Page 16

Now that Maude had a moment to inspect Sigurd, she could see that he was walking with a slight limp and was sporting a busted lip, the blood pouring freely down his chin and landing unceremoniously on his white tunic. Her friend had seen better days.

"Sit down, Sigurd," Hakon offered, moving out of the way.

"I'll do what I like in my own house," Sigurd snapped, the sound harsh.

An awkward silence permeated the air of the destroyed living room they all sat in, a lone candle flickering against the new darkness that had descended on the city they had left behind all those weeks ago.

"What's been happening?" Liv asked from the stairs where she sat.

He released a long sigh that spoke to the current climate of the city they'd left behind in a hurry.

"Where do I start?" he said quietly.

They all waited with bated breath to see what Sigurd would reveal. When he finally spoke, their collective dread saturated the room with every word.

"Since an attack on the palace a few weeks ago, the Flame Soldiers have been running tight patrols through the city and combing through the markets for vitki more than usual," Sigurd said, the man's voice growing angry.

"They've been more ruthless than I thought possible.

Slaying children on the spot for any sign of galder who resist arrest, the parent's screams echoing through the city.

Raids are more frequent; the pub has been closed down a few times now.

The King has levied taxes until those who are hiding the vitki in this city are desperate enough to start to turn on others. "

Maude stood stone-faced against the wall, her hand on her axe as she listened to how quickly it had become so dangerous.

Bile burned at the back of her throat when Sigurd spoke of the children.

Liv slowly shook her head, her glassy eyes on the floor, while Bryn paced— a nervous habit they both shared.

Hakon's expression mirrored her own as they listened to Sigurd's updates on Logi.

"Already, I've seen countless neighbors being dragged from their homes," Sigurd continued, his outrage leaking into the words he spewed between flecks of blood that dripped from his lip.

"Good people, men and women who harbor no hate in their hearts thrown into chains and are never seen again because desperation has saturated the air of this city. "

She tried to focus on her breathing, tried to quell the rage that was building with every word Sigurd spoke about how quickly their city had fallen to shambles.

"Tomorrow morning is the farce of a coronation," Sigurd said, his tone disgusted. "As if such a thing were even possible— he doesn't hold enough power. There will also be a sacrifice to the gods in Helvig's name, though I don't know who the poor bastard is."

Maude's breath shuddered in her lungs, forcing Sigurd to look at her closely.

"The sacrifice is Herrick," Hakon said shortly.

Sigurd was quiet as he looked at them all before saying, "It seems you indeed have quite the story to tell."

Maude listened as Hakon rattled off the same story she was told when she joined their group so many weeks ago in this very house.

When the time came, she spoke and gave her side of everything all the way until she had come face to face with her father in his war room.

Liv and Hakon offered bits of information here and there but left the tale of their recent weeks to Maude.

Bryn only interjected a few times to comment on what happened between her and their uncle, Ulf.

Liv was left to explain the Elven involvement. However, the knowledge of Maude's heritage remains a secret. She couldn't quite accept it herself yet; Sigurd didn't need to know.

The bar owner let out a long breath once their story was concluded.

"I need a drink," was all he said before he reached deep into a cabinet and withdrew an amber liquor and five drinking horns.

He poured out a healthy amount into each cup, and they all downed it rather quickly.

The liquor burned down Maude's throat before settling in her empty stomach, warming her and making her realize how cold she was.

She looked at her sister and saw her pained expression mirrored there.

How had things gotten so much worse in the time they were gone?

How did they just leave their people to suffer like this ?

The answer was that they'd had to, but that didn't mean it went down as easy as the liquor.

"We've come to free Herrick," Maude said into the silent room that was heavy with despair. "I'm not leaving him to Helvig."

Sigurd poured another finger length of liquor, but before the horn could touch his lips, she spoke again, "We need your help, Sigurd. You should've received word from a spy in the palace about it."

