Chapter 21 | Ravinica

Chapter 21

Ravinica

I WAS GROWING WORRIED about too many things. It was starting to make me feel crazy. I knew our time beneath the academy was coming to an end as the blizzards abated, and soon we’d be aboveground in the fresh air.

Still, it felt like the walls were closing in around me.

My first week back in class, I ghosted through sessions without a brain in my head. I didn’t retain anything from my advanced classes—no battle tactics, no advanced runeshaping, no shipbuilding or alchemical concoctions—and my Hersirs were starting to notice.

I wasn’t the same diehard student I had been in my initiate year. Something had to break out and give .

These depressive episodes were par for the course with me, given my rollercoaster existence. Dagny and Randi had seen it before. They did their best to stay by my side and assure me things were going to turn out okay, but I simply didn’t believe them.

I needed everything to turn out okay, which was pretty much a statistical impossibility. Losing control pained me. My thoughts were commanded by my mates, and if even one of them ended up harmed, exiled, or dead, I’d never recover.

I had become too dependent on my men, and didn’t know how to extricate myself from that feeling of helplessness around their situations. I don’t want to extricate myself from them. They’re the people I care about most here!

They were spending less time with me than I was used to. Part of that was my own demands that they stop focusing and worrying about me so much. Now that they had . . . well, shit, I wanted them back.

When my cadet year started, my mates immersed themselves in the game of Vikingrune Academy. The rivalries, politics, and mercilessness of it all.

Grim had his rivalry with Hersir Ingvus Jorthyr, who hated him and thought he belonged in a cage.

Sven had his family betrayal and deficiencies to worry himself with, which had been a welcome time away for me from his overbearing tendencies. I had a feeling his violent rampage was “Ravinica-adjacent,” and that he’d taken out his anger over Damon on his own family, or at least the Lanfens.

Arne had mentioned wanting to uproot the Lepers Who Leapt because of his sister’s betrayal that got Corym, me, and him caught by Huscarls. He had a vengeance streak of his own, but was much quieter and sneakier in accomplishing his goals than loud-ass Sven. Still, his situation was also related to me.

Magnus I worried the most for, because he had been gone two weeks now. He’d said his overland scouting mission was scheduled for a week. Gods only knew where he could be, but he controlled my thoughts and worries more than anyone else at the moment. Once he returned, he’d certainly get an earful from me.

Corym E’tar was locked away—again suffering from the consequences of helping me. It was difficult feeling this responsible for everyone’s woes.

At least Arne told me Corym was doing “okay.” I had to hope the iceshaper wasn’t just trying to make me feel better and fret less. I felt awful knowing the Ljosalfar warrior had been trapped in Midgard with people who hated him.

But there was nothing I could do about it, because Corym was incessant about helping me, whatever the personal cost to himself.

Only Grim had stayed by my side consistently since I’d ended up in Eir Wing Under. Randi, of course, was there for emotional support, and as someone I could yap with when no one else was around. Dagny was also there.

Yet it was Grim who was there for emotional and physical support, providing me with a bodyguard no one in their right mind would want to fuck with. Everyone who was anyone here knew I controlled the cards when it came to the bear shifter. I could essentially draw out his berserk rage on command, and that was a terrifying prospect for everyone.

I wished I didn’t need a bodyguard and escort. I had to toss aside my pride and allow Grim to fawn and watch over me, because we’d all seen what happened when I was left to my own devices.

Bad things.

Despite Grim being like a leashed protector, he wasn’t here now, in my dwelling room, and that allowed my mind to wander and my worries to come barging in.

When I got like this, I was almost incapable of lifting myself out of the moor. I needed outside assistance, and I had none right now.

Left alone to my thoughts, I picked at my nails nervously and bit my lip until it bled. I had class in an hour, Advanced Runeshaping & Wards with Hersir Gudleif Selken. I welcomed the distraction of class, to take my mind off things I ruminated over and could do nothing about.

As I prepared for it, I snuck down to a secluded part of the winding river—knowing Grim would chastise me if he learned I’d gone alone—and washed off the stink of self-pity swallowing me whole.

Feeling refreshed, I slipped into my clothes, scouted the banks to make sure no enemies were lying in wait, and grabbed my spear and backpack to head to a nearby cafeteria for a quick bite before class.

I didn’t make it to the cafeteria before I was stopped by a booming voice.

“Gods be good, there she is.”

My head whipped over to the annoyed tone, murmured loud enough that it echoed off the walls of the tunnels I walked through.

My brow furrowed as I laid eyes on Hersir Kelvar.

“You’re a hard one to pin down, Linmyrr. Don’t you have class on the opposite side of campus in less than an hour?”

“How do you know what classes I have, sir?”

“I’m the Whisperer, girl. It’s my job.” His words faded into the background as three forms rounded the corner behind him.

My mouth fell open. Grim, Sven, and Arne stationed themselves behind the shorter, older man.

“G-Guys?” I croaked. Inside, a knot of dread curled in my stomach as I stared out at their faces, seeing the dour looks on them all.

Especially Arne, whose face was blanched and nervous.

“What’s going on?” I eked out.

Kelvar crossed his arms. His cloak fell over his shoulders and blanketed the rest of his body, making him look like a brooding raven. He eyed two students passing behind me, headed toward the cafeteria. He said, “Let us talk somewhere more private, cadet.”

My nerves were frayed. I gulped and followed him and my quiet mates away from the hall, toward an empty classroom cavern nearby.

Once inside, Kelvar swept his arm out, bidding us to sit. “I have been commissioned for an expedition,” he told me. “And I have been tasked with raising a team to join me.”

