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Stali stepped forward, and with his scarred hand on the staff, recited a similar oath. “I swear to judge the doll of this human fairly.”
Alfrun held out her staff, and I only hesitated a moment before laid my hand on the elm. “I swear I’ll belong to you if Stali, being true and honest, finds that the doll is of lesser quality than his own work.”
“Good,” Alfrun said and retracted her staff. She pointed it instead at Lilja. “Take her. Bring her to the dungeons.”
No,” I shouted. “We made a deal.”
“For you to make a doll in seven days. I’ll need some way to guarantee that you’ll come back.” She smirked. “And I think Eivor in chains will do just that.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. I had meant this as a stalling tactic, a way to walk out of here with Lilja so we might gain some more time to come up with a plan. A better plan than me making a doll to compete with the beauty of the one my uncle had gifted me. The one Stali had made with magic.
Helena stepped forward. “I’ll stay in her stead,” she said with a lift of her chin so high she was looking down at Alfrun despite the dais. Behind me, Alma let out a sob.
Lilja shook her head. “No. I’ll stay. This is my mistake.”
With a tug of her arm, I turned her to face me. “What mistake? You were taken.”
“I lured that girl into the woods. I shouldn’t have.”
“To kiss her.” I laid my palm against her face. “You didn’t mean her any harm.”
Lilja smiled even as her eyes filled with tears again. “You won’t change my mind. I’m not letting anyone go into those dungeons for me. Not you, and not Helena or Alma.”
“I can’t let you.”
“There’s no other choice. It’s either this or she keeps us all.”
I closed my eyes, feeling my heart beat in my chest with a broken rhythm. She was right. There was no other way. I had to leave her here.
I cupped her face with my hands. “Seven days,” I said and pressed my forehead against hers.
“Come back for me.”
“I will.”
“I know you will.”
“I love you,” I said, and my voice broke.
“And I love you. Always.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The walk back out through the tunnel felt even longer without Lilja’s hand in mine. I didn’t see the darkness. I didn’t see the strange lamps and the pools of light they cast. I only saw the image of Lilja as two soldiers took her away. Her face as she looked over her shoulder, her frightened eyes, her attempt at a smile, right before they dragged her through the door behind Alfrun’s dais.
Alma held my arm as we walked while Helena divided her scowls between the two soldiers escorting us. Finally, and without a word spoken between us, we reached a dead end. One of the soldiers held up what looked like a finely wrought brooch. The gold glowed briefly, and before our eyes, the solid rock turned to nothing, and the cold mountain wind pulled at our cloaks and coats. I squinted as the brightness of the light against the snow met my eyes. The crunch under my feet felt odd after walking on stone for so long.
The two soldiers went back inside the tunnel, and a moment later, there was nothing but snow where the opening had been. I sat down on the back of the sleigh and put my face in my hands. Alma put her arm around my shoulders.
“We’ll get her out,” Helena said. When I looked up, the rifle was back in her hands.
“How? I’m supposed to make a doll to rival the beauty of Stali’s?”
“Yes, and you’re an amazing doll maker.”
“I’m a human doll maker. He has magic. Even the prettiest doll in all of Sweden, in all of the world, would be nothing but a pile of painted birch to him.”
Alma frowned. “I was pondering this whole thing as we walked out. There’s this trader in Falun. I’ve gone there often to buy his woodwork. He told me about a book he has. It’s ancient and full of strange symbols, he said. It never interested me much because it wouldn’t sell in my father’s store, but it could be elf runes. What if it’s some sort of… of encyclopedia of their writing?”
