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Then, there was no other sound in the world as Eydis took a single, rattling breath.

And was no more.

25

A red sun had risen over the water that morning for the second day in a row.

Maude resented the sight of it.

The sun had arced in the sky, its vermillion light a constant reminder, until it reached the western horizon where it rested now. This horrid day was almost over, and their group was nowhere near Dagsbrun.

Time had slowed for Maude. The days that had passed quickly for her in the company of her new friends seemed far away now, grief now the sixth member of their party instead of Eydis.

Sorrow hung over them all as they had practically run from Ljosa that morning, all silently agreeing to head to Dagsbrun. Packs over their shoulders and weapons in hand, they had all scaled the cliffs that surrounded the Kingdom of Light to escape from the memories that now saturated every surface of the city.

They had retrieved thedalkr Hela,but Maude didn’t find their triumph worth the cost of her friend. They were all supposed to leave that cave and destroy her father together. They were to right the wrongs all done to them and the people of Logitogether. Maude would finish this mission not only for herself but for Eydis and her family, who had suffered at her father’s hands much like everyone else in their group had.

The barren earth around her had begun to blur the further out of the dead kingdom they traveled. Someone from their group had signaled tostop, but the words passed over Maude without being heard. Movement around her blurred in her periphery as she continued walking toward a small hill they had stopped behind to shield them from prying eyes.

“Maude.”

Her steps faltered for a moment.Herrick.

“You should rest,” he continued, his voice close behind her. “I’ll stand watch first.”

Maude didn’t respond; she couldn't find her voice after a day of silence. Instead, she mutely continued to head to the top of the hill and sit down without acknowledging he had spoken to her. Herrick sighed and turned back to the rest of the group, leaving her in peace.

Maude’s chest tore open at the sound of him turning away, the hollow where her heart should have been pulsing with grief.

Before they had gone into the caverns, she and Herrick had shared a moment that Maude thought was going to build into something else, but after what happened with Eydis…

The slow ebbing pain that washed over her when she thought of her friend had canceled out many of her own needs, including her need for the man who held her entire soul in his strong hands but didn't know it.

The evening sun washed over Maude, the warmth cutting through the hood that had been up since she had crouched over Eydis in the courtyard of the Knotted Caverns. Maude searched the empty horizon for a moment before she closed her eyes and remembered the hasty funeral they executed for Eydis.

Hours before they had begun their trek that day, beneath the cardinal sky, Maude and Hakon had stood side by side on the rocky shore of Ljosa with their friends behind them. They watched the longboat carrying Eydis’s body burn as it floated past the Caverns that had claimed her life and into the ocean.

Gunnar had grown wildflowers in a small patch of dirt, quickly harvesting them and arranging them around her body in the longboat. Maude and Liv had laid her down in the center of the vessel with her staff and dagger that she had fiercely fought with, placing them on her stomach, her hands crossed over the handle of her dagger and staff cradled in her arm.

Before she had set the boat aflame, Maude studied her friend's face one last time, realizing that she looked peaceful. Rested.

Hakon had then leaned over and stroked her face a few times, whispering sweet words for her to bring with her to the afterlife. When he reluctantly stepped back, Maude quickly sparked her hateful fire and watched as her friend’s body caught flame. They had all launched the longboat into the water, and Herrick had harnessed the currents to push it past the shoreline.

When the longboat disappeared over the horizon, no one moved. Maude had reached out and grasped Hakon’s hand. It had been as stiff and cold as ice.

“We will meet again in Odin’s hall,elvindr,”Hakon’s broken whisper echoed in the silence surrounding them. “I will see you again.”

Maude had closed her eyes at his words, the overwhelming crushing sensation in her chest starting to win the fight against her will to remain neutral. Her eyes had burned with unshed tears threatening to fall, and she had not stopped feeling that way since.

“I’m sorry,” her voice cracked when she finally spoke to Hakon. “I’m sorry she’s gone. I’m sorry we didn’t get there in time. I’m sorry I couldn’t save her.”

Hakon’s hand had tightened around Maude’s. “There was nothing you could have done differently, Maude. Her fate was sealed the momentthe draugr bit her.”

A honeyed lie. She had panicked in her haste to stop the bleeding; her fire didn’t listen to her. Herrick had burnt his hand trying to get her to calm down enough to spark flames.

Of course, when I had to light her funerary pyre, my fire did not fail me, Maude thought bitterly to herself as she sat still as a statue on that hilltop, miles from where they had sent her friend to the gods.

“We have thelaevatein,” Herrick had said from behind his brother. “We will finish what she helped us start and free the Kingdom of Flame.”