Lalli ran through the streets of Odense, trying to find a secure path for his team mates. He memorised turns, broken buildings, weird spirits, blocked roads. As he doubled back to avoid encounter with a beast he felt a presence by his side. He couldn't see anything and concluded that it probably wasn't Onni. He made a mental note to ask his cousing about it later anyway.

As the night went on the presence slowly got stronger. Lalli started worrying. What if it was something mean-spirited? What if it followed him back to the tank? Could he risk it? He decided to not turn back until he was certain the presence meant no harm.

When dawn started rolling in Lalli could almost, but not quite, make out what was following him. He could almost see the vague shape of four legs, could almost make out the long neck covered by golden locks, could almost feel the tail brushing his back. Almost, but not quite.

The presence felt warm. Warm and secure, and Lalli felt energized by it. It was probably safe to return to the camp, but he would make sure to report it, just in case. He continues down new roads that would take him back.

The crazy Norwegian lady waved at him when he got closer and Tuuri hurried back into the tank to get the map. Mikkel joined Sigrun's side, Lalli could see the decontamination kit in his hand and the weird foreign mage smiled at him where he sat on the stairs to the tank. Lalli frowned. One of his team mates was missing. Had he missed an attack?

Mikkel caught him, forced him through the decontamination, and he quickly marked the map Tuuri held out to him. Once done Lalli looked at his cousin, decided to ask the question that pressed his mind.

"Did something happen?"

Tuuri looked confused, then shook her head. Lalli almost decided to rephrase the question, in case he had been unclear, but decided not to and went inside after having looked at the so called food that the cookie supplier had made. Something moved in the bedroom and Lalli froze.

"Åh, redan tillbaka?"

Emil yawned and settled up in the bed before smiling at Lalli.

"Jag måste ha missat larmet. Jag är glad att du är tillbaka."

Lalli felt how the presence that had followed him slowly went away and he tilted his head, looked at the Swede.

"...Du förstår inte ett ord av vad jag säger, va?"

Lalli shook his head, pulled his grey sweater over his head and sank down under Tuuri's bed. Emil looked at him, then they heard Sigrun's voice through the door and Emil yawned again before hurrying out. Lalli looked at the door, then closed his eyes. They would want him out again in the night, he should try to get some rest.

xxxxxxxxxx

The presence arrived about an hour after he had left camp. He couldn't make it out, it was simply a vague, slightly illuminated shadow by his side. He felt energized when it started running by his side and as he had hardly been able to sleep during the day, his mind occupied with the present presence, the newfound energy was welcomed.

Several times he turned towards it, tried to figure out what it was, but was unable to. It wasn't an omen, omen were usually more visible. It wasn't one of the weird spirits following them, because they were far behind. The presence did nothing, only followed him.

Emil was the last one to greet him when he came back, not waking up until Lalli entered the room. Lalli frowned slightly when he saw the Swede yawning. Emil had always been quick to greet him before, had always seemed to worry about him running off on his own. Had it changed?

"Gick det bra? Hyvää... uh... Vänta, det är nog fel..."

Lalli had understood the word "bra". "Well, good", but he wasn't sure what the Swede meant. Lalli nodded slightly, felt the presence disappearing as the Swede got out of bed and watched as Emil got dressed and left the room. The presence reappeared, vaguer than during the night but still there, as Sigrun and Emil left the camp. Lalli looked towards it, not able to make it out. It still made him feel energized and he turned his back towards it, but was unable to fall asleep. With a sigh he kicked his cover off and got out off the room. The person with the stupid braid looked behind him as he came out.

"Stop looking so stupid, it's not dangerous."

"Hafðu ekki áhyggjur, það er líklegast ekki hættulegt."

Lalli rolled his eyes and poked Tuuri's shoulder. She took the headphones off and looked at him.

"Radio", Lalli said and pointed towards it. "I need to talk to Onni."

"Oh, I'm not sure they're there. No one's answering. They're probably getting food or something."

Lalli's eyes got narrower and he brushed her aside, took her chair and put the headphones over his ears. Tuuri looked at him, shook her head and left him alone as he listened to the beeping in the headphones, looked towards the presence. It just hung in the air, only visible as a slight disturbance in the air.

