Page 7 of Heart of the Mountain King

Rask looked up from his spinning, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the brighter light beyond the shade of the pine he'd been leaning against as he worked.

"Hello?" Sten tried again, this time just outside the mouth of Rask's cave as the foolish human called into the darkness within. "Are you in there?"

"Man's son returns?" Rask asked incredulously, dropping his spindle into the basket filled with roving and standing to greet his unexpected caller.

Sten spun around, clearly startled as Rask drew near.

"Well, yes," Sten replied. "I'd said I would, didn't I? And, it's Sten — remember?"

"Humans say lots of things," Rask told him absently. "Not always do."

The little human had recovered his rucksack at some point since their last encounter, though he'd ripped the knee of his pant leg in return. Otherwise he looked no worse for wear, despite last night's storm. But it was his hands that commanded Rask's attention, intrigued by what Sten could be holding so carefully within them.

"Rask glad Sten here," Rask decided, uncomfortably aware of a weight on his chest.

The corner of Sten's mouth tipped up into a quiet smile. "You are?"

"Yes," Rask nodded. He reached for the little leather bag he wore on a thong around his neck, lifting it off his chest to fish out a carved wooden button. "Bad thing to leave outside of fae’s home. Cause big trouble. Now Rask not have to hike down mountain to return it."

Rask held the button out, unsure why Sten's face fell at the sight of the trinket.

"Oh, uh…thanks. I-I must've dropped it yesterday," Sten mumbled as he shifted his hold to one hand, taking the button with the other. "I brought the stuff you asked for."

"What?" Rask looked down at the little human's hands sharply just as Sten opened them, revealing a crumpled plant and a tiny speckled egg.

"The baby's breath was easy," Sten said as Rask plucked the thin green stem bearing the delicate pale blossoms from his palm. "I saw so many patches of this stuff growing all over the hillsides on my way here. The cardinal's gold kept me up all night trying to figure that one out. Got halfway to my village actually, before realizing there had to be an easier answer than getting myself killed turning highwayman on some unsuspecting priest. That's what you said fae like you do, right? Twist words around, play with meanings. Like a puzzle, or… maybe a dance?"

Rask grunted as Sten handed him the egg, impressed despite his misgivings. He was bergsrå; the Song had provided the riddle, and even Rask himself hadn't known the answer it would supply.

He held it up to his ear, listening carefully for that faintest of notes…

Nothing. The parents would have disposed of the unfertilized egg soon enough, making the golden yolk inside an easy prize for the Song’s purposes.

"And the third thing?" Rask asked.

For there was always a third thing, even in his thus-far limited experience. Nor could he deny his curiosity to see what Sten's answer to a 'fire that not burn out' might be…

"Oh," Sten flashed Rask a smile as he started digging in his rucksack. "That one I got right away."

He pulled a thick glass bottle from the depths of his bag, brown as a riverbed's clay, before freezing as an odd expression twisted up his face.

"Do, uh… do bergsrår drink?" Sten asked.

Rask just grinned at him, plucking the jug from the little human's hands and pulling free the stopper to take a slug.

‘Fire that not burn out’, indeed.

"Guess that answers that," Sten laughed as Rask took another swig, before holding the bottle out for the human to take back.

It was good stuff. Rask had enjoyed the brännvin’s scorching warmth as it seared its way down his throat. Almost as much as he enjoyed the way Sten’s throat bobbed when he too took a hearty sip.

Soon enough they found themselves both enjoying the shade of the pine tree, its knobbly bark sturdy where it pressed into Rask's back as he leaned against it. He handed the significantly-lighter bottle once more to the bold little human where Sten sprawled across the bed of pine needles near the bergsrå's side.

"So… I passed, right? This means you'll help us now?" Sten asked, slurring only slightly as he turned the bottle upside down over his tongue. He stared mournfully up at the slender droplet of brännvin stubbornly clinging to its empty mouth, before that gaze slid expectantly to Rask.

Rask looked away quickly, telling himself the burn in his chest was just the drink.

"Yes," Rask answered the human unhappily. "If that really Sten's wish."