Chapter 2

Mia

I always hate leaving Cragnorr behind. I imagine that he’s lonely in his cave, but he seems content to live out his days isolated there, as much as I wish for more for him. What if there’s an ogress out in the world just waiting for her partner to come along?

This sends a surprising surge of jealousy through me as I lie in bed that night. But no, I shouldn’t feel that way. I should want Cragnorr’s happiness, so I ponder what else I could do to bring some joy and excitement to his life. Maybe I should get him a pet. A cat would do well up there, I think, chasing down the shrews and voles that live on the mountain. I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for a new litter of kittens.

I spend the next morning helping my mother put the finishing touches on her latest rug. It will sell for a lot if she can find the right buyer for it. In the afternoon we set about to packing up her stall, because tomorrow we’ll head for the market in the larger town of Sackett to sell her current inventory. It’ll take two days to get there, then a day to sell, with another two days to get back home.

I’ll have to warn Cragnorr tonight that I’m going away so he doesn’t worry about me. I hate leaving him for so long, but I can’t reasonably refuse my mother, either.

But by that evening, I’m exhausted, far more than I should be after an average day. I know I need to climb the mountain to see Cragnorr, that he’s been alone in his cave, but my body feels far too heavy. Soon, just standing upright makes my head spin, and I have to lie down to keep from falling over.

He won’t worry if I don’t come today. I’ll see him tomorrow, when I feel better—first thing in the morning, before Mom and I leave for market.

As I lie in bed, I shiver even though I’m anything but cold. Sweat beads on my forehead as if I’ve been running all day. That night, my dreams are strange and fearsome, filled with faceless eyes and mouths, all of them sneering and laughing.

In the dream, I’m terrified, so I call out Cragnorr’s name. If anyone can help me, it’s him. If anyone can protect me from the eyes, it would be my ogre.

But I’m all alone, and no one is coming to help me as I thrash and sweat beneath the blankets.

Cragnorr

It is not uncommon for a day to pass without a visit from Mia. The sting of missing her is still there, but I’ve grown accustomed to it. She has a life in the village, and I know that I’m an additional burden on her heart and her conscience.

Still, I watch over the cliffside all evening, waiting to see if perhaps she’s running late. But there’s no sign of her. She must have had a busy day.

The following morning, I do my chores, hiking to the waterfall that pours fresh water into a pool. I refill my water skins and carry them back to the cave. I’ve been scraping some leather, too, though I’m not sure what I intend to make with it. Perhaps a nice bag for Mia when she climbs the mountain, since she always likes to bring me things.

As afternoon passes, I resume work on a smaller chair I’ve been building so she has a more comfortable place to sit when she visits, and her feet will be able to touch the floor. By the time the sun is getting low in the sky, though, my worry creeps back. It’s rare that she goes more than a whole two days without stopping by to pay a visit. Even if she’s going out of town with her mother, she always lets me know.

I rub my tusks, trying to stave off my anxiety. Perhaps I am not as important to her as I once was. I can’t deny that Mia has grown into an adult right in front of me. She’s of marrying age as far as humans are concerned, because her father has mentioned it to her in passing that perhaps she should find a nice village man to settle down with. What if there’s someone she likes very well and she doesn’t want to tell me the truth? I’ve always known the day would come eventually that she would become a grown woman with grown woman’s needs. There’s no reason she won’t have a family of her own. Perhaps that day has finally come.

As I curl up in my pile of furs that night, I feel cold despite the relatively warm weather. She wouldn’t simply stop visiting me without at least explaining herself first, would she? There must be a good reason she hasn’t come. I won’t worry myself, not yet, about what’s keeping her away.

But it’s impossible not to wonder, and hope that she’s all right.

Mia

The next morning, my head is swimming and my body is a terrible combination of too hot and too cold. My mother has determined I’m running a fever, and while she tries all sorts of remedies to bring it back down, I continue to sweat and shake and moan in bed.