"Hvað er þetta eiginlega?"

Lalli ignored the foreign mage, waited patiently for anyone to answer on the other end. He ate a little when Mikkel placed a bowl of food infront of him, but otherwise he ignored the other four in the tank. The kitty tried to play with him, but he shoved her towards Reynir.

When the sun was creeping closer to the horizon he felt the presence disappear and just a few moments later he heard Emil and Sigrun talking. He put the headphones down and went out to greet them. Emil yawned and Lalli noticed he had bags under his eyes.

"You need to stop it."

Emil looked confused but seemed happy to see him. Lalli looked towards the sky, tried to find words Emil would understand.

"...Sluta."

Emil looked even more confused, yawned and patted Lalli's shoulder.

"Du behöver inte oroa dig, jag är okay."

Lalli frowned, but Emil smiled at him before the Dane pulled him away for decontamination.

xxxxxxxxxx

One and a half week had past since Lalli first felt the presence. Onni had told him Swedes were unable to use magic as far as he knew, but he had promised to try and find out more. As for what the presence could be he had no clue, but told Lalli to be careful around it.

Lalli didn't need to be careful. He knew it came from Emil and that it somehow transferred energy from the Swede to Lalli. He had noticed Emil getting more and more tired as time went on, sleeping in more and more often, falling asleep the moment he settled down. Lalli had asked him several times to stop sending it, but Emil had not understood his request.

For the moment Lalli had fallen asleep. Cuddled up under Emil's bed he dreamt about Finland, about Saimaa and Keuruu. Emil, Sigrun and Kisu was out again and Lalli knew the presence was standing next to him. It had gotten more visible during the last few days, but Lalli had stopped paying it any attention. Even the stupid foreign mage had accepted it, probably thinking it was Lalli's luonto since Lalli had heard the red-head and Onni talk about it a week ago. Lalli was certain the Icelander didn't really understood what a luonto was.

In his dreams he wandered along roads he knew by heart, along roads his memory had long since forgotten, listened to the sounds of the town, of the nature. He walked into the forests, not fearing beasts since it was only a dream.

A neigh cut through the silence; sharp, distressed. Lalli opened his eyes, found himself on his raft. A tiny, weird ugly moose was staring at him and when it saw Lalli's eyes open it let out another neigh, even sharper, and Lalli settled up, hit his head on Emil's bed. It stared at him; large round eyes, black as the night and deep as the ocean, but filled with fear and pain. Lalli's eyes swept over it, its fur was short and brown, its mane long and golden and its tummy chubby and... red.

Lalli rolled out of the bed, rushed out and grabbed the Icelander, pointing towards the pony limping after him. Reynir looked at it, his eyes widening and he said something in Ielandic that Lalli didn't understand, didn't need to understand, and he let the mage go again. Reynir had seen it. Lalli saw it. Time was running out, Lalli knew it. He had to find the Dane before it was too late. He jumped out of the tank, crashing into the large man's back. Lalli grabbed Mikkel's sleeve, yelled for Tuuri to tell Mikkel to get the medic bag and follow him. Mikkel didn't move and Lalli rushed back inside, grabbed the bag himself and made another attempt to get Mikkel to follow him. Mikkel still didn't move, his eyes looking at Tuuri, searching for an answer about what was going on. Tuuri looked at Lalli, her eyes filled with questions, and Lalli looked at the presence, its stomach redder now than before, its golden mane no longer shining.

"Emil", Lalli said. "He's..."

He couldn't finish the sentence, but Reynir did instead, not knowing what Lalli had said. Lalli couldn't understand the words that came through the Icelander's mouth, but Mikkel looked sceptical. After what felt like an eternity Mikkel nodded, gestured for Tuuri and Reynir to stay inside the tank and for Lalli to lead the way.

