she breathed, out of breath from running she didn't do all that often. "Thank the heavens you're here! I didn't think you'd be back yet. I need your help."
"Why?"
"It's Rose. I think she went wandering, and I couldn’t find her.
Someone said they saw her climbing the cliff near Gild Water but that can't be true, can it?
" Her eyes were so wide it made his heart break to see the fear in them.
"She's never climbed anything when she went wandering. She's never... She'll fall, Gunnar."
He could already see it in his mind's eye. Rose had never learned how to climb, as far as he knew. If she had maneuvered that sheer cliff all the way to the top, then she could fall. Her little body would tumble to the rocks below, and there would only be pieces for him to find.
He was running before he replied. Astrid would know that he was heading off to help her sister, and that he wouldn't let her fall. He couldn't.
There were other paths to that waterfall.
Paths that didn't require anyone to climb cliff walls.
Stupid woman. Why would she do this? The caves there were dangerous.
Fissures had split recently near the falls.
The water at least didn't spill back into Trollveggen, but he had no idea where it disappeared to.
So many areas of this mountain had not been traversed.
If she wasn't careful, she'd end up deep in the belly of this mountain with no one knowing where to find her.
His feet flew across the mountain. Deeper and deeper, until he found the path that he knew would bring him there.
His thighs burned with the incline. His lungs strove for air so fiercely that he could taste blood. And still, he didn't slow down. Not yet. Not until he could see her glowing hair at the top and know for certain that she was alive.
He didn’t even catch a glimpse of her until he’d made it to the top of the cliff.
At the very edge of that dangerous precipice, looking none the worse for wear.
But her toes were off the edge, enough that it made his heart skip a beat in fear that even a stray wind would knock her off and then he wouldn't be able to save her.
No ropes held her down. Nothing to keep safety in mind while she stood there, flirting with death.
"Rose!" he called out, barely able to get the word to pass his lips because he was so winded. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
He was always so gentle with her. Babying her, almost, knowing that the wrong words would make her retreat into herself, to a place he could not follow. But anger burned in him so hot right now. He was exhausted, tired.
He'd missed her! So much. All the while he was trying to be a good soldier for his king, and she'd been here, toeing death. Thinking that she could take her own life, as she had done countless times and it made him want to scream.
Was he not enough to keep her here? No, he knew that thought was making it about him.
But he had worked so hard to make her life safe and comfortable and happy, and now this was how she repaid him.
Once again standing on the precipice of a sharp fall that would end in a death that came far too swiftly.
She didn't even look at him. She just stared down at the drop that would lead to her doom. "Looking," she replied.
"Looking at what?" he asked, too harsh. Too sharp.
"There is so much that many don't see in this mountain. The colors, the depths, the magic. I'm not sure anyone knows how to look at it like I do." She shrugged. "I like coming up here and seeing all of it through the eyes of someone who can."
Gunnar didn't have time for this. "Rose, I have been away for a very long time. I have been trying my best to be patient with you, but you need to come away from there or I will make you."
"Make me?" She snorted. "If you make even one wrong move, Gunnar, it's very likely that I will fall. You don't want to do that, do you?"
"Is that a threat?"
"Perhaps. I don't want to die, but it would be an adventure." She glanced over her shoulder at him, and he was frozen by her beauty.
There wasn't any fear on her face at all. Just the quiet acceptance of the world around her. He’d gotten so used to seeing fear in her expression.
She was languid in her movements, slow and precise, letting him know that she was not, in fact, trying to kill herself.
She just liked to know that she could. Just in case.
Some of the anger and fear drained out of him. "Your sister is worried about you."
"Astrid is always worried about me. I think she likes to be worried, honestly. It gives her something to do."
"That's not the reason, and you know it."
She shrugged. "Maybe. But I am here, am I not? I've been better. And still, at just a sighting of me doing something potentially dangerous, you are sent after me like some kind of guard dog. I am not a sheep for you to herd back to safety."
"I am not a dog."
"No, you're not. But you still take orders like a dog would, and I am disappointed to know that you would arrive here without any other questions except that my sister told you to be worried."
His anger flared again. How dare she? He was just trying to keep her safe. "Rose, get over here."
"And if I say no?"
"Then I will make you."
She turned her back to the edge, looked him in the eye, and said, "No."
Gunnar nearly saw red. He was trying to help her, and she had no reason to be this difficult. No reason to do this.
"Rose," he cautioned.
"No, Gunnar. I'm not going to do something just because you ordered me to do it. My answer is no. Make me."
He lunged, grabbing her arm and spinning her around.
His intent was to toss her away from the edge, putting himself in danger, but she grabbed onto him with more strength than he’d thought she had.
Algae had formed on some of the stones here, damp from the falls, and they both tripped lost their footing over them and. ..
Fell.
Not over the edge, but into a fissure. They tumbled straight down with the water, slipping and sliding beyond a crack into the unknown.