“Something is amiss. Can you sense it?” She glances over her shoulder at Queen Avina, who paces while speaking to her cousin, Bertie– Edmund’s other father.
He counts the people still in the longhouse, realizing that one Jarl of Skalor is notably absent.
Calder sends his bench into the wall. “One of the Skalor Jarls is missing. We need to go.”
Edmund sits at a long table with a man and a woman snuggled up on either side of him. He finishes off his horn as they reach him.
The Iss Drengr snaps his fingers and points to the door. “Leaving now," he commands.
Edmund glances between his companions, then jumps out of his seat with a huff. “Yes, lordship.”
The three exit through the main doors, and Calder stops in the middle of the cobblestone street. He looks at the Toftlund gate leading out to Blackwood and then down the road toward the docks.
They want Aura. If they captured her, the fastest way to leave would be by ship.
“Calder!” Avina, Bertie, and Slode dash out of the longhouse. Edmund steps behind him, continuing to avoid his fathers since their arrival in Treland. Calder doubts the Gothi has any intention of returning to the Gullveig Temple in Pradacia.
“Do you know where my husband and daughter are?”
“Both traveled to Blackwood, but Sigvid should have returned by now.” Calder steps forward. “Queen Avina, I believe Aura has been kidnapped, and I fear the worst for our King. I need you to search the road leading to Blackwood while we search the docks.”
“Eddie!” Bertie steps around to accost his son.
“Oh, hello, Fathers!” Edmund spreads his arms at his side as if just realizing their presence beside his aunt. “Gods be with you and all of that.”
While Bertie and Slode confront their son, demanding to know why he is not in a Gullveig Temple in Pradacia, Avina grips Calder’s forearm before he can step away, aware that time is precious.
“I understand you and my youngest have shirked Sig’s mandate.” She holds up a hand before he can speak. “Save her, and know your king is none the wiser about your dalliance.”
He leans closer so only she can hear him. “Let’s keep it that way, Your Highness.”
“Bertie! Slode! We must locate Sigvid.” She rallies them, allowing the trio to continue.
Thora shouts as they barrel down the street, “Clue me in, Avardsson!”
“If someone has taken the Princess, the ship is the quickest way to leave.” Three Skalor longships can be seen heading toward the horizon as they crest the hill to the pier.
That damned Rolf.
“Taken her? Where? Why would anyone wish to capture her?”
His pace hastens as they approach the wharf. His ship rocks roughly against the pier as he jumps in and prepares to set sail.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Thora leans against the piling beside theWicked Wyvern. “We need a smidgen of an explanation from you!”
Edmund scoffs as he joins him in the hull. “Just you, cousin. I am well-versed in Skalor bullshit.”
“I am going to pretend like you did not abandon your Gullveig Temple to play sidekick with the Iss Drengr.”
Calder curses under his breath. “Jarl Rolf has taken Princess Aura to be sacrificed according to a prophecy my mother misunderstood. I will explain more as we go.”
“What about Uncle Sig? Do you think Jarl Rolf killed him?” Terror grips her voice.
“I am sure he is alive,” Edmund pipes up as he helps him push off. “That man has too much anger to die.”
Thora’s indecision on the dock breaks, and the ship bows as she joins them.
Once in the bay, they adjust course behind Rolf’s fleet.