Lalli started running. Slower than he was able to, but as fast as the Dane could follow. He knew where the others had gone, having listened as the Norwegian made up the plan. The slow pace made him anxious and as they got closer to the building he pulled the rifle off his back. Beside him the presence fell to its knees, faded, and Lalli hurried his steps, not waiting for the Dane to follow him. He turned left as he entered the building, made his way through the maze of fallen walls and roof sections. He could already see the spirits of the beasts and as he turned right his eyes fell on the pack of beasts, one of them trying to reach for his friend's throat, but Emil's hand was holding it back.

Then another beast jumped over Emil, its jaw grabbing around Emil's arm. A snapping sound echoed through the room and the beast leaning over Emil sank its teeth into Emil's throat. Lalli fired off one shot from his rifle, the bullet pierced the beast's skull and he threw the rifle to the side, unsheathed his dagger and jumped into the pack, quickly seperating their heads from their bodies before turning his attention to the Swede on the floor.

Emil's face was pale, his clothes bloody and torn and blood was gushing out of the bitemarks on his throat. Lalli fell to his knees next to him, placed his hands over the wounds to stop the bleading. Mikkel arrived, pulled him away and took his place.

"Hent Sigrun. Vi er nødt til at forlade."

Lalli caught Sigrun's name, nodded and ran back, past the entrance, took a left turn and ran into the Norwegian.

"Sigrun! Emil! Emil's..."

His knees gave way, hit the floor and darkness swirled his mind.

"...hurt..."

Lalli fainted.

xxxxxxxxxx

When Lalli came to it he was slumped over Sigrun's back. He started moving, but Sigrun took a tighter grip around him and he stopped, tried to find Emil and Mikkel instead. He found the Dane first, running on Sigrun's left side, and it took a few moments before Lalli's brain registered what he was carrying.

Emil laid motionless in Mikkel's arms; his coat had been pulled off, his sleeves pulled up and bandages covered his arms, his neck, his torso. Blood was covering his face, had been smeared in his hair, and his face was pale, his lips a light shade of purple.

"He's going to be okay."

Lalli nodded, closed his eyes and rested his head against Sigrun's back. He opened them again when he heard her banging the door to the tank.

"Masks on!"

Tuuri answered something, her voice muffled through the door and Sigrun banged it again before saying something in Norwegian. The door opened, Tuuri and Reynir hurried outside, panic in their eyes. They gasped loudly when they saw Emil in Mikkel's arms and Lalli looked tiredly at them. Tuuri turned to him, opened her mouth to ask something, but before she was able to utter a word Sigrun went inside, placed Lalli on Tuuri's bed. She turned around as Mikkel entered and Lalli watched him as he placed Emil on his bed and leaned over him. Sigrun patted Lalli's shoulder, said something to Mikkel and left the room. Lalli tried to keep his eyes open, tried to see what the Dane was doing, how Emil was doing, but when Sigrun came inside again he fell asleep.

He woke up again when he felt someone pulling at his clothes and opened his eyes, looked at Mikkel who was leaning over him.

"Sleep", Mikkel said slowly.

Lalli turned his head, looked towards Emil. Mikkel's voice again and Lalli drifted off once more. Next time he awoke the tank was moving. He heard the Icelander say something to him, to Tuuri and then he was asleep again.

The following days passed in a fog for Lalli. A couple of times he woke up with Mikkel leaning over him, another time with everyone sleeping, Tuuri on the floor with her head resting on Reynir's arm since Lalli laid in her bed. Another time Sigrun and Mikkel were arguing and a couple of times the sound of battle snuck into his dreams.

xxxxxxxxxx

Lalli wasn't sure how much time had passed when he finally woke up. The bedroom was empty apart from him and Emil and he took a closer look at his friend. Emil was still pale, his cheeks slightly red, and he was shivering slightly under the blanket. Lalli pulled his fingers through Emil's hair and wiped the sweat off his forehead before getting up.

Dizzyness grabbed him and he took hold of Sigrun's bed until it passed. He pulled his hand through his own hair, over his forehead. Even though he was shivering he was sweating and he grabbed the blanket he had slept under, put it over his head and wrapped it around himself. He wobbled as he made his way to the door and tried to pry it open. It took all his strenght and he leaned heavily against the doorframe when he was done. Activity ceased inside the tank as they noticed him and as Mikkel fussed over him he turned to Tuuri.

