After waiting for Lachlan to scarf down the rest of his plate, we find ourselves heading to the training grounds erected right outside of town. The closer we get to the sound of clashingmetal, the darker it becomes. Night-blooming flowers wind their way up the archway that’s carved crudely with letters and words I don’t recognize. Noticing my stare, Lachlan points to the wooden archway.
“It says “Fortune favors the brave”.” I grin at the truth of the words.
We’re on an island of Odin’s chosen, the chosen being some of the most glorious warriors the world had ever seen.
In the middle of the grounds a shadow moves swiftly, striking thunderous blows against an even larger shadow. Moonlight and the pinkish glow from the aurora borealis trickles through the heavy leaves of surrounding oaks trees, illuminates oxblood hair and a very long spear.
“Ofnadwy!” Boudicca curses at the man. Or what I assume to be a man.
“What did she say?” I whisper to Lachlan.
He shrugs. “I ha’ no idea. I dinna speak Welsh.”
The shadow in front of Boudicca separates and I realize it wasn’t one man at all, but two. I have no idea how she can even see what she’s doing when I can’t even tell how many opponents she’s facing. All at once she strikes out at the shadow in front of her again and sparks fly when her spear collides with their shield.
Our boots crunch against the dirt of the training ground and their fighting halts. Boudicca spits on the ground.
She yells from across the grounds, “Is there a reason for such an intrusion?”
“Aye—your queen requires an audience,” Lachlan replies a bit gruffly.
I scoff at him. “She didn’t know it was us. You get irritated when your training is interrupted.”
“Queen? Lena, is that you?” she calls back in a much more pleasant tone.
“Hi Boudicca! We apologize for the intrusion, but I require a minute of your time.”
As we get closer, I realize it was not two, but three opponents she was facing. A woman and two men. Boudicca juts her chin to the archway, signaling for them to disperse. They move silently like smoke from a flame. Their steps not making a sound as they cross the grounds and disappear under the archway. Standing in the middle of the grounds, the light seems brighter, the pink of the aurora brighter than the green somehow.
“What can I help you with?” she asks, leaning against her spear.
“Can you tell us anything you know about the Wayfinder or the raven stone cave in the mountains?”
Boudicca snorts. “Well, the Wayfinder is erchyll,” she looks up into our confused faces and clarifies, “dreadful. And the cave is rarely used anymore. Why do you want to know about it?”
Lachlan shifts on his feet and I step a bit closer to her.
“Magic is being hindered by crystals like the Wayfinder.”
Boudicca grimaces, her teeth flashing in the pink light. “Are you certain?”
“Aye, we managed to restore a bit of magic on the capital island when we realized the crystal throne was full of asphidra venom,” Lachlan explains.
“Asphidra venom? Like that creature that was parading about as Odessa?”
“Yes. It’s venom paralyzes magic—among other things,” I add. Thoughts of mating bonds spring to mind as I glance over at Lachlan.
“So the Wayfinder is blocking our magic and you want to what? Put it in the cave?”
“Raven stone nullifies asphidra venom. Which is why we were thinking about putting it in the cave until we can come up with a better way to get the venom out of the crystal.” Mystomach sinks. “We kind of had an accident, and I’d like to not have anyone else get injured.”
“No one uses the caves since the gods have left us,” she grumbles. “So no one would stumble upon it if you did put it in there. What kind of accident?” Her eyes scan over me swiftly before she does the same to Lach.
I shake my head. The fur of the cloak grazes my neck. “Not us. Tane lost his hand.” It’s difficult to even say the words.
Boudicca squints before chuckling. “Like Tyr?”
My head tilts to the side before the story surfaces.
