Chapter 34

Noora

It felt like the roots were snapping at her, snagging around her easily breakable ankles. With every hurried step she took, it felt like the forest was trying to slow her down in her sprint through it. She could hear the trampled steps of Soren approximately five metres away from her, stumbling and falling to his knees with almost every step he took.

Birds were taking flight when they heard the branches snap under his shoes, as loud as trumpets announcing great devastation.

Noora tried to make out Kekoa and Pika but their skilled witch-hunter steps made it impossible for her to figure out their location.

Since they dropped off every contestant at a different spot on the borderline of the forest, with the same distance toward the lake, they did not cross each other’s paths. But not only did she need to be careful of the overgrown roots, protruding from the dry lands of the forest. The squirrels and owls watching her curiously from their cosy places on branches and the crowns of pine trees, told her she also had to be aware of the other contestants.

It was forbidden for them to maim or kill each other but she did not trust them one bit, if Kekoa ever got the chance of slicing Noora to pieces she knew he would take it.

She dared to suspect that maiming her would be more fun than winning this tournament. For what use was it, when he could bathe in the triumph of his ego that came with destroying her?

Ducking under a low branch she kept her eyes trained before her, focusing on the slither of light peeking through the rather sparse trees, littering the forest grounds.

It would take her approximately two more minutes until Noora would break through the border and end up at the south side of Opal Lake.

She had no time to consider the possibility of how she was even able to hold her breath long enough to reach the underwater cave. Nor did she have the time to think of the legend and what kind of malevolent creature would await her inside the mountain range.

A branch cracked to her left and she turned alarmed but it was only a scrambling badger, probably searching for food.

Noora relaxed just when something hit her with the force of a hundred carriages. A surprised breath left her lips as she could do nothing but fly through the air, her vision blurred before her back collided with the hard forest ground.

“Oof,” she groaned as she felt her barely healed ribs crack again like the branches crushed to death underneath her. Her ears rang, her vision still blurred as a man-shaped thing moved into her periphery.

“You did not think you could escape me, did you?” A voice droned toward her from the depths of her confusion and her eyes finally focused as she felt the cold metal of a knife against her throat.

Kekoa had tackled her to the ground, his strong legs caging her lower body, her hands shackled between his legs and her hips. A satisfied grin sat on his lips as he stared down at her, drops of exertion trailing down his temples.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Noora spewed as she stared angrily into his face. Gods, she had seen this coming and she still was not prepared. She tried to inch up her left leg, to grab the knife stashed at her calf but Kekoa blocked her attempt.

“Nuh-uh, your leg stays where it is, half-breed. Do you know how long I have waited for this?”

“No, but I am sure you will enlighten me in a moment,“ she told him nonchalantly, despite her ribs spewing fire inside her body like no other.

Kekoa’s face grew into an angry grimace. “Even now when you’re bested you have a lot to say. Why don’t we stuff it so you’ll finally stop talking.” He increased the pressure of his blade but did not follow up on his words. It seemed like her mere presence was putting him into a rage. Good. That made him sloppy.

“I know exactly why you’re in this tournament, the whole ruse of tolerance and equality is nothing but a joke. Just like the king is. If he would know what disgusting creatures you and your pack are he would not hesitate but flock you on display.”

“How creative.”

Kekoa started to trail the knife up her jaw, across her cheek, ignoring her words. He looked like he was in a complete trance. “Gifting a creature like you a face like this is one of the worst sins. Maybe we should cut you up all nice so the king will see that even Djevel was beautiful once, he was Odin’s favorite after all. I must reveal your true nature.”

And then he began to cut.

A blood-curdling scream left Noora’s lips as burning fire erupted along her cheekbone, his knife cutting deep enough to leave a mark.

“You call me Djevel but it is you who is the real demon, Kekoa, condemning a whole species for crimes they never conducted,“ she yelled at him, trashing beneath his body but it was impossible to move.

“Who are you calling a demon, you slut!” He plunged the knife into her arm and Noora’s vision went black as he dragged a zigzagged line across her bicep.

“Only atonement can save you. We need to fight it at the source. I want to see your awfully weak heart now, witch.” Kekoa’s eyes glinted so crazily that Noora feared he was turning into the real Djevel. His eyes protruded unnaturally from his skull, so deep and dark it felt like they were cursing her. Blood trickled from the deep wound in her arm, and she could hear the drops collide with the ground beneath her. It was the sound that stirred her, like raindrops diving into a lake.

She could feel the earth come alive with her blood and her eyes lazily drew upward to look at the man above her, raising his knife again to carve out her cold heart.

“You can’t have my heart,“ she mumbled weakly, drawing his attention to her face.

“You will see that I can.”

She shook her head. “You will see since I have no heart.”

Bucking her hips, while drawing both her knees upward, despite the pain exploding in her upper body, she managed to tip the Sosye forward, throwing him off balance. Kekoa let out a grunt as he slid to her upper body and with her last strength she lifted her arms and pushed him off her.

Rolling onto their side she looked up at him as he gathered himself. She saw two versions of him swimming in front of her eyes, lunging at her.