"Emil, how's..." Lalli's voice broke and Tuuri looked apologetically at him. She got out of the chair, put an arm around his waist and led him back to the bed.

"Mikkel says you should try to get some more rest, your fever is still pretty high..."

Lalli didn't lay down, he just looked towards the Swede, and Tuuri followed his gaze.

"He's going to be alright, don't worry."

Lalli didn't move and Mikkel came into the room, noticed both of the Finns looking at Emil. He forced Lalli to lay down, but smiled towards the younger man.

"Han kommer til at være i orden, Lalli. OK. Understand?" Mikkel looked at Tuuri, said something to her and she averted her eyes but he repeated it and she nodded.

"Mikkel says he's going to be fine. He's lost a lot of blood and has gotten a very high fever. There's also bite- and clawmarks pretty much all over him, but I guess you know that..."

Lalli's eyelids was starting to drop, but he forced himself to listen to his cousin.

"Mikkel also suspect some torned ligaments and stuff, but he can't say for sure how bad it is until Emil wakes up. Both of you have been asleep for about four days now..."

Tuuri's voice faded and Lalli found himself on the raft again, sank back into a deeper sleep. It felt like only ten minutes had past wen he joined the waking world again, but he was certain it had been longer. He settled up, stretched. He felt better this time.

Emil was still sleeping and Lalli kneeled next to his bed, watched as Emil's chest rose and fell as the Swede breathed. From time to time his face scrunched up, maybe from pain, but then the peacefullness of sleep returned. Lalli leaned his head against the edge of the bed, watched over the sleeping for of his friend. About thirty minutes later Mikkel came into the room and carefully patted Lalli's shoulder.

"Middag serveres, du bør spise lidt."

Lalli looked at the Dane, tilted his head.

"Uh... Mad. Food", Mikkel tried.

Lalli turned to Emil again, pulled his fingers through the other's golden hair.

"It's foodtime, Emil. Your favorite time of the day. You should wake up."

Emil didn't move and Lalli let out a sigh, got up. Mikkel moved in to offer support if he needed, but Lalli strutted past the older man. Sigrun smiled when she saw him.

"Enedlig våken, hæh? Great! We trenger you to..."

"Han er ikke godt endnu, Sigrun."

Lalli looked at Tuuri for translation, but she was busy with the radio and the Dane settled him down in one of the chairs in the front of the tank before handing him a bowl of food. It was late evening, Lalli judged by the light outside of the car. He could see the disfigured body of a troll just outside of the lights from the car and wrinkled his nose. Tuuri ended the conversation over the radio, said something to Sigrun and joined Lalli in the front.

"Onni wants me to tell you that Swedes can't use magic. And that they have something called a fylgja, which is kind of like a luonto except it isn't." She noticed what Lalli was looking at and bit her lips. "We got attacked yesterday. Sigrun and Mikkel took them out and then they discussed whether or not we should relocate again. They decided to remain." She gestured outside. "Finding a safe spot was harder than we thought and we're probably as safe here as anywhere else."

"I can find a safe spot."

"Are you sure? I mean, you were pretty sick, you should probably take it easy a few more days..."

"I'll find us a safe spot", Lalli repeated.

Tuuri looked at him, let out a sigh and turned towards Sigrun. She lit up when she heard Tuuri's news, patted Lalli's shoulder.

"Sigrun says to head out as soon as you feel ready, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind waiting an extra day..."

Lalli quickly finished his food, got up. He swayed a little when he got to his feet, but regained his posture before Tuuri could say anything.

"I'll head out now. How long do we need?"

Tuuri turned to the captain again, who answered by holding up two fingers.

"Two days."

The Dane interrupted her optimism.

"One week", he said slowly. "Can you?"

"I can get us two", Lalli answered in Finnish and went back into the bedroom, changed into his scouting uniform. Emil's chest stopped moving and Lalli held his breath. The seconds lasted forever and then the Swede started breathing again. Lalli let out a sigh of relief and settled down on the edge of Emil's bed.

