Chapter 15
Elva
“What are you thinking about, Elva?” Leifur asked. I hadn’t realized my horse, Acorn, had slowed, allowing my brothers to catch up.
“I was thinking how thankful I am to not be human,” I replied, adjusting my grip on the reins.
“That’s the truth,” Sindri added. “Could you imagine being a dullard and having nothing exceptional about you? How sad for them.”
Leifur glanced ahead toward the forest we were riding toward. “This road is eerily quiet.”
“I assumed it was because of the celebration,” I said. “But maybe the humans are finally learning to steer clear of the creatures in the woods.”
Leifur guided his horse, Slate, back and grabbed our mule that was loaded up with the rest of our supplies. “Better keep her close. Just to be safe.”
“The Forest of Endilaus doesn’t have that many vicious beasts,” I said.
“How can you say that?” Sindri was glancing around as if the trees would reach out and bite him. “Harpies are vicious—”
“Scorned women,” I interrupted.
He scoffed. “Unicorns have daggers on their heads.”
“They're called horns,” I corrected. ”And they need them to protect themselves from poachers who seek to steal their magic, especially since their blood is said to have healing powers.”
“What about Kelpies, then?” Sindri asked. “Wicked beasts, they trick you into riding them and then try to drown you!”
“Which is why you don’t ride them,” Leifur said.
I sighed heavily. Since we’d entered the forest four days ago, Sindri had been a pain in my ass.
If he wasn’t complaining about how sore his delicate rear was from riding on the horse, he was complaining about the temperature, bugs, or being bored.
More than once, I hit the end of my rope, and if Leifur hadn’t intervened, I might have left these woods an only child.
But this crunching wasn’t coming from Sindri.
A stick snapped from behind us. I turned my head, but both brothers were still on the path.
Leifur stiffened and searched the woods that ran along the path.
Sindri was too busy rummaging through his satchel to notice our concern.
I watched Leifur cock his head to the side, and I knew what we had to do.
I tugged our mule’s reins closer to Acorn's and led them into the dense underbrush on the side of the path. She could tell something was off and fought me the whole way. Leifur somehow got my brother’s attention, and they both slipped into the woods on the other side with the mule.
I stroked my horse softly to soothe him.
Then, a group of knights on horseback rounded the corner.
Dressed from head to toe in green and chestnut brown, they were Huestur men.
They carried oversized shields painted with their kingdom’s emblem of a sailboat with swords crossed behind it.
Sirens often joked that they carried big shields to make up for the size of their dicks.
I held my breath, hoping the horses wouldn’t give us away, but the men were young and luckily for us, they weren’t in the mood to be careful.
“Pay up,” the man at the back shouted. “I told you no one would come for the prince. They’re too busy saving that beautiful sorceress.”
Another man dug into his satchel and flicked some coins at the first man. He caught them and made obscene gestures in response. I rolled my eyes. These weren’t skilled warriors—they were barely men.
The oldest of the bunch was in the front, riding the largest horse. His black hair was sprinkled with flecks of white and gray, matching his horse’s mane. “Enough,” he said. “If anyone were coming, they’d hear you from the villages and steer clear.”
“Even Tyndorf men are smart enough not to leave the path in the Endilaus Forest,” someone replied, earning a chorus of chuckles.
The smallest of them looked confused at his comrades. “But women are always going into the forest.” His voice rose a little as he spoke.
He can’t be over fifteen, I thought. They're starting younger and younger. No wonder the boys think they own the world by the time they turn eighteen.
“Of course they can,” the leader replied, tossing his heavy green cape back. “The forest is overrun with harpies, kelpies, and unicorns. Young maidens can charm these creatures, or so the stories go.”
“What about the mermaids and sirens?” the youngster asked. “Aren’t they on the other side of the forest, too?”
The men all laughed together. “Idiot boy,” one of the older men scoffed.
“Mermaids and sirens are water creatures. They don’t come onto land except to breed,” the man who won the bet stated confidently. “If I ever ran into one, I’d show them what a real man can do. Then they’d never want to go back to the sea.”
I rolled my eyes again and could swear my mule snorted at his comment.
“You’re even stupider than you are ugly,” the captain said, smacking the man upside the head.
He had a full head of thick brown hair, but his beard was so thin he looked more dirty than manly.
