The flames of the campfire were mesmerizing. While Erik talked I watched them snap, dancing over the wood, licking the surface until the bark curled and blackened. There was an old black pot on a grill over the fire, full of some kind of bubbling soup.
“…she knows where we are now,” Erik was staring into the fire, the flames reflecting in his blue eyes, “she won’t be content to leave us alone. She knows she has a rebellion on her hands.” He looked up, looking around at his tent city, “we’ll have to move.”
Loki leaned forward eagerly, “Come to Muspellheim, all of you! My father will rejoice to see you! We don’t want a war. We are too outnumbered, but with your help…”
Erik shook his head, “how do I know I can trust you? I’m not going to lead my people into a trap.”
The heavyset man beside Erik- the blacksmith- spoke up, “What choice do we have? It’s die here or maybe die there. If we stay in the forest the Queen will hunt us down until we’re all dead. That’s why this was supposed to be a secret rebellion until we were strong enough,” he rolled his eyes at me, “ but then you had to go rescue the princess.”
I could feel my face turning red. Erik glared at him, “What would you have had me do, Jarll? Leave her to die? Give her up so she can lead the army into battle?”
“I suppose not,” Jarll crossed his thick arms over his barrel chest and regarded me coolly, “What have you got to say about all this, your highness?”
Defensive, I retorted, “don’t call me that. And I think we should go with Loki to Muspellheim.” Beside me, Loki shifted, startled. When I glanced over at him he gave me a huge grin. I shrugged, “I was the same way before, not sure I could trust him…but…I think we can. And what else are we going to do anyways? Just wait here for her to find us?”
Erik stroked one hand over the blonde stubble on his chin, face thoughtful, “I don’t know. It isn’t a decision I can make lightly, or on my own. I’ll have to call a council to decide.” He paused as a skinny woman with spiky blonde hair emerged from the tent behind the fire and handed him a wooden ladle and a set of crudely carved bowls.
“Thank you, Marian.”
She bowed her head silently and retreated back inside the tent. I stared at her for a moment, thinking that it was sort of rude that she hadn’t said hello or anything. Erik leaned over and said quietly,
“That’s Marian. She joined us several weeks ago. She spoke out against the Queen and Eira had her tongue cut out. We found her in the woods, half dead from shock and blood loss.”
Instantly I felt bad for my previous thought. She couldn’t speak, the Queen had taken her voice from her and left her for dead.
“That’s evil.” My voice shook slightly.
“That’s why you all have to come back with me,” Loki said eagerly, “help us fight her. She wants to kill all of you, she wants to kill all of us. We’re on the same side!”
Erik nodded slowly, “I take your meaning, but I still have to call a council to decide. It can wait until it gets later in the day. Not everyone is awake yet.” He leaned forward and dipped the ladle into the pot, setting the bowls out on the ground in front of him, spooning the soup evenly until each was a little over half full.
Erik handed out the bowls. I grasped the warm wooden surface, staring down at the brown liquid. Beside me, Erik and the blacksmith simply tipped the bowls towards their mouths and drank. Tentatively, I did the same, and was surprised at the pleasant warmth. It tasted familiar. I lowered the bowl, “What is this? It’s really good.”
“It’s beef broth,” Erik grinned at me, “what? Did you think we served something strange and terrible here because we’re rebels?”
I blushed a little, “No.” That wasn’t strictly true. For some reason I’d expected it to taste terrible. The blacksmith threw back his head and let loose with a hearty laugh, and I narrowed my eyes at him,
“Ah, lass, you should see the look on your face now,” he told me.
Erik rolled his eyes, “Leave her alone, Jarll,” he set his bowl down on the ground and turned to me, catching me in a giant yawn. I shut my mouth with a snap, cheeks flushing again.
“I’m sorry,” Erik’s hand was on my knee, “you must be exhausted, all of you.” He looked over at Charlotte and Loki. Charlotte blinked sleepily at us, but Loki was apparently wide awake and glaring at Erik’s hand.
The pressure on my knee vanished quickly. “You should all get some rest before the council decides.” Erik pushed himself up off the ground and climbed to his feet. I followed suit, but with a lot more groaning and creaking of joints. That horse ride really hadn’t done me any good.
“I’ll show you to a couple tents where you can crash for a while,” Erik motioned for us to follow him. We left Jarll by the fire, and when I looked back over my shoulder at him, the big blacksmith was ladling himself another bowl of soup.
The rebel’s camp was just starting to come alive as we passed through. Activity was just beginning, both in the ground camp and the city in the trees. The tapping of people passing one another on the wooden planking was loud overhead, and shouting and laughter and the noise of pots clanging together while they made breakfast surrounded us. As we walked through the tents my senses were assaulted with a mixture of different smells. Cooking meat and spices, pine burning on campfires. I even caught a whiff of strong coffee when I passed by one tent.
I tilted my head back, marveling at the inventiveness of the long lines that stretched from tree to tree. They were hanging out laundry to dry, and the multicolored clothing amongst the trees resembled a jumble of colorful flags flying proudly in the breeze. I paused for a second, noticing that a thin layer of flakes had begun to fall, wondering how they ever got their clothing dry when it always seemed to be snowing.
Erik was just turning around to say something to us when a great shout rose up from the other end of the camp.
Someone was yelling faintly, “identify yourself!”