"I'll be heading out. We need to find a safer place to camp. I'll be back soon. Emil..." Lalli leaned closer, lowered his voice so only Emil could hear. "Please don't send it for me, I'll be careful..."

He got up, waved goodbye to everyone and hurried outside. The presence didn't join him.

xxxxxxxxxx

"And left by the weird tower, straight ahead until you see the iron skeleton and then right again to the lake. The lake is safe, I checked it."

Tuuri nodded, showed the notes to Sigrun and Lalli walked into the bedroom again. Mikkel looked at him, said something in Danish, but Lalli ignored it, sank down under Tuuri's bed. The Dane grabbed him, pulled him out and placed him in the bed instead, still speaking Danish. Lalli caught the words rest and fever but wasn't sure who Mikkel was talking about. Lalli tried protesting as Mikkel wrapped a blanket tightly around him, but gave up when it didn't provide the wanted result. When the Dane left Lalli wiggled free and turned towards Emil. The Swede had regained some of his color, but in exchange he seemed to be in constant pain. Lalli got as close to Emil as he could in the bed and stretched out a hand to pet his hair.

"Are you waking up?"

Lalli's fingers touched Emil's forehead and he bit his lip. Emil was very hot to touch.

"Did you not send it, or could you not send it?"

Tiny difference, Lalli knew it, but for the moment it was an important difference.

"At least I can't see it now, that means you're going to be okay, right? Right?"

"nnn..."

"Emil?" Lalli tossed the blanket to the side and sank down next to Emil. "Emil, no, don't try to wake up! You need to..."

"...nt." Emil opened his eyes and looked at Lalli. "Ont..."

Ont. Lalli didn't need to understand the word to know that Emil was in pain. Emil's eyes were tearing up and he closed them again, clenched his teeth. Lalli called out for Mikkel, grabbed Emil's hand under the blanket and noticed how his face scrunched up from pain again. Sigrun grabbed him, pulled him to Tuuri's bed and held him there while Mikkel went to work.

"It's my fault, I woke him up! I shouldn't have talked to him, but I wanted to show that I was back. Is he going to be okay? Did I kill him?"

"Det er ikke din skyld, Lalli. Han bliver bedre, han blev bundet til at vågne op snart."

Lalli didn't understand the Dane and he knew the Dane couldn't have understood him, but he was still calmed by the words. He leaned against the wall, Sigrun still held an arm over his shoulders, and Lalli closed his eyes, found himself on the raft. When he woke up he found that he had been tucked in and he could feel that they were driving. He felt better again, the fever once more down to more manageable temperatures.

He tossed the blanket to the side, settled up. Emil was looking peaceful again and Lalli got out of the bed, left the room and joined Tuuri, Mikkel and Sigrun in the front of the tank. Sigrun was sleeping soundly in the backseat, snoring lightly, while Tuuri and Mikkel chatted away about something. Mikkel noticed him first.

"Your cousin, Tuuri. Jeg tror, han vil have nyheder."

Mikkel got up, quickly examined Lalli before offering him the chair and leaving the cousins alone. Tuuri started chatting with him, telling him what he had missed while he slept and what roads they had taken. Lalli felt sicker as time went on and he leaned back, closed his eyes.

"You already asleep again?"

Lalli opened one eye, glared at her.

"Oh, you want to know about..."

Lalli nodded, straightened up in the chair.

"You don't need to worry, he's going to be fine. You should focus on getting better yourself, Mikkel says you're still feverish."

Lalli didn't answer, just stared at her. Tuuri let out a sigh.

"A broken arm, at least a couple of broken ribs as well. Then the bitemarks and cuts... Mikkel says some have gotten infected and that they're going to leave some scars. He hasn't really been able to do a really thorough examination since Emil's pretty much been in a coma...

Lalli's eyes widened and Tuuri patted his shoulder, laughed nervously.

"It's nothing to worry about, Mikkel says he's getting better and he did wake up today so he's probably gonna be up any day soon."

She hesitated, grabbed the wheel tighter. Lalli looked at her.

"It's just... I don't know. I wonder what's going to happen now."

