Chapter 45
Forty-Five
Bjorn
“So we are at war,” King Egil murmured, seated upon his throne.
The troll king never sat comfortably, but Bjorn supposed that was partly due to his wings.
There wasn’t a way for Egil to sit that didn’t twist his wings to the sides or turn his entire body in the opposite direction.
He ended up looking like a giant bird stretched across his chair, with his wings draped painfully around him.
The strange look of him was terrifying, to say the least. King Egil was horrific and powerful and had every right to end Bjorn’s life. He had gone against every single order, and perhaps every single sense of reason as well.
Sure, he could argue that the berserker within him had made the call.
The human king had been prey. He’d been running away from someone who was designed to hunt and kill, but that wasn’t why he was dead.
Bjorn loathed liars. He had been in control in that moment.
He had known every single thing he was doing when he had his hand wrapped around that weaselly little man’s throat.
Humans were so easy to kill. So much easier than they should’ve been. Bjorn had only needed to twist his hand before death had come for King James.
Unfortunately, such a tiny action had led them to this point.
He knelt on the cold stones before his king with Astrid at his side.
The others were behind both of them. Ragnar, Rabbit, Gunnar, and all the trolls who had fought with them.
They were the ones who had survived and been saved.
Though they had lost a great number, he was relieved to see it was even less than he had thought it would be.
Technically, they had been victorious. They’d released their people from that prison, and they had brought them all home. They had destroyed the labyrinth. They just hadn’t anticipated the human king getting involved.
King Egil tapped his foot on the ground, the only thing that Bjorn could see with his head lowered. The long talons on his bare feet scraped along the floor as the king thought.
“It was bound to happen someday,” King Egil finally said.
“The humans have been begging for a war for ages. They have been hunting on our mountain, depleting our food supply. They have kidnapped and taken our people, making them fight for sport while their own made money from death. This future has been barreling toward us, and I have heard it in the night. The drums of war pound throughout our mountain, begging us to fight for what we should always fight for. Our freedom.”
A few of the warband leaders thudded their fists to their chests. It almost sounded like drums as they did so. And Bjorn knew, for the moment at least, he was going to stay alive.
“You, Destroyer.”
He lifted his head, nervous for what he might find waiting for him. A glare from the king was as good as a death sentence.
He was surprised to see the king appear kind. Or, at the very least, he didn’t seem angry.
“You have helped our people as only your bloodline can. I have heard from our healer that you were gravely injured.”
“Not gravely, your highness. Injured yes. But I would have been fine.” He thought, at least. Gravely made it seem like he was on his deathbed, but he hadn’t been that.
He’d even have been able to get home if he'd needed to. It wouldn’t have been a pleasant journey, but he’d been injured worse in his early years in the labyrinth.
The king cocked his brow. “I have heard from the healer what his official opinion of it was, and I know that you took many swords that were not intended for you. While you might have plunged us into a war, you still brought home all those trolls we thought were lost. The lives you saved today are valuable. Not just to their families, but to all of Trollveggen.”
The weight of it all released. Bjorn had done something good, unlike his father, who had hurt so many with what his blood carried. The beast, the Bull, had helped people, and that... that felt good.
But then the king leaned forward, and Bjorn knew he would not like what his king had to say next. “I will forgive you if you agree to fight with us in this upcoming war. We have need of your abilities, Bjorn. Our people need to be protected by one such as you. No more fighting me on this.”
And there was that weight again. Lying flat across his shoulders and pushing him down until he was kneeling once more before the king. Bjorn pressed his fists into the stone hard enough that his knuckles ached.
“I agree,” he said, the words grinding out between his teeth.
Although he didn’t want to fight, he couldn’t lie and say it didn’t feel good to do so. He had been born for this. He struggled against himself every step of the way, but perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad now that he could control the beast.
Astrid had helped him unlock that. Just as she helped him now with her hand pressed over his, easing the anger and anxiety that churned in his chest. Instead, all he could feel was pride that he had done something right. He’d saved people, and he could focus on that now.
Turning his head, he mouthed, “Thank you,” to his troll wife.
Astrid smiled at him, and that soft expression healed so much more than he could ever say.
The king once more leaned back on his throne.
“Warlords. We prepare for war. The princess has taken control over the kingdom, along with a cabinet of battle hardened men. We fight the humans, no matter what they bring next. I refuse to sit here and wait for them to attack us. Kill them if they are on the mountain. Hunt them down. Make it clear that we were the ones who killed their king and we will not stop now. We will no longer stand for the mistreatment of our people.”
Boisterous cries rang throughout the entire hall. It was then that Bjorn realized these trolls had been waiting to fight. They weren’t angry cries over him starting a war. The trolls were elated. They had been wanting to do this for countless years, but the king had never allowed them to do so.
Finally, the meeting was over. The king dismissed them, standing and striding toward the hidden chambers in the back where he would meet with the highest warlords. They would decide where and what the next step was.
For now, Bjorn wanted to gather up his bright one and head out into the sun. Even if it was a little dangerous.
“Astrid,” he said, helping her stand. “Would you—”
“Before you run off again, might I have a word?”
They both looked over at Rabbit, who stood with them.
His friend from the cells already looked better.
Just being out in the fresh air, traveling over the mountain with them and eating more than his fair share of the rations, had made him look more like a troll and less like a prisoner.
His yellow skin was still perhaps a sickly color, but his hair was no longer greasy.
He wore traditional troll clothing, leather straps over his chest, which was perhaps a little broader now than it had been only a few days ago.
