“There’s no way I could’ve dreamed that up.” Solveig’s laughter faded to giggling. Gerrie pretended to glare in response.
“If you breathe a word of this to anyone, anyone at all, I will go back to Alfheim, carefully pick a whole bag of those fruits, and secretly fill your bed with them.”
Solveig grinned. “I will take it to my grave,” she swore. She even put her hand over her heart in mock sincerity. Gerrie nodded seriously and then smiled. Solveig leaned back against Helle and closed her eyes.
“What if ... What if I can’t ever escape?”
Gerrie must’ve understood she didn’t mean physically. “You probably won’t. Not fully.”
Solveig was grateful for the blunt answer. “When I close my eyes, I can feel the cave where they kept me,” she said quietly.
“Did you ever get to leave?”
“No.”
Gerrie waited for her to continue but she didn’t. “All you have to do is open your eyes and you’ll see that you’re not there anymore.”
“What if I open them and you aren’t here?” she answered quietly. The way Gerrie paused made Solveig’s heart clench. Gerrie never hesitated.
The mood shifted and Solveig knew her shieldmaiden well enough to know Gerrie was gearing up to tell her something she wasn’t going to like.
Solveig braced herself, feeling the pine needles on the ground, Helle at her back. The clean air that carried more than just the scent of the cave. The smell of pine, the fresh scent of Vanaheim’s change from summer to fall. The crisp cool breeze on her skin. She grounded herself as she braced for whatever Gerrie was about to say.
“You deserve all the time you need to get through this, but unfortunately we can’t give you that.” Solveig’s brows furrowed. When she didn’t say anything, Gerrie continued. “When we assumed you were ... not coming back, we had to tell the queens and explain the situation. Koa put an immediate end to the raids. Recently, Aelfsi sent word that emissaries would be arriving to establish new leadership here.” Solveig still didn’t speak or open her eyes. “Sol ... the Fae are coming.”
“Which Fae?” Solveig whispered, dread pooling in her stomach.
“From both Asgard and Idavoll.”
Solveig’s eyes flew open and terror seared her insides, her magic flaring under her skin. She shook her head violently, as if she could shake the situation away. This couldn’t be happening. She had just gotten out.
No no no no no no.
Gerrie reached out and grabbed her other hand, letting her break until her breaths started to come easier and her head didn’t feel so light.
“When?” she whispered. When Gerrie didn’t answer right away, she asked again. “When, Gerrie?”
“Thirty days.”
Thirtydays.
That’s all Solveig could think as they made their way back to camp. She had thirty days to prove she was still fit to lead these people. Her people. Soldiers she had trained as witchlings, families she had cared for over the last century and a half.
These were her people, and she would not let anyone else, Vanir or Fae, take what belonged to her.
Gerrie informed her that groups of Fae would start trickling in within the month. The queens thought smaller groups would be less suspicious to the mortals than a large company travelling from Idavoll.
This camp was as secure as it could get, the location concealed from all but the council and the queens. However, there were mortal and Vanir settlements the Fae would have to travel through to get here, and a big procession of those cocky bastards would draw suspicion.
Another question on Solveig’s mind was who they thought to replace her with? The obvious choice was likely Latham, given he’d beenher second in command, but what if they decided it was time for a Fae to lead the legion?
It was possible, given the pushback when the queens first announced, two centuries ago, that a Vanir would be the general of the Asgardian armies. There’d been dissent amongst the Fae battalions. They didn’t want a witch leading their armies.
Queen Koa was the strongest Seer left in all of Yggdrasil and she Saw deadly implications of revealing who Solveig was. When they announced the new general, they gave no background information, only that she was powerful beyond measure and introduced her as General Tordottir.
It was easy enough, Yggdrasil knew her only as Solveig, an orphan taken in and cared for by the palace. And the respect of her position ensured her first name need not be known.
In order to appease the Fae, Solveig cloaked herself further in mystery, her strength and the force of her magic shut down anyone who dared challenge her. She eventually garnered respect and became a legend the realms feared to even speak of.