Lalli looked away. He didn't really care, he was ready to head home already. Behind him Sigrun woke up and he took the backseat instead, laid down and listened as Tuuri and Sigrun chatted away and Lalli could see the iron skeleton through the window, heard Tuuri saying something and then he drifted off to sleep.

xxxxxxxxxx

They had spent three days by the lake already. Sigrun was slowly getting impatient and had tried to send Lalli out to scout the surrounding areas for books. Mikkel kept stopping it, but with his fever finally gone Lalli wanted to do something. Just hanging around and worry wasn't something he was used to.

Emil had woken up a couple of times, but he was still far from well and spent almost all the time asleep. Lalli took retreat into the quiet bedroom to practise his Swedish by talking quietly to Emil, trying not to disturb his sleep. Mikkel kept a close eye on both of them while Sigrun patrolled the area and Tuuri and Reynir worked with the books and putting together a report about the Silent World. Kisu was forbidden from entering the bedroom after jumping onto Emil's chest and causing him an intense amount of pain and instead patrolled the area with Sigrun or distracted Reynir and Tuuri from their work.

Lalli watched as Emil moved uneasily in his sleep. With his return to the waking world the nightmares had followed and Lalli hated how he couldn't do anything to ease his friend's sleep. He buried his fingers in Emil's hair, whispered soft words in both Swedish and Finnish to him, but it didn't help. He saw how the bandadges over Emil's throat was getting redder and sighed, leaned his forehead against Emil's.

"This is why you should take it easy..."

He called for Mikkel, who almost immediately entered with the medic's bad ready. Lalli kept his fingers buried in Emil's hair, kept the Swede's head still as Mikkel worked on stitching his throat up again. Emil woke up when Mikkel was almost done, pain and fear visible in his eyes, and Lalli quickly moved one hand to Emil's forehead, to keep him from settling up. Mikkel noticed the movement, started talking calmly and slow to keep the Swede from panicking.

"You pulled some of your wounds open. I have put you back together to the best of my abilities."

Lalli felt proud about being able to understand most of what the Dane had said. He let go of Emil's head, patted his shoulder. Emil smiled at him and Lalli tried to smile back, but was too focused on what the Dane did. Mikkel bandaged up Emil's throat again, efficiently hiding the wounds he just stitched up, before unwrapping the bandage covering his chest. Lalli bit his lip when he saw the large wound going from Emil's left shoulder down over his ribs. It was stitched up poorly, a couple of the stitches having been pulled when Emil moved around. Apart from the large wound Emil's chest was covered in bruises in various shades of blue and green, as well as several smaller cuts, some of them red and swollen, and Mikkel cleaned them up before continuing to the bandage over Emil's stomach. Lalli helped Emil settle up, just enough so Mikkel could remove them with ease, but the Swede pulled a sharp breath and Lalli almost dropped him.

The wounds over the stomach was even worse than the ones one Emil's chest. Four deep, jagged wounds went over it, a couple wounds crossing those. Mikkel frowned slightly when he put a hand next to them and Lalli guessed there was something wrong with them. He buried his fingers in Emil's hair again, both for the Swede and himself. Mikkel tried smiling at them, but Lalli could tell it was forced. With help from Lalli he re-bandaged Emil's stomach and chest, let the bandage trace over Emil's collarbone to cover the wound on his chest.

After that Mikkel slowly let his hands trace along Emil's left arm, over the large bruising around his elbow, and Emil drew a sharp breath again. Mikkel didn't move to acknowledge it, let his hands trace over Emil's right arm instead, taking extra care when he reached the hand and Emil closed his eyes and bit his lip. Mikkel still didn't speak, investigated Emil's left and right leg instead. When he bent Emil's right knee the Swede opened his eyes again, let out a cry and almost settled up to get the Dane to keep his hands off him. Lalli moved quickly to hold him down.

"...I'll get you some painkillers, then I'l take a closer look at your knee and arm. Can you stay awake long enough for that?"

Emil nodded slightly and Mikkel left the room, came back inside a minute later with a cup. He carefully helped the Swede settle up, made sure he drank all of it and then helped him back down again.

"It will take about twenty minutes for it to start working, I will be back then."