“Join you where, sir?”

He waved his hand toward the ceiling. “Up there.”

“ Outside ?” I hissed. The snowfall hadn’t abated that much in recent days. I could still hear it piling on. The occasional groaning of the porous limestone and granite caves was proof of how bad the weather was up there.

Kelvar took my doubt in stride, nodding succinctly. He stayed quiet. My heart began to beat in my ears. A sick feeling washed over me as I put together what he was saying, without him needing to say more. There’s only one reason we’d be going aboveground at a time like this, in the middle of the term. An emergency.

“Magnus,” I breathed. My eyes burned.

“Astute, cadet,” Kelvar said indifferently.

How he could show such coldness was . . . well, it was like Magnus himself, really. But in a situation like this? I’d known Magnus was spending some more time with the Whisperer recently, staying mum mum about the goings-on with the Hersir.

“What’s happened to him?” I asked, chewing my lip some more. “Tell me Magnus is all right, Whisperer.”

“I can’t do that. Because I don’t know what’s happened to him.” Kelvar’s eyes flashed over my shoulders, behind me, and I took a mental note. “Hence why I’m building a team to go looking for him.”

I glanced back. He had darted a look at Arne, and now my iceshaper was being unreasonably evasive when I looked at him as well. “Arne,” I growled. “What isn’t the Hersir telling me?”

Kelvar might have had the sheer authority here of being a Hersir, but Arne had become my good boy and I knew he wouldn’t hide a secret from me. Not after everything we’d been through.

Sure enough, he resisted for all of eight seconds before letting out a ragged breath. His voice was choked with emotion. “Vini . . .”

“Tell me!” I screamed abruptly, shooting up to my feet and startling everyone in the room except the Whisperer.

“A Huscarl from Magnus’ contingent returned from the expedition. Wounded badly. He said—”

“That’s enough, iceshaper,” Kelvar warned.

Arne ignored him, swallowing hard. Tears welled in his eyes. “He said everyone else on the team had been killed.”

My world shattered. Numbness enveloped me completely, a daze so strong I couldn’t even understand the voices that rose around me.

I heard vague shouting from Sven: “You never told us that part, Whisperer!” Or maybe it was from Grim, growling, “What?!” All of it became a tumble of meaningless words and drivel as agony reared its ugly head deep in my soul.

“No . . .” I rasped. My eyes met Kelvar’s, blinking away tears, trying to be a fighter. “Tell me it’s a lie, Hersir!”

“Everyone calm their fucking emotions, before I weasel into your heads and force you to!” Kelvar roared, pumping his hands.

The room fell quiet, giving him the floor.

He threaded his fingers together as he adopted that aloof expression. “We don’t know the details. I won’t listen to rumors and hearsay, which is why I demanded to go on the mission and build this team.”

“Demanded to who ?” Sven asked.

“Gothi Sigmund.”

The wolf’s head shot back. He pointed at Arne. “You were in the same room as those two? How?”

Arne made a face, staring down at the ground. “I, er, was trying to find a way to get on the surface so I could locate Magnus. I was using my sister and the Lepers to that end, because I also plan to . . . well, that’s not important now.”

“You’re correct, it is not important now,” Kelvar cut in. “Neither is your rivalry with your family pack, Torfen. This is the only objective that matters now.”

“Why?” I asked, blinking at him. When all eyes looked inquisitively at me, I expanded. “Why does it matter to you , Whisperer? What is Magnus to you, if not an unwitting pawn for you and the academy’s schemes?”

Kelvar rolled his eyes. Shaking his head with a black glove to his face, like he couldn’t believe he was dealing with imbeciles, he said, “Because if the Huscarl scouting group was compromised or slain near the elven portal, that is a dangerous situation for the entire Isle. Because it means the Ljosalfar must have returned, with blood on their minds.” He snarled the last bit, then drilled his empty gaze into my soul. “ That is why this mission is paramount, Ravinica.”

“Why us?” I was still not up to speed on the Whisperer’s motives. Everything he said made sense, but he was dancing around my question while also making a good point.

His skeletal face softened for a moment. He glanced away. When his eyes returned, they held the same hardness as before, yet there was something deeper there I couldn’t explain.

“Because, cadet, whether I like it or not, you four knew—you know Magnus Feldraug better than anyone else. If anyone is going to help me find him and the others, it will be you.”

His words were heartfelt, if such a thing could be said about Kelvar the Whisperer.

I believed him.

And then he ruined it all by adding, “Plus, if you can’t help, then I can mindshape through your memories to provide us assistance. You might know things pertinent to the situation without even knowing you know them.”

Sven scoffed. Grim shook his head in disbelief. Only Arne still looked shaken.

“You’re openly telling us you’ll invade our minds?” I asked.

“I am,” Kelvar said with a challenging gaze. He put his hands on his hips. “Maybe you should learn how to stop me.”

I was forced to look away, feeling humiliated and more worried than ever. I tried not to think of Magnus and the horrible thing this surviving Huscarl had said. I didn’t want to know the details, but I had to know what happened.

Please, gods, answer my call and make him all right.

Kelvar said, “Don’t worry, I am tossing you a bone to make up for the invasion of privacy. You’ll be grateful for this next part.”

“Huh?” I sputtered, still lost in a haze.

“I was given a team of five to bring along, and you are four. We are going to a site ensconced in elven magic and enchantments.” Kelvar’s silvery eyes glinted in the darkness. “I’ll give you one guess who that means I want to bring along as the fifth member of our merry little band . . .”