“What is it, Rabbit?” he asked.
“It’s actually Torben,” he corrected. Rabbit’s chest puffed up a bit with pride. “Now that we’re out of the labyrinth, I think it’s better if we call each other by our true names and not the names that place gave us.”
Bjorn felt something in his chest creak. It wasn’t entirely his heart feeling soft toward this other troll, but it was... something. He grunted. “Torben. I am Bjorn.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Bjorn.” He gave a soft smile.
“But I thought... Well, I wanted to thank you for coming back for me after all. I’m still looking for a place to live and remembering how to be a troll after everything that’s happened, but it’s still better.
Everything is so much better.” Torben pressed his hand to his chest. “All of us want to thank you for that, Bjorn. You should take a moment and talk to them. They remember you from those fights. They remember the monster they were all terrified of. But now they get to see you as a man.”
Perhaps someday. Perhaps even soon he could talk to them. To speak with all the others who had been trapped just like him.
But right now he wanted to be alone with his troll wife, and to show her how much she meant to him.
He shook his head and patted Torben’s shoulder.
“You are a good friend. Always were. We will mend our friendship here until we forget there was ever a time in that labyrinth. I promise you that. There will be new stories to tell, and excitement for us to rejoice in. But today, I am going to focus on my wife.”
Torben blew out a long breath. “I had a feeling you would say that. It’s a good thing to do as well, I suppose.
Just take some time soon to see everyone again, will you?
It’ll be good for them to see that you have made it out and are happy.
Some of them are feeling that they might never be happy again. ”
“It’s a long journey. One we will make together.”
He gave Torben one more squeeze before glancing down at Astrid. She was staring up at him with tears in her eyes and a soft expression that made his stomach twist. He liked it when she looked at him like that. All soft and quiet, as though she was proud of something he had done.
And she was, he knew. She was proud that they were here, they’d survived, and that they were together.
“I have a surprise for you, bright one. Would you like to see it?”
“A surprise?” Astrid asked, her brows furrowing. “When did you have time to get a surprise for me?”
“It’s not exactly one that I got, but one that I pulled some strings to...” He didn’t know how to explain this. “Just come with me.”
He guided her out of the castle and into the forest beyond.
The purple leafed trees here were nearly bare.
Even though the hollow mountain was safe from the weather up above, their kingdom had always shown the same seasons.
Winter was coming hard and fast. Soon enough, there would only be icy air for them to breathe, and they would be holed up in their homes much more.
He was so excited to cuddle up by the fire with her and listen to her read him stories from countless books that he would soon buy her.
Their life would be quiet until it could no longer be. He’d already decided that.
Past the trees, they followed a stream, and Astrid was already asking him questions. “Where are we going?” She chuckled, laughing as he shook his head and pressed his finger to his lips. “Bjorn, you have to tell me.”
He didn’t. And now they were going uphill. Farther and farther up, until he could hear her harsh breathing and the way she kept stopping to put her hands on her hips. He needed to get her outside more. At least then she might keep up with him.
Bjorn hid the smile on his face and the laughter that continued to bubble up his chest as they reached the small tunnel that would lead them outside. This was where he had been leading her, although the tunnel had clearly not been used for a very long time.
He brushed aside a few cobwebs, then headed in before her.
At least he would be the one to deal with the cave spiders that were as large as her hand.
She would scream and send the whole mountain rushing up to help them if he didn’t.
Besides, he’d never minded a few webs clinging to his face and horns.
Finally, he lifted his hand and brushed aside a waterfall of ivy to reveal a small glen before her.
It was a small outcropping on the side of the mountain.
The hunter’s cabin that was there had survived and weathered the times.
Made of massive timbers, it was a log cabin that was well suited to surviving the winter.
A small brick chimney came out of the top, and Bjorn knew it was connected to a fireplace just as large as the one in his father’s Trollveggen home.
The difference was that this log cabin was surrounded by flowers.
They were late bloomers, so the pretty autumn petals were intensely vibrant.
He remembered his mother staying here a few times when she’d visited his father.
He’d been captivated by all the flowers she planted, and how she’d told him that they would last for years to come.
“These are flowers that will survive,” she’d said as she’d put them in the ground.
“This is my mother’s cabin,” he said. “Or at least the one my father built for her. She would never come into Trollveggen because she hated being underground, and hated not seeing the sun every day. So he built this for her here, where she could be wild and free.”
“But wouldn’t the humans find her?”
“Unlikely.” He gestured all around them.
There were walls of stones so high, he doubted anyone could climb down or up them.
And the sheer cliff on the other edge disappeared so far down that anyone would die if they fell.
“This is not where the humans look. No food grows here, no animals drop down. It’s a hidden place.
Secretive and safe. And if anyone ever made it here, there’s a direct path into Trollveggen where she would have been safe very quickly. ”
He turned to look at her and the sunlight that danced across her features. “For my golden bride, I wanted to give you the sun. Because there is never a time, place, or jewel that is as beautiful as you with the sun shining in your hair.”
“Bjorn,” she breathed. “You can be such a poet when you want to be.”
“My love, I am but your humble servant.” He took her into his arms, smoothing her hair back from her face so he could gaze upon her. “And now, all I wish is to make a life with you. To live with you here, in the mountain, wherever it is you wish to be.”
“All I want to be is with you,” she said with a soft laugh. “Wherever that might lead us.”
He leaned down to kiss her, and finally his soul felt at peace. Even though someday soon he would fight again.
Now he had something to fight for.