FLOOD

The Safehouse

            Suddenly this didn’t seem like such a good idea. Perhaps we should go straight to the palace and not have to rely on the kindness of royal guards I didn’t even know. But one look at Eli was enough to convince me it would be worth it. He looked like he was about to sag to the ground and sleep for days. He was probably starving too, since I was pretty sure he hadn’t touched much of the seaweed.

            “Stay behind me,” I said firmly. “Let me do the talking.”

            Eli nodded, his eyes fastened on the guard on the left. He didn’t look like he was going to argue.

            I paced forward carefully, raising my voice over the faint sound of the wind. “Hello? We come in peace, I have a message for the queen.”

            Both guards snapped to attention, eyes scanning the forest, coming to rest on me as I moved out of the trees. I made sure to keep both hands within view, and to walk slowly and carefully. They had to see that I wasn’t carrying a weapon.

            Both guards stared with wide eyes, and the smaller of the two began blinking, as if he were trying to clear his vision. I resisted the urge to look down at myself. I’d forgotten how strange I must look, emerging from the woods in a gown that rippled like water, even though my hair was tangled and messy and my face was probably pale and smudged with dirt, the dress was perfect, shimmering and beautiful. Like I was heading for some kind of ball.

I must look ridiculous to them.

Behind me I could hear the snapping and cracking sound of twigs, and the dull shuffle of Eli’s feet on the forest floor. He wasn’t exactly subtle, so the guards would know I had someone with me right away.

“State your name and rank,” the smaller guard snapped, and his hand drifted to his belt, to the hilt of his sword.

“My name is Valka. I have no rank.” I came a few feet further before he raised his hands, and then stopped, heart beating hard in my chest. “I was a servant at the palace.”

The bigger guard, the one who I’d thought looked especially frightening, blinked at me, his eyes round. “Valka,” he said suddenly. “The servant girl who went missing weeks ago?”

Relief rushed through me, making my shoulders slump. He’d recognized my name. And more than that, they’d missed me. It wasn’t just my mother who was concerned about Kalda and I going missing. Hope surged in my chest.

“The guards know about it? Were they looking for us?”

The big guard’s face began to flush slightly. “Er…not exactly. I’m seeing one of the girls in the servant’s quarters, they’re pretty torn up about it.”

Disappointment choked me. For a moment I’d dared to hope that someone other than the servants had noticed us missing, but clearly I’d been wrong. The council had probably dismissed it as an accident or something, and hadn’t even told the king and queen about it.

So I had a lot of explaining to do.

“I have been missing, for weeks now,” I said, and I couldn’t keep the hint of anger out of my voice. “And Kalda…Kalda is dead.” My voice cracked, and I heard Eli shift behind me.

The big guard’s blonde brows creased. “What news do you bring? What happened?”

“That’s what I have to tell you. I have an urgent message for the king and queen. Jotunheimer is in trouble, humans have found a way to get in, and they’re taking Jotun. They’re experimenting on us.”

The smaller guard answered before his comrade could. “Please, what a ridiculous story. More like a servant girl looking for attention.”

Disbelief and anger clashed together, and I had to stand very still to keep myself from launching at him. It would be foolish to make him angry. “Look, you have to believe me. Where do you think I’ve been for the past few weeks? And why would I come all the way here, to the safe house, just to lie to you two? Why wouldn’t I go straight to the palace and try to see Queen Megan?”

“She has a point,” the bigger guard said, and he darted a sideways look at his friend. “We should let her in.”

“Don’t be stupid, Bifky.” The smaller guard folded his arms over his chest, and his narrow, cruel face reflected his sense of humour. He was enjoying this. My pulse picked up, anger making my face feel hot. This was the same type of guard who’d made fun of Kalda and I. The same type of guard that had enjoyed taunting us when we’d walked past them. Someone who shouldn’t be a guard at all.

“What’s your name?” I said sharply, and the smaller guard glanced up at me, startled. Then his lips curved in a sneer.

“Bolthur. And what are you going to do about it, servant?”

‘Nothing, Bolthur, but let me tell you something. My friend is dead and there are humans getting into my kingdom, and they’re probably on their way now, maybe even sending an army with guns and tanks after us, who knows. I’ve been to hell and back, I’ve betrayed one of my friends, I’ve run away like a scared rabbit and fought off things under the sea that I’d only heard about in the darkest bedtime stories, all in order to get here, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some uppity safehouse guard get in my way.”

Bolthur’s face went red, and he reached for his sword. Eli moved behind me, grabbing my arms, obviously ready to throw me out of the way if the guard came charging down the steps. But Bolthur didn’t get a chance to draw his sword. His fellow guard, Bifky, reached out one massive hand and grabbed his wrist. Bolthur jerked his hand up, trying to break his grip and pull the sword out, but Bifky shook his head.

“Stop that, you’re being stupid.” He looked down at me, and I was surprised to see him smiling. “Don’t mind my friend here, he’s…passionate.”

That was a nice way to put it, since I was pretty sure that the accurate way to describe Bolthur was “asshole” but since Bifky seemed to be on our side, I just nodded and returned the smile. If it got us a warm place to stay overnight, and clothing and food, I’d nod and smile and push the anger down.

Eli released his grip on my arm with a sigh of relief.

Bolthur was swearing at his friend now, but Bifky simply picked him up and moved his sideways, out of the way of the door. “Go on in,” he told me. “Just wipe your feet on the mat.”

I looked over my shoulder, exchanging a disbelieving look with Eli, before we both walked up the stairs and onto the porch. I thanked Bifky as we went by, but made sure to stay well out of range of Bolthur, who had been released, and was now standing at the edge of the porch glaring at me.