What will Cragnorr think? I didn’t visit him last night, and there’s surely no way I can go to visit him today with how terrible I feel. I wish I could send Mom or Dad to let him know I’m all right, but that’s impossible.

As the aching in my body grows worse and the fever drags me further down into the earth, I wonder if I’ll ever even see him again.

I fall asleep when it’s light out and wake when it’s dark. My mother tries to feed me something, a piece of bread, but my stomach instantly revolts. The bread comes back up and I’m drained again until I fall asleep. Though everything is a blur, I can make out when a healer is brought to the house and I’m forced to drink foul-smelling liquids that are much too thick.

I have no concept of how much time has passed when, finally, the fog in my head has cleared enough that I can see what’s in front of me. My skin itches where sweat has dried, and my stomach is a hollow pit.

After locating a jug of water on the bedside table and chugging half of it, I finally sit up straight. My limbs still hurt and I sway a little, but now I can move. The house is quiet, and eventually I slide out of bed. It’s late afternoon now, almost evening, by the color of the light outside my window.

Oh, do I need to eat something. I need it right this moment or I might never be whole again. As I leave the room and support myself on the wall, I can make out the faint sound of many voices coming from outside .

I make my way to the front door and grab a coat to put over my nightgown before peering out.

In the main plaza, it looks like half the town has gathered, carrying lamps and torches as the sun sets. My mother is among them, talking to my father.

“Mia!” My mother rushes over when she sees me. “Oh, dear, why are you up and about? You should be in bed.”

She tries to lead me back inside, but I resist her. “What’s going on out here?”

A worried frown comes over her face. “Old Davon saw an ogre out in the woods. It was very close to the village, but he managed to scare it off with one of his dogs.” She narrows her eyes. “It’s still out there, maybe even close enough to attack.”

Oh, no. My throat closes. Cragnorr has come looking for me.

“Why is everyone gathered?” I ask cautiously, already formulating my plan. I need to find him before they do, and warn him to go back to his cave.

“A search party. Everyone is going to fan out in teams and look for the monster.”

I swallow hard. These are people prepared to kill, with guns in their belts and axes in their hands.

“Don’t do it,” I tell her, shaking her arms. “That ogre hasn’t done anything to anyone. They have to stop.”

The fever clearly still has the tips of its claws in me, because I feel frantic and hot.

“It hasn’t done anything yet ,” my mother says. “What’s gotten into you? You really should go back to bed.”

I shake my head furiously and push past her, out into the street. She calls my name, but I don’t stop. The assembled villagers are splitting off into groups, readying to go on the search. I’m about to call to my father, to ask him to leave the ogre alone, when I realize what a fruitless attempt that would be.

Our world has been ravaged by the trollkin. In the last war, neighboring towns were razed to the ground, so of course the village people hate anything that isn’t human. Trolls, orcs, ogres—they are all simply the enemy .

Instead of trying to convince my father to go home, I turn around and head the other way. I’m still unsteady on my feet, but I can jog fast enough that perhaps, I can find Cragnorr before they do. Mom calls after me, but I ignore her as I leave the main street and slip between two houses, heading toward the forest.

“Cragnorr?” I call out as I pass the last home and dive into the trees. “Cragnorr!”

I have to beat them. I can’t let my ogre get cut down like his parents were. I can’t find him on the ground, covered in his own blood.

The only place I can think to look is the old shed where Cragnorr lived when he was young. Brambles have grown up around it, but some have been torn away from the door. I pull on the handle as hard as I can, but the fever made me weak.

“Cragnorr,” I whisper, shaking the door. “It’s me. It’s me!”

The door opens so fast that the hinges squeal. In the doorway stands my mountain, with his big tusks framing his face, his bare chest heaving, his lower body only barely covered like it always is. His eyes are wild as he takes in the sight of me.

Then he kneels down, grabs me around the middle, and yanks me tight against him.