Spellbreakers (25 page)

Daria was like a bramble bush, trying hard not to
bloom lest the sweetness of her berries make somebody forget about her thorns.
Ljung smiled as he walked just thinking about her. Leal, who was so gentle on
the surface, had in truth a far more steely
nature.
A tiny alpine flower with thick, deep roots.
She would never
give up on something that truly mattered to her. He might have laughed about
the strange quest she was on, but he had the nagging feeling that if someone
could succeed in such a weird mission, it was her.

Had the last Warlord of the Elverlaen really been
asleep under the Ice Waste for a hundred years? And could he really be woken up
to life again? Ljung was not particularly skeptic. He had seen stranger things,
and even blacker magic.

How would it feel, to pass out for a century, while
your life and your world passed slowly by, and be woken up by the kiss of a southern
princess? He thought of Leal’s smile, of her silk-rose lips and pale green
eyes. He bit his lower lip, imagining her tongue in his mouth, and decided
there must be worse ways to come to.
And then what?
The princess of the fairytale always married the brave hero who brought her
back to life. Is that what Leal was supposed to do in the end? He hoped not. By
all accounts Hawkeneye had been a very tall, very handsome, very charismatic
elver of the rarest, palest northern race, almost extinct now, but he hoped
Leal would marry for love, not for politics or destiny.

Even if she fell in love with Hawkeneye, Ljung hoped
she’d fall in love with him as a free woman, in the end, not as a princess
bound by fate.

Chapter
Thirteen

The sun was getting lower on the horizon when they
arrived to their camp. It was a clear, cold, lovely day, but a veil of mist
filled the air of the valley and shone golden in the sun. Leal wondered what
was happening, why this strange bit of localized weather. They were walking on
a well-trodden path for once. Whatever lay ahead was obviously something
popular in the forest, even if now all was quiet and peaceful. Finally a turn
in the track brought them over a shoulder of the valley’s side, and they came
suddenly on a ring of white ruins. The pale mist came from the ruins
themselves, as if someone had lit a fire of green boughs inside.

“What is this?” asked Daria, curious and confused.

“These are the hot springs of Kvarnan. It is a
wonderful place where to soak when you feel somewhat knocked about, or cold to
the bone, or just plain dirty. Come, you take a dip here, and you’ll be as good
as new tomorrow.”

He went down the path with his usual graceful gait,
and they followed him eagerly.

The ruins were ancient, and they were built in the
same ornate style as the grandest buildings in Nevraan. Once upon the time it
must have been a large round building, closed on the outside, to keep the
weather out, with a beautifully carved arcade open on a round cloister-like
space in the center. Between the outer wall and the arches were a number of
shallow pools and tubs under a vaulted roof, some steaming white like pots
ready to boil, others barely at all. The pools were still full of clean water,
which bubbled from a steaming hot fountain, but the outer wall had crumbled on
the south side, and the arches were damaged in many places. Trees grew thick in
the central opening, and even between the pools, cracking the paving stones and
reaching out of the arcade towards the misty sun.
The forest takes
everything back, soon or late,
thought Leal. It was something Paavi had
said.

“Who made this place?” she asked in some awe, because
even in its ruinous state the building was full of majesty, and it was amazing
to find something like this here in the wild heart of the forest.

Ljung shrugged off his pack and piled his things in a
corner between the wall and an enterprising young oak which grew out of the
floor and up through an opening in the arcade. “The Kalevans built it,” he
said. “More than five hundred years ago. Then the winters grew colder and the
lands
dangerous,
and they abandoned the whole west
half of the forest, and this place with it. Later the land was claimed by the
elvers, when they first moved in from the near Vaelta’a, and it was cleared a
bit and put back into use. But the forest is always closing in. Nobody lives
near enough to keep it free. I like it that way, to be honest.”

Leal could see why. There was a haunting beauty in the
ruined building populated by trees and wild birds. She began shedding some
layers of clothing. It was hot under the steamy vaults.

“All right,” said Ljung, “the pools go from hotter to
lukewarm, starting from here, and moving down the circle in both directions.
Pick whatever you like.
The hotter the better, for your
bruises.”

He walked off towards the breach in the walls with
nothing but his bow and arrows. “Tuula and I will go get dinner. You two take
care. Try not to make too much noise and stay inside the walls.”

Leal and Daria watched him go with some regret. The
place felt colder and slightly sinister now that he had gone. They walked down
the line of pools until they found one that felt just right. Then they
undressed and jumped in.

It was beyond blissful.

Neither of them had ever bathed in so much hot water.

“Oh, oh, oh,” moaned Daria, sinking to her ears and
then further down. When she re-emerged, spluttering, she laughed. “Tell you
what, I will stay here. I’m never coming out of this tub, ever again.”

Leal laughed. “What about saving our kingdom and all?”
she asked while soaking her hair.

“Your kingdom, not mine.
And, listen, I have been thinking.”

“Have you now?”

“Please don’t be shocked, but I have. And this is my
thinking. Do we really need to find this Hawkeneye? I bet that Ljung could beat
that Karelian champion any day. You saw him shooting at the fords. We should
just ask
him
.”

“But why would he come south with us?” asked Leal.
“The elvers don’t mix in the affairs of men, unless they really need to.”

“They don’t? Then why are the Elders sending out
guides for us? Why are they helping us getting to Dalarna?”

Leal frowned.

“I suppose they would be happy to have their lost
Warlord back, now that they know where he is. But the fact is, if I wake up
Hawkeneye, I hope he will feel beholden to me, and accept to champion Escarra
in return for the favor. Ljung, on the other hand, has no reason at all to come
south with us.”

Daria smiled mischievously. “We might give him one.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on, princess.”

Daria turned to look out of their tub towards the
direction where Ljung had vanished. Everything was misty and empty.