Erik looked tense, “Someone’s coming.”
The Queen. It had to be Eira here to kill us all. Dread settled over me like a stifling blanket of snow. She was going to charge in here and kill everyone, and it would be all my fault. Erik told me to stay back, turning and heading for the edge of the camp. That isn’t going to happen. This was my fault, I wasn’t going to let him charge in there and get killed over me. If I had to give myself up to avoid getting these people killed, I would. I’d been about to do it before, and I’d do it again. The thought filled me with dread, but I forced one foot in front of the other, following him, in spite of the glare he shot over his shoulder at me when he realized I wasn’t obeying his instructions.
Just outside the camp, five or six men crouched in the snow, swords and spears bristling. Approaching them were three tall figures, dressed in white furs, hoods obscuring their faces. Through the whirling flakes they looked like three specters drifting through the woods towards us. It felt like they had reached in and clenched my heart with icy hands. Who were they? Had the Queen sent assassins to kill me?
One of the rebels stepped forward and barked out, “Identify yourself or we will attack!”
A moment of loaded silence, and then the figure in the middle reached up. The hood fell back, revealing a pale face, wide blue eyes and long straight hair that was nearly as blonde as mine.
Before I could say anything Charlotte launched herself out from behind me, “Becca!”
One of the guards reached out and snagged her before she could get past him, holding her back.
“It’s fine!” Charlotte protested, trying to wiggle out of his grip, “we know her.”
The other two pushed back their hoods, revealing Stacy and Margaret. They both looked anxious, eyes darting around at the men in front of them.
Becca held out her hands in a gesture of peace, “Sorry to startle you. It’s just us.” She looked past the guards and her eyes found me, “you left in such a hurry. We would have gone with you. Escaped with you.”
My mouth had been hanging open up till now, “What? But I thought you and Amy…”
Becca frowned, “Amy is an idiot. She thinks she’s some kind of warrior princess, and that it’s all so glamorous and fun. She doesn’t seem to understand that she’s going to get killed somehow. Either she’s going to do something to make the Queen angry and be executed, or she’ll die in battle.”
Stacey pulled her coat tighter around herself, “We heard about you and Charlotte escaping with the fire jotun when the Queen came back into the palace after she’d lost you. She was furious. She just went crazy! She was breaking things in the throne room and she slapped a servant so hard that he was knocked unconscious,” she looked dismayed, “I can’t understand how I ever let myself believe anything that woman said. She’s insane.”
Margaret chimed in, “It took us ages to find you. We were scared she’d sent men after us,” she rubbed her arms, and since she couldn’t possibly be cold I guessed it was more of a self- comforting gesture. All three of them were probably exhausted and scared.
I stepped forward, “What about Amy and Alicia?”
Becca looked disgusted, “Amy thinks the Queen is just great. She called me a traitor when we said we wanted to leave. “
Margaret said sadly, “And I think she’s brainwashed Alicia. She stayed behind with Amy. They called us horrible names.”
I touched Erik’s arm, and he looked down at me questioningly, “They’re okay,” I said.
He looked at the three girls doubtfully for a minute, and then signaled the guards to back down, “Alright, I’ll have to trust your judgment.”
Charlotte, finally released from the guard’s grip, flew at Becca and caught her in a bear hug.
“I’m so glad you came!”
“Come on,” Erik said, “you three look like you need some rest as well. I’ll show you to the spare tents. We have a council meeting later concerning what to do next. I’ll send someone to wake you all up just before we meet.”
The spare tents were in the center of camp, a ring of five skin teepees around a low burning fire. Charlotte and I chose the one on our immediate right, and Charlotte pushed through the tent flap right away. I could hear her squealing over how soft the furs were inside. Loki stopped me just before I followed her, his hand on my arm, sending a shiver over my skin.
“Megan,” his soft brown eyes studied my face, worry showing in the creases around them, “what if the council says no? What if they decide not to go back with me….what will you do?”
For a moment I didn’t know what to say. What would I do? The logical thing would be to stay here with the rebels, help them fight against the Queen. But a part of me ached inside, thinking about the fact that Loki would leave, and I’d probably never see him again. His finger were hot on my arm, he didn’t move away like I thought he would. Instead he stepped closer. The other girls had vanished inside, and it was just us now, standing alone in the ring of tents. Loki reached out and stroked a thumb down my cheek, down and over my lips. A thrill went through me as he cupped my chin and tilted my face up. His mouth pressed against mine, gently at first and then more firmly. His arms slid around my waist, pressing on my back, pressing my body into his, as if he could melt us together somehow, so we would never be parted.
Somewhere behind us someone let out a cheeky catcall, and I broke away from him, cheeks glowing. Somehow I’d managed to forget that we were in the center of a large camp. Of course people could see us. I backed away and ducked into my tent.
Charlotte was stretched out on her back, stroking her hands across the furs she was lying on. She wiggled her eyebrows at me, “What took you so long? Did you and Loki…”
“Don’t say a word,” I told her sternly.
Luckily the furs that served as a mattress stretched wide enough to be comfortable for the both of us, and I flopped down beside her. It was incredibly soft and warm, and I sighed contentedly, curling up under a thick white fur and shutting my eyes. As I drifted I thought of Loki’s arms around me, his mouth on mine and when I eventually did fall asleep, I probably did it with a smile on my face.