Emil nodded again and Mikkel left the room. With the Dane gone Emil patted the bed, closed his eyes as his arm moved.

"Sit... here..."

Lalli hesitated, but sank down on the edge of the bed. Emil smiled again.

"I can... see you better... this way..."

"You should take it easy, you're still..."

"I know..." Emil interrupted. "Your Swedish..."

Emil talked slowly and Lalli could tell it was painful for him. He looked away, looked at his knees.

"I've had lots of time to practice."

"Talk to me."

Lalli hesitated again, not really knowing what to say. Emil closed his eyes again, took a shaky breath.

"I'll fall asleep otherwise... Just talk..."

Emil was drifting off, Lalli could tell. So he started talking. Slowly at first, going through what little vocabulary he felt familiar with by now. Emil seemed to listen, sometimes smiling, sometimes asking something. Soon Lalli abandoned Swedish and started talking Finnish instead, knowing fully well the other couldn't understand. He still seemed to listen to Lalli's words.

Mikkel arrived again a bit later than he had promised and Lalli left the bed, settled down on Tuuri's instead. Mikkel asked Emil some questions while pressing the elbow. Lalli couldn't understand the questions, the Dane was talking a little bit too fast for Lalli to be able to grasp it, but Emil nodded or shook his head slightly to answer them. When Mikkel tried to bend the elbow Emil let out a scream and Lalli had to sit on his hands to keep him from throwing the Dane out. Mikkel continued to Emil's right leg, repeated the procedure, before pressing around his ribcage and his right hand. Everything resulted in pained expressions dancing over Emil's face and every painful sound or gesture coming from his friend activated Lalli's need to protect him and he had to summon up every piece of self-restraint he had to let Mikkel continue his work.

When the examination was done Mikkel bandaged up Emil's right hand, placed a plank on both sides of Emil's right leg, carefully bent Emil's knee before securing the leg in place with the planks. He placed another plank next to Emil's left arm, tied it in place, before finally pulling back. When Mikkel pulled back Lalli released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Do you two want to hear the verdict?"

Lalli didn't understand the last word, but still got the question, and nodded. Emil took a bit longer, breathed heavily while trying to regain his composure, then he nodded as well.

"Your left elbow is broken, ligaments have been torn both in the elbow and your knee. It seems some of the bones in your hand have been damaged as well and as far as I can tell you have three broken ribs. Apart from your arm most of it is pretty clean and should heal without compl..." Mikkel paused, reconsidered his choice of words. "Without any problems."

Lalli knew Mikkel used as simple words as possible so he would be able to understand as well and he was thankful for it, even though he couldn't understand the word "ligaments" and the rest of the words re-awoke his worry.

"You've got some deep wounds over your stomach, but luckily enough nothing inside seem to have been damaged. There's also some wounds on your legs and chest, but not as bad. The bite to your throat went through your Arteria carotis communis but..." Mikkel stopped, noticed the confused looks he was getting. "...the vein that supplies your head with blood. It's healing well, but you need to stop pulling it open..."

"I'll... try..." Emil closed his eyes again. "I'm going to... sleep now..."

Mikkel patted his shoulder.

"You do that. Lalli is watching over you."

Emil nodded and Mikkel left the bedroom. Lalli settled down on the edge of Emil's bed again, listened as Emil's breathing relaxed and the other fell asleep.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Oy, twig, up for some scouting?"

Lalli looked at his captain, looked towards the bedroom and then nodded.

"Great! We're getting low on food, so scout for tracks and stuff."

Lalli nodded again. Sigrun looked towards the ceiling.

"Don't need to hunt anything, we'll do that tomorrow. So, don't stay out for too long, because you need to get some sleep. Can't trust big guy there to hunt!"

"I heard that, Sigrun!" Mikkel called for the bedroom.

"Don't get mad at the truth! You aim worse than my grampa and he's blind!"

Lalli ignored the two off them as they started bickering and went to the bedroom door. He leaned against the doorframe and looked at Emil, who noticed him and lifted his right hand in greeting. Lalli returned the gesture.

"How are you?" Emil asked.