“Mermaids only come out of the water to find food. They’d gut you and drag you into the water before you got your pants open. ”
I couldn’t help but hang on to their leader’s words.
Out of all of them, he seemed to be the only one who had an idea what he was talking about, and frankly, he was handsome enough that even my siren noticed and approved.
Keeping her back was more challenging now. If she got out, we’d all be in trouble.
“Now, as for the sirens, they’ll let you breed them if they think you’re worthy. Their entire goal is to produce more sirens. But if you’re not worthy, they’ll gut you and leave you to die while they rob you blind.”
“And selkies?” the younger knight asked.
“Selkie females stick to their kind. Males will have dalliances, but the females only breed with their males. Only a handful of records exist where a human male bred with a female selkie, and those all ended badly for the selkie. Either the human man didn’t live up to her thoughts of him, or she became so homesick she withered and died. ”
“Have we gone far enough yet, captain?” the first man asked.
The captain dismounted his horse and pulled its reins tight. Wrapping them around his hand, he stared down the path me and my brothers had just come from. “No one is coming for the prince,” he replied. “The rumors of the lowest-`ranked being expendable weren’t exaggerations.”
“Let’s go back, captain,” the first man said, bringing his horse closer. “If we hurry, we can make it to the tavern in time for an ale before we’re expected back. We only have a few more days to stay around here, and then we can head home.”
The more skilled man glanced around them slowly. I leaned closer to my mare, hoping to hide in the brush. The knight seemed to look in my direction for far too long. He narrowed his eyes, and I held my breath.
“Captain? Do you see something?” The youngest man dismounted and walked over to him. I waited, perfectly still, heart pounding, willing them to turn away when something spooked the young knight’s horse. It reared back, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Landon, you idiot,” the other knight shouted and dashed to grab the reins before the horse bolted.
In seconds, the captain was back on his horse. “Let’s head back, before the boy loses his horse and we spend the next three hours searching the forest for it.”
I couldn’t help but pity the youngster as he turned beet red and took the reins from the older man.
In less than a minute, they were all on their horses, heading back toward the villages that led to the kingdom of Huestur.
When they were out of our sight, we stayed hidden for a while longer, and finally, I exhaled loudly and looked at my mule.
“Ready?” I whispered and pulled her out of the bush.
We cautiously crossed the dirt road and found Leifur and Sindri emerging from the bush.
“I think we should leave the main trail,” Leifur said. “If any others are out looking, we could be in trouble.”
“Did you hit your head when my back was turned?” Sindri asked. “We cannot go into the forest. That’s where the harpies are.”
I studied my brother's face and asked, “Why are you so afraid of them?”
“Because they are wicked and mean.”
“You’re traveling with me. The harpies in this forest only go after men who are vicious to women. If one comes after you, then you deserve it.”
“I most certainly would not,” he shot back.
I glanced at Leifur, but he just shrugged at me. He was also unaware of whatever my brother had done to earn the ire of the winged version of a warrior siren.
I relented. “Fine. We’ll stay on this trail for now, but only because we can travel faster. If we run into another group of soldiers, we are going into the woods. And we’re avoiding inns for a while, too.”
Before Sindri could ask, Leifur answered. “We don’t know how many groups of guards the Huesturs left to watch for anyone trying to rescue the prince. We need to avoid all of them.”
My brother nodded in agreement, and we got onto our horses to continue our journey through the woods. We didn't run into anyone else for the rest of the day.
When the sun began its descent, the crimson mountains lit up in a barrage of red hues, making the forest around us glow as if it were on fire. Taking it as a sign, we veered off the trail and trekked deeper into the trees to set up camp for the night.
Our journey to retrieve the prince would take us through the Forest of Endilaus, skirting the base of the Crimson Mountains.
The alternative would be to abandon our horses and travel by water, but I had no intention of setting foot into the sea, even if I suspected that’s how the knights got Njall to their kingdom.
That section of water belonged to the mermaids, and we knew better than to mess with them.
Beyond the mountains, we’d face the Sigil Territory, which was mostly bogs and marshlands, and then the Huestur Territory, with its dense forest and a massive fortress perched on the water's edge, if the journals Baldr had given us as part of our supplies were to be believed. I desperately hoped the fortress had underwater tunnels, like the sleek underground aqueducts of our Siren castle. If it did, I had my way in; if not, I’d have no choice but to rely on my song and daggers.