“Let go of me!” The guard’s struggle is depressing. He has play-wrestled with children in Kaldrgataness who put up a fiercer fight.
“Where is Princess Aura?” He growls near his ear, his fingers squeezing along his spine. Ice forms on the guard’s skin, followed by high-pitched screams.
The guard panics and attempts to free himself, but Calder lifts him from the ground.
“Where is she?” His eyes flash with fury as he is far too close to ripping him apart at the seams.
“Fuck off, Iss Drengr!” He barely utters the last word before ice creeps along his neck, encircling his jaw. The man gasps for air as his throat freezes shut. Calder drops the body, shattering it into pieces.
As he rushes along the shrub maze, he takes some relief from knowing Aura is nearby. What he cannot understand is why they dragged her in here. Why not take her straight to their longship?
The next lookout's heavy breathing betrays him before he rounds the next hedge. He scratches through the branches, intentionally alerting the guard as he circles.
“Hello?” The soldier spins around, brandishing a blade in his shaky grip. “Show yourself!”
Calder pushes through the bushes, clutching the front of his tunic. “Where is Aura?” His words are barely coherent as he rains spittle upon his face.
Nothing but a squeak emanates from the worthless excuse for a warrior.
“Where is she?”
He can smell the piss as the guard’s fear gets the better of him. Calder slams the man face down into the grass, and with the heel of his boot, he stomps on his back. A crack fills their space in the garden, followed by the man’s ear-splitting screams. Calder freezes his body, leaving him to die a slow, miserable death as his ice penetrates his brain.
Aura’s braided bracelet lies nearly hidden in the roots of a massive tree further along the path.
Smart girl leaving breadcrumbs.
He slips it into his pouch before edging around a corner and discovering himself in the heart of the gardens, where a massive willow tree dominates the space.
Aura is in the middle of what must typically be a serene enclosure. Her arms are restrained behind her back by a tall, thick guard while another brandishes a dagger in front of her face.
“The Chief said he would meet us here. He cannot be too far away.” The guard holding Aura keeps glancing over his shoulder, anticipating their leader's arrival.
“The Queen plans to burn the wench when we return.” The one holding the dagger taps the flat of the blade to her lovely cheek. “There’s no rule against fucking her before she’s sacrificed.”
The sound of fabric ripping greets Calder as he enters the scene. His hands shake with a righteous fury he believed he could no longer possess.
Guy’s wretched men have sliced her lovely green dress down the middle, exposing her bare breasts to the increasingly frigid air growing with each step he takes.
At his appearance, Aura snarls and fights, snapping at any skin unlucky enough to get close to her mouth. It’s then he notices a third man, face down with an axe handle protruding from his back.
Carved into the handle are Salt runes.
What a good girl you are, Princess.
“Iss Drengr,” the guard restraining her sneers. “Chief, thought you might be near. Seeing as you are the Princess’ guard dog.” He laughs as he tugs her arms tighter.
“Let her go, and you will live.” Calder does not intend to let either of these men walk away from this alive.
“Will you share your toy with us, Jarl Avardsson?” Dagger man responds while running a finger along her jaw, as if Calder doesn’t see red.
Aura tries to pull away, but he strikes her so hard that her body recoils. The man unsheathes his sword with a pompous chuckle. “What shall you do now, Iss Drengr? Without a weapon to show your might?”
I am the weapon.
He kneels to the ground and slams his fist into the warm grass. The sound of cracking reverberates from his knuckles as ice consumes the green space and vanishes into the rest of the hedge maze.
With a feral grin, he slams his fist into the ground again. A blizzard assaults the area, bringing wind chills that no creature can survive. When he releases hisseidr, the swirling snow and ice blast through the gardens, leaving nothing but frozen guards and an eerie silence in their wake.