At that, the pit keeper put down his cup and walked to the bookshelf, withdrawing a long slip of parchment from between books. He brought it back to the table and laid it out, exposing the roughly drawn map of the palace. Bryn stepped forward, Liv hovering over her shoulder.

"I wasn't sure what it was when it appeared on my doorstep, but the instructions were to hold on to it until the time was right.

It said I would know when that was," Sigurd said as he shook his head and grabbed his cup, tossing back the liquor in his horn.

"I don't care for this cloak and dagger approach, but I'll help in any way I can. "

Maude nodded. The words to thank him hung awkwardly on the tip of her tongue, but something in his face told her that it would have been the wrong choice to speak the thanks into the world. Sigurd was honorable— Maude knew his reasons for helping went beyond any loyalty to her or Herrick.

"This is no official blueprint of the palace. Someone drew this," Bryn traced her fingers over the lines of charcoal and then sucked in a breath before looking up at Maude with bright eyes. "And they left instructions."

Maude and Hakon hurried over to look at what Bryn was pointing at before they looked up and grinned at each other.

"Oh, this is going to do just fine, I think," Maude said, her smile widening as her hope soared. "We have some planning to do."

Liv avoided Sigurd's eye when she could.

She couldn't believe that she had revealed herself like that to him; it was careless of her.

When the soldiers came close to discovering the secret oasis that these residents had protected, she acted on impulse to shield them.

She had pulled from her glamour in her haste and had let it drop entirely since she had become so accustomed to being without it.

Sigurd hadn't seemed to bat an eye at her misstep, but she still couldn't look him in the eye after that.

Her kind was thought to be extinct, and she just jeopardized all of her people.

The feeling wasn't sitting right with her as the culmination of her lies and failures started to wear her down.

Hakon and Maude had gone right into planning with Bryn, who was familiar with the dungeons that had been mapped out for them, but Liv could only stand by the back door and look out into the oasis that was in full bloom.

For the first time in decades, Liv felt her age.

Her friends were currently arguing about the significance of why two dungeons had been mapped out for them and which one Herrick could be in.

Neither was labeled, only the soldiers listed outside each of the entryways gave them any clue as to what lay behind the restricted doors.

It was likely that the dungeons with more guards posted would be the one holding Herrick, so why list both?

She didn't notice when Sigurd had come up right alongside her, watching as some of the children played in the soft grass.

"You are avoiding me, Liv," Sigurd said, his voice lighter than earlier. "It wouldn't be because you made the mistake of revealing who you are, is it?"

Liv closed her eyes briefly and let out a chuckle before she looked at Sigurd.

"It might be," Liv said lightly. "Mostly, I'm just angry with myself. It doesn't come from a lack of trust, but rather an abundance of safety for my people."

Sigurd laughed quietly. "I've always believed the Elven were still here, biding their time and living peacefully somewhere. I was born in Hallifell; we were far enough north to still hear stories of the Elven."

Liv was not shocked to hear that northern towns still spoke of Elven, but they all still believed them to be a myth— more legend than fact now.

Hallifell in particular was a town so isolated from other towns in the Kingdom of Rivers that folklore and the old ways of the Elven were still practiced there.

"I was orphaned as a boy, and when I traveled here with my townspeople, there was a young woman who took charge of me until I settled with a family in Logi.

She told me the stories of the Elven and how they still lived beyond the mountains.

Of course, when I grew older, I thought she had been making up fantastical stories for a scared little boy.

But after seeing you, I know she was telling me the truth," Sigurd recounted, his ice-blue eyes glittering like the snowy peaks of the mountains he spoke of.

"It's the truth," Liv confirmed, looking back at the children.

"But we are still rebuilding. We have long lives, Sigurd; change comes slowly to us.

We lost a lot in the Elemental Wars, and I don't know if we have it in us to fight in another one.

It's not safe for us to come out into the light right now. "

"It's not safe for anyone to stand against the monarchies that rule us, but we do it anyway," Sigurd argued. "The vitki have been in hiding for centuries, been hunted for their 'illegal' galder , but we still fight for our right to survive. It's not safe for any of us."