Seela seemed to cool off, her arms falling slack to her side. But Vali continued, “I am sorry if it appeared like Ailsa and I were unconcerned, but that is not the case. I searched for your face, Seela. I looked at each body in that field to make sure it wasn’t one of you three. Don’t you dare tell me I don’t care, not after all we’ve been through.”
Seela’s face crumbled and she turned her face to wipe her cheeks. Vali approached her and embraced her in a tight hug, one that made Ailsa turn away, feeling like she was intruding on a private moment. She heard him whisper something to the commander before stepping away.
“How are you, Ivor?” she asked the wolven as she wrapped her arms around her waist. “I’m sorry I abandoned you yesterday. I wouldn’t forgive myself if something had happened to you.”
“Think nothing of it,systir.” She squeezed her back. “I am well and whole, and so are you.” Her head dipped low to skim her ear. “But wewilldiscuss what happened here.”
“There is no need.” She stepped out of the wolven’s arms. “It was nothing, I vow it.” Ivor was not convinced as she ran a trained eye over her tattered skirts.
“I hope you’re right, Ailsa.”
* * *
They traveledin an uncomfortable silence for the next few hours. Their fae companions promised Alfheim was only a day’s march up the Highest Branch, but they conveniently forgot to mention the literal incline of said branches.
Ivor with her long legs helped Ailsa traverse over steep ledges, where the forest dropped off into a rocky hillside that extended as far as she could see. Even with her lungs in their best shape, she was forced to fall behind to apply her oils. This leg of the journey proved to be the most difficult task of her life.
Her stomach rolled, gnawing on itself as she consumed nothing but the spring water trickling from the split in the rocks. Vali ignored her, as did Seela. The pair walked together several paces ahead of them, but she caught him looking back at her every so often. His indifference still stung deeper than she wanted to acknowledge. The male she had spoken with last night had disappeared with the arrival of his commander, and they were back where they started.
Her distracted strides caught a pile of loosely structured rocks, and Ailsa’s footing slipped as they gave out beneath her. The rippling sound of stones sliding from their settlement prompted her group to turn around. Ivor’s eyes widened as she watched her slow fall against the boulder’s edge, her body sliding off the slippery surface.
“Ailsa!” Ivor shouted, but she had already landed hard on her backside. “Are you all right?” The wolven peeked over the ledge and looked down at her. Ailsa stared up, miserable, but gingerly climbed back to her feet, her pride injured far worse than anything.
“Fine. Just help me up,” she said much harsher than intended.
Ivor pulled her over the boulder’s edge as she found a better foothold. Seela and Vali were climbing down to meet them, but their eyes were looking beyond her. She turned to see what had stolen their attention away from her embarrassing fall.
Below them now were miles of misty wilderness stretching far into the distance. They made considerable ground despite the grueling uphill climb, and Ailsa was rewarded with a view of the branching landscape that stole what little breath she could keep in her chest. But dark clouds were shifting across the sky, carried by a cold wind. She smelled rain, listened as the sky rumbled with gravelly thunder, and watched as dry lightning flashed within the ominous cloud wall now coming their way.
“Vali, we cannot be out here during a helstorm. We need to find cover,” Seela spoke. Ailsa looked to him, but his eyes were locked on the impending storm.
“How much longer until we reach Alfheim?” she asked.
Vali shook his head. “At this pace, hours at the very least.”
“And the storm?”
He sighed, looking at her at last. His gilded gaze unnervingly anxious. “We just need to go. Hold on to one of us, Ailsa.”
She snatched the wolven’s arm and the group started back up the jagged hillside. Vali led the way, pulling her up while Ivor assisted her steps. This technique was more effective, and they made it to the top of the stacked boulders quicker than they would have before. But the storm was nearly upon them, and there was still no sign of civilization in sight.
“The river is just a little further, come on!” Vali shouted. Ailsa took long, rhythmic breaths as she ran after him, the increasingly violent gust at her back a plain reminder she had no time to pause if she lost her breath. Lightning streaked the sky and split the earth, sending a tremor beneath her strides. But the sounds of the storm were interrupted by an intense flow of river water, competing with the soft whisper of heavy rain now falling in sheets of ice.
“Get in one of the boats!” Vali commanded. He stood on the bank and gestured toward a broad canoe that could easily fit several families. He stayed behind on the sandy shore to push them into the river’s powerful current, and they were swept away as soon as the hull scraped off the shallows.
Ailsa sat near the back; her hand held out to help him board. But just as he reached for her, lightning struck near the shoreline, blinding them both with a brilliant light and a deafening crack.
“Vali!” she called over the ringing in her ears. But the elfin was thrown back dazed on the shore, his body unmoving, his chest did not rise for air. Each second he didn’t move, they drifted further away, and she panicked to think of him being left behind and consumed by this storm. She unclasped his cloak from her neck and kicked off her poor footing. Ivor and Seela had no time to question her motives, nor stop them from manifesting, before she leapt into the river.
The water was an unfeeling type of cold, so deep was the chill her flesh was numb at first touch. She submerged, her head dipped below the surface for a beat as needles combed against her skull. A thousand knives jabbed her skin, and each time she stroked the water to reach the river’s edge, they stabbed her again.
The voices from her companions were silenced by the endless ringing in her ears. Her blood froze into slush, deadening the nerves controlling her limbs. Every move was heavy and clumsy, her body did not belong to her, nor could her mind control it. But she set her gaze on the elfin still motionless in the sand and pressed on, her heart beating stubbornly against the ice in her veins.
Vali was still unconscious by the time she reached him, beads of rain kissed his face and rolled off his skin, and his eyes were closed as if he were simply dreaming. She pressed a freezing hand to his cheek and tried to rouse him awake.
“V…V…Vali,” she stuttered as her teeth knocked against each other. But no matter how hard she shook him, he did not open his eyes. His chest did not heave. His body remained completely limp.
He was dead.