“Shackle him, now!” she yelled. A low rumbling erupted around them, creaking like old wood. Long tentacles shot out of the ground, branches, and roots rising and winding around Kekoa’s body until he was imprisoned in a small cage.

“You cunt! Let me go now!” Kekoa started to thrash around, trying to cut at the roots with his knife but they were indestructible.

Slowly getting up to her feet, Noora tore a long strip from her shirt and wound it around her bleeding arm. She tied a knot securing it with one hand and her teeth, groaning as she cut off the blood flow. Because of him, she would have to wait until the end of the task to get it stitched. Her cheek still burned but it had stopped bleeding. Nonetheless, it would leave an ugly scar. Maybe one day she could rank all the scars on her body, she did have enough of them to fill a whole paper of parchment.

She stumbled over to him, watching him struggle in vain.

“I ORDER YOU TO UNDO THIS MAGIC!” he roared in agony until she stopped in front of his makeshift cage.

“You want it tighter?” she asked and the branches moved in command, tightening around his body until he could not move.

“The moment I get out of this I will skin you alive, whore, I will cut open your body and stuff your stupid mouth with your intestines until they come tumbling out your stomach again!”

She raised her brows. “You have a very vivid fantasy. I do like the picture you paint, however it would be an awful lot to clean up. I like my things…clean and tidy.”

She focused and then a lone branch wound around the hunter’s neck. He immediately started to cough, groveling for oxygen. She slowly watched his face turn red, to blue, and finally to purple. Deep satisfaction tore through her at the sight of his veins, bulging across his neck, his pleading with her to stop, tears running down his cheeks.

“Please, please,“ he begged silently, his body starting to tremble. He was merely seconds from suffocating and he deserved it.

He was a cold-blooded killer, someone crazy enough to enjoy torturing other beings, no matter if human or animal. She remembered the way he tore through the flesh of that wolf, without hesitation and full of satisfaction. He would not hesitate—he did not hesitate to hurt her when he got her into his hands. But Noora was not like him.

She bent forward so his fluttering eyes could see her properly.

“You are lucky that you ran across me, witch hunter since you deserve death more than anyone I know. But you will not agitate me into killing you, you deserve to suffer through life more, waiting every damning day until your final court in front of the gods. They decide your fate and you better pray because right now it does not look good for you.”

With that, the roots eased off his air pipes, though still encircled his body. Noora looked at his relieved face as the colour slowly dragged down his face into his neck.

Without another word, she walked past him.

“Hey! You can’t just leave me here, untie me!”

She did not answer him as she traversed through the rest of the forest until she reached the border and stepped into the dreary light of the day.

She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the difference in brightness, the white snow painting a beautiful picture in front of her. The lake was lying right ahead, its surface frozen, imitating sparkling crystals. The few sun rays that broke through the thicket of clouds made the ice glitter in lilac, blues, and greens like opals.

She could not see Soren, nor Pika anywhere in sight, making her wonder how long she was inside the forest due to that bastard’s attack.

The snow crunched under her boots as she hurried over to the lake. On closer inspection she noticed a small wooden box right at the border of the lake and beside it…a bow!

She let herself fall to her knees in front of the box, her greedy fingers grasping the silver metal bow and the fitting quiver filled with a dozen arrows.

Her nails were caked with dirt so deep she feared she would not get rid of it in a few years.

Her heart leaped at the familiar weight and she threw both quickly across her shoulder before opening the wooden lid, revealing a pair of glinting white ice skates.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the pair and switched them for her warm boots, the latter she tied the laces together before securing them to her belt. It would be significantly harder to skate with the weight of the boots impacting her balance but she would manage. With a glance behind her, she made sure that Kekoa was not secretly on her toes. Noora did not know how long the roots would feel satisfied with the drops of her blood but she knew it would not be too long.

Without hesitation, she stepped onto the frozen water, taking a moment to rebalance her weight before she took off.

The few strands that escaped her braid flew in the freezing wind, slapping against her face without mercy as she skated over the lake, her eyes scanning the area. Either Soren and Pika were still stuck in the forest or they were already inside the mountains. She would not be surprised if Soren was still wandering clumsily in the forest, though she wondered why she had not come across Pika all this time.

Shaking her head to refocus her thoughts, Noora moved her arms from side to side, ducking her upper body to gain more speed, the wind like a resistant wall that made it its goal to not let her through. Her lungs were burning with every breath they expanded with, the cold air stinging her eyes. Tears ran over her face but she stayed focused until she could make it out.

There in the distance, she could see a small pole, driven into the ice of the lake, a blue topaz-coloured flag flickering in the wind, the motif of the crown woven onto the fabric. It marked the small hole she had to take to get into the underwater entrance of the caves that resided in the mountains. Considering her speed, she would take a few minutes still until she reached the hole.

Her feet started to wobble and she almost lost her balance with her next step. When looking down, a surprised breath left her lips at the sudden change in balance. Her eyes zeroed in on her left skate and then it happened again. Her foot slipped on the ice without any apparent reason, though she kept pushing forward, which was rather stupid on her part.

