Unfortunately, he could already see a few of them were toeing closer. Testing to see if the brightness would actually hurt them. It wouldn't, and they would soon realize that.
"Go," Gunnar urged, nudging her forward with his shoulder as his hands weren't entirely working.
They rushed into the darkness, their light burning through the shadows. He couldn't see Rhydian anymore. His magic had already disappeared the moment they’d started moving forward. But Rose could. She kept pointing in different directions, and off they went. Weaving through the caverns farther and farther in a direction he feared was only leading them deeper into the heart of the mountain.
But then a bright green river caught his attention. The water was not the same as it was where he lived in Trollveggen, but the color didn’t matter.
"Black sunder can't swim," he gasped, his vision already blurry. "We go there."
Rose turned course, racing toward the water and sloshing through it. Tiny emerald sparkles clung to her pants that had only just dried, like moss growing up the stalks of her thighs. She helped him across, and the two of them collapsed on the other side.
Gunnar breathed hard, his limbs already growing heavy now that he'd pushed it too far. The venom still lingered in his body and would soon paralyze him once again. But they were safe. No matter that he could hear the snapping jaws and hisses that came from the creatures on the other side of the river.
She was safe.
So he could rest.
Thirty
Rose
They had to slow down their pace once they were safe from the black sunder. Rose didn't think Gunnar should move at all. He was adamant that they had to find a safer place to be, but he could barely move. The poison was still running through his veins, made worse by his heroics in helping them get out of that breeding ground, and thus, it was nearly as bad as it had been before.
She had to be the voice of reason. And the voice of reason said they needed to camp for a little while longer. Though he grumbled and muttered under his breath, he didn’t fight her on that. So she knew he had to feel awful.
A pause gave her more time to discover this new part of herself. No longer cowering in fear from life, she felt a sizable amount of reassurance in knowing that she was never really alone. All Rose had to do was blink and she could see hundreds of people all around her.
Trolls who would guide her to food that was safe for them to eat. Hunters who guided her footsteps, making sure she didn'tdisturb any of the creatures that lived down here. Gatherers who guided her to dry peat moss that could be used for a fire. Adventurers who helped her light the fire with mere stones, even though it took her a long time to learn.
There was so much knowledge here, just waiting for her to ask for it. And Rhydian himself, of course. Although he was rarely around once he had gotten them to safety. He said he didn't like being in such a place. Cold and wet sensations were his nightmare, and he was perfectly happy disappearing. Where he went, she had no idea. She kind of hoped it was the tower they had built together in whatever realm that was.
Gunnar lay on the bed of moss she had built him, and she sat beside the fire she had made with her own hands, and Rose felt... capable. Stronger. She felt like she could go out into the world and not be so terrified of it.
What a strange feeling it was. She had been so broken for so long, told she was only good for one thing, and the idea of living had been repulsive. Now, she was finding there was a lot more to living than just being someone else's pet.
She let out a little snort and then rolled one of the peat bricks so the fire could burn the other side.
"What are you chuckling about?" Gunnar asked, moving so he was at least sitting upright. His back was against the stone wall behind him, and he looked very much like the rake the other trolls thought him to be. His hair was mussed, his eyes a little sleep swollen, but his gaze was focused entirely on her.
"Chuckling? You know I don't laugh."
"Someday I will hear your laugh and it will make me fall off whatever mountain I am climbing. But really, Rose. What are you thinking about?"
She shrugged. "I guess I don't really want to go back. Is that insane to say?"
"Why wouldn't you want to go back?"
All she had to do was gesture to everything surrounding them, all the things that she had accomplished on her own. "Look at what I can do! Is this not remarkable? All I had to do was ask the dead, and they taught me without any question. Back in Trollveggen, all I'll have is Astrid trailing me and telling me not to do certain things because I'm not ready for them. "
Gunnar winced. "I suppose I am just as guilty of that."
"I wasn't ready. For a very long time. I understand why people are so hesitant to let me do things, but I... I feel like the past few weeks have opened my eyes. And that maybe I've been putting the pieces of myself back together the entire year that I've been here, and all I needed was time to do that. Now I'm.. I'm..."
She didn't know how to describe it. Frustrated with herself, she rolled the thoughts over in her mind until she could finally vocalize how she was feeling.
"My life has been sand stuck in my shell," she started, cupping her hands together like a clam. "All the hardship, all the pain, all the torment. Everything. It was like I was jammed full of dirt and I've been taking my time pulling all of it out. Grain of sand by grain of sand. It took a long time to clean myself up until I could find that last bit of sand. The piece that I've been rolling around for ages."
Unfurling her fingers, she opened them. And inside her hand, she could see a glow of magic. Just the slightest bit, a little ball of yellow energy that was not so bright that it was hard to look at, but bright enough to be impressive.