“No, seriously, what?”

“Well,” said Daria, reddening to her hairline, a
tremendously amusing sight, “I mean we could, er, seduce him, like.”

Leal laughed. She laughed so hard that she slipped
backwards in the water and swallowed a mouthful.

“Why, but aren’t you droll,” said Daria, frowning.

“Oh, Daria!” said Leal, coughing, when she could
breathe again. “Are
you
seriously considering making love to ... to a
man?
A male person?
For Escarra’s
sake?”

Daria sucked some air through her teeth with a pained
expression on her face.

“Well, talking, very specifically, of
this
particular
male person
, and no other, I’d make love to him any day,
every day, every hour, minute, second. For free, no questions asked, no need to
champion Escarra. For nothing at all, I say.”

****

Oh, dear,
she
thought,
now I did it. She will be so hurt and so angry.

But in fact, all that Leal uttered was a deep sigh,
while smiling with vaguely unfocused eyes.

Daria was almost overwhelmed by the surge of relief
that filled her.

“You are not angry, princess?” she said in the
quietest whisper.

“Angry? Why?
With whom?”

“Well, with me.”

“You?” asked Leal, confused.

Daria sighed and blushed. “I thought you’d hate me.
When you found out.”

“Found out what?”

“I think—I think that I am getting the flurries for
this elver. Like when that girl, Violant, Sperança’s friend, had that hideous
crush on the captain of the king’s guard and lost her head, appetite, and
whatever little sense she had ever had to begin with. I am so ashamed.”

Leal smiled. Not a quick cool smile, but her full,
adorable, nose-wrinkling grin, which changed her serious face to that of a
mischievous imp.

“Well, that makes two of us,” she said.

Daria gasped in disbelief.
“You,
too?
For real?”

Leal nodded. “I didn’t know that men could be so...” She
trailed off at a loss for words. “I thought they were all simpering idiots like
the young noblemen of Escarra, or gross big laughing fellows like the mate of
the
Neversinks
. Or shifty weasels
like Paavi. Or ... well, you get the idea. I suppose there are good and
gorgeous men, like Uncle Dee, but...”

“But it’s not much good if they are your uncle.”

Leal nodded and smiled again. Daria, in her
imagination, was looking at Ljung, picturing him undressed and wet, in the tub
with them. She closed her eyes, clinging to that picture.

“I am going crazy, Leal. I can’t think straight. I
didn’t know you could want someone so bad. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I want
you, I always wanted you, but...”

“But you always had me.”

Daria nodded miserably.

“What am I to do? What are we to do?”

Leal didn’t answer for a long while. Then she took a
deep breath.

“The thing is, Daria, the thing is that I think
I
am
destined to go to this Ice Waste. I cannot say why. Perhaps it’s something even
bigger than this Challenge. When Dee told me about Hawkeneye, and then I managed
to talk to the Faded, I knew that this was my path. I felt it in my guts.
Something clicked in place, and I, I knew it was something I had to do. I can’t
tell you how. I just know that I must go. But you don’t have to come with me.
Perhaps it
is
hopeless. Everybody keeps saying so. There is no point
risking both our lives. But if I fail ... you have the right of it. Ljung could
help us.
If he wanted.
And if, and if, and if ... if
you don’t mind, and if you love him ... then if I die, I’ll know there is
another chance. And I’ll know you that are not alone.”

Daria stared at her frowning.

“You are talking complete nonsense now. You won’t go
anywhere close to that witch queen without me, princess. I am happy to have
your blessing to go and get him. But it does not change anything between us. I
don’t understand all this talk of destiny and fate. I wish you’d be sensible
and listen to me for once. Forget about this Hawkeneye, and ask Ljung, ask as
nice as you can. But if you insist in going to Dalarna, I’ll come with you. We
are in this together, Leal. We always were, and always will be. I will not
leave you, ever, Leal.
Least of all if you go to the Ice
Waste.”

Leal felt a sting of tears in her eyes.
She sloshed through the water to go and hug Daria as
hard as she could. Daria returned the embrace even harder.

“Tell you what,” she said, laughing, when she finally
let go, “that elver was right about the water. I am not hurting anymore,
almost. Let’s find an even hotter tub.”

****

It was near sunset when Ljung came back. He carried a
small deer over one shoulder, obviously not Tuula’s kill.

Daria gave Leal a significant glance.
See? He’s
good enough an archer for our need!
Leal smiled, but she looked away and
didn’t take the bait.

They had changed into somewhat cleaner clothes after
their long bath, and even managed to start a fire between some cracked and
blackened paving stones under a breach in the vault, where clearly other fires
had been lit in the past. Ljung nodded approvingly, and cut out some choice bits
from the deer’s carcass.

“It will be chewy, without it hangs for a while, but
it’ll have to do. Can you girls look that it roasts nicely while I wash?
There’s salt in my pack, and all manners of herbs around. Try not to poison us,
though. If you are not sure what you are picking leave it where it is.”

Leal nodded, while Daria watched him disappear in the
mist towards the pools with a longing glance. Leal giggled while she carefully
skewered small bits of meat on a smooth hazelnut stick. Daria scowled at her
reproachfully and fed some of the meat to Tuula, who had come to perch nearby.
The falcon watched her with some suspicion, but accepted the food nonetheless.

When Ljung came back, Daria nearly fell over. He wore
his usual leather trousers and boots, but over that only a dark linen shirt,
with its loose sleeves rolled up to the elbow. But that was all aside. He had
undone the small braids in his long, wild, black hair, which was now wet and
combed back away from his face. He had also shaved, and without his stray locks
and short beard he looked weirdly naked. The odd features of his face, and
especially his eyes, had never been so conspicuous, or so compelling.