With her next step, the blade of her left skate came loose at the top. “You’ve got to be kidding me-“ she cursed, lifting her left leg and shifting her weight onto her right. Her speed sufficiently lessened with the change of balance and strength of her left leg. Why in Hel was her skate coming apart?

The Flagpole was advancing closer and closer, with only a few pushes left until she would reach her destination but apparently, her skates had other plans. Her right leg started to wobble and she could feel the blade coming loose. An angry scream left her lips as she rebalanced herself on both feet and pushed with all her might.

She heard the ice cracking beneath her with her next glide, her body barreling forward and the blades coming completely loose. Her body soared through the air and she desperately tried to flail her arms and slow herself down but it was no use. She soared past the pole, her knees colliding with the edge of the carved hole. She could feel her left knee bone shattering into pieces at the impact, her scream got swallowed up by the water as she fell right into the lake.

For a moment darkness surrounded her panicked state, her lungs screamed at her to take a breath and she tried to kick her feet to get back to the surface. Pain exploded in her left knee as she kicked until she resurfaced from the lake. A strangled inhale left her lips as she started to shiver, the water colder than Hel. Steam was rising from around her as her hands drove into the edge of the ice. She needed to get out of the lake so she could take off her shoes and rebind her broken knee, without her leg she was nothing.

Her nails drove into the cold ice, her skin burning with the impact, ice shoveling as she tried to pull herself out.

Her nails slipped on the ice and she barreled back into the water.

“Godsdamnit!” she cursed, hitting the water frustratedly. Her shivers were getting worse and if she did not get out or swim to the underwater cave anytime soon—which was impossible with her knee—she would freeze to death. Taking a few short breaths, she prepared herself to try again when something snaked around her leg and pulled.

Her hands still tried to grasp for the edge of the ice but whatever was pulling her down was too strong for her to even try. Taking in a last desperate breath she was pulled under, her hands drawing an arrow and shooting blindly. Whatever creature lived under the water let out a horrific scream as the arrow grazed its strangely shaped arm. Noora started to kick her legs to swim back, another arrow drawn as the creature regained its composure and lunged for her. It was strange, its upper body shaped like a woman’s, green scales littering her skin like mold, and her hair looked stringy as if it was made out of seaweed coloured in black ink. Its fingers—claws lunged at her and Noora shot another arrow, though this time the creature was smart enough to swim out of its way, that was when Noora noticed the scaled tail as the lower body.

A surprised breath left her lips, bubbles floating from them as she noticed the iron shackle wrapped around its tail, chaining it to the ground. A wail left the creature’s lips, revealing a row of sharp teeth, her gills flaring at the sides of her neck as she tried to lunge for Noora, though she was out of her range. That was when she looked at the strange half-woman half-fish again. Another wail left her lips, echoing around the lake and Noora realised she was calling for help. Although she would not receive it. Noora knew what the creature was. They usually did not reside in small lakes, especially not chained to the ground. She had been caught and used for this inhumane tournament to pose as a threat.

Noora’s lungs started to burn; she would not be able to stay that long under. Without looking at the creature again she turned to search for the entrance into the mountains. Until the toe-curling wail reached her again. Noora kept on pushing with her right leg, her eyes blinking desperately against the darkness. How would she be able to find this entrance?

She stopped her desperate kicks and turned around. The Margygr did not move—chained to the ground as it was— but it stopped its wailing, its eyes blinking curiously after Noora’s form.

She knew she was going to regret this.

Drawing a new arrow she slowly kicked back to the creature, who started to bare her teeth again when the witch approached. Stop being dramatic, if you bite me I’ll shoot you again.

Noora thought and suddenly the Margygr stopped hissing, looking at her in surprise. Her big reptilian eyes blinked, her gills flaring with her next breath as Noora realised that she just projected her thoughts. Or maybe it was the lack of oxygen reaching her brain. She slowly withdrew her arrow and kicked down to the ground, her vision starting to swim in front of her. Withdrawing the knife from her, Noora started to hit the chain around the creature’s scaled tail, swishing the sand off the ground into her eyes as she desperately tried to escape the chains.

Noora hit the iron again but with her lack of strength and the water resistance, she was not able to break it. She looked up at the creature who slowly bent its body down so her face was right in front of Noora’s. She quickly withdrew in panic but the creature just grabbed for the seaweed surrounding her, tugging at it as if it would help her. Its eyes blinked again at Noora who slowly realised what she was trying to tell her.

This time she drew the knife to her wrist and sliced her skin open. The pain was minimal, compared to her leg and the blood spilled lazily in the water. It swished around them like spilled ink. She needed air, she needed to get out, not knowing what more creatures would have been drawn out by her blood.

Gaining her last strength, Noora concentrated on the blood leaving her body and imagined the seaweed rising slowly and wrapping around the iron ring. Her eyes opened lazily and in front of her, she slowly saw the seaweed wrap around the shackle, drawing tighter until a crack appeared in the middle. Bubbles escaped Noora’s lips as she pushed harder, the seaweed drew closer, and the iron broke.

The Margygr swam free and Noora blinked slowly, the last breath of air leaving her lungs as she saw the monster lunge at her with speed. She tried to go for her bow but it was too late. Darkness surrounded her.