Lalli frowned. Emil's voice was still weak, and he was still tied to the bed, and yet his main concern was Lalli's health.

"Good. Scouting tonight."

"I heard. Be careful out there."

Lalli nodded, forced himself to smile.

"Don't worry."

Mikkel patted Emil's shoulder, said something in Danish that Lalli couldn't understand and then left the bedroom. Lalli continued looking at Emil. He had asked Onni more about fylgjas, but the older man had been unable to provide him with answers. Lalli had even asked the stupid foreign mage, but he was about as helpful as a pile of bricks. In desperation Lalli had even asked Sigrun and Mikkel, with the older man quickly dismissing it as nonsense. Sigrun had told him quite a bit, but all in very quick Norwegian so Lalli hadn't been able to catch much of it, except for one tiny detail.

Emil wasn't supposed to be able to send it away.

It was certainly not supposed to be able to transfer energy either, even luontos couldn't do that. Lalli left the doorframe and sank down on Emil's bed.

"Lalli? You look worried."

Lalli bit his lip and clenched his hands.

"Lalli?"

"Please don't worry."

"I... can't really help it."

"Don't send it for me tonight."

"I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about..."

"Just... worry about yourself instead, okay?"

Emil smiled. Something in the smile told Lalli that Emil wanted to comfort him, pat his shoulder or anything to get Lalli to stop worrying. Lalli frowned, but didn't say anything. Instead he got up, changed into his scouting uniform. He nodded towards Sigrun and then left the tank. He crossed the open area around the tank and ran into the woods, his feet instinctively following trails not meant for humans. As he ran he listened to the sounds of the night, let his eyes wander in the search of tracks. He found the first ones after half an hour. Rabbits. He would see if he could find something else as well.

After one hour he started relaxing. The presence hadn't joined him and he sent a quiet thanks to the gods. Two hours of scouting and he was starting to feel tired. Two and a half hour after starting he felt something following him. He could barely make it out and only by really straining his senses he could spot it.

"Hitto!"

Lalli looked into the forest infront of him. He had already found tracks of rabbits and deers but he really wanted to scout the area some more. With a sigh he decided to turn back around, for Emil's sake. The presence followed him closely.

He told Tuuri what he had found while Mikkel decontaminated him and Tuuri translated for Sigrun. He could hear the Norwegian starting making up plans for the next day, but turned his back towards them and headed to the bedroom. Emil had gotten slightly paler again. Lalli pulled his fingers through Emil's hair, felt how the presence disappeared and kicked Reynir in the side.

"I need to talk to you."

Reynir yawned, looked at Lalli, but Lalli didn't say anything more, only sank down under Emil's bed and fell asleep. He didn't now how long he had waited until Reynir finally arrived. Lalli hesitated for a moment, then invited Reynir to settle down on his raft.

"...I need you to teach Emil."

"Aha... what? I can't do that, I don't know anything about anything."

"There's no one else that can either", Lalli looked at his feet, swallowed. "I only have you to ask. Please, at least try."

"But, I don't... know how."

Reynir looked into the forest, looked at his hands, looked at Lalli and Lalli followed his movements out of the corner of his eye. Reynir pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on them, looking at the Finn.

"I didn't know he was a mage."

"He's not."

Lalli's eyes followed a fish that swam past the raft.

"He's not... supposed to be."

He turned to Reynir, looked away, then looked at Reynir again.

"I don't like admitting it, but I have no idea what's going on and currently you're my only chance of helping him. He's under the protection of your gods, not mine."

Reynir turned his head, looked in the other direction. Lalli lifted a hand, hesitated, then put it on Reynir's upper arm.

"Try to find him and tell him about fylgjas."

"You should come along!"

"I can't!" Lalli got up, almost caused the raft to tip over. "I can't pass through the sanctuaries like you can! If I could I'd... I'd have already done it."

Reynir looked at him, his eyes wide, and nodded. Lalli settled down again, waited while the water calmed down after his outburst. Reynir got up, jumped off the raft and looked at Lalli once more.

"I'll tell him what I know."

"Get him to stop sending it. It will kill him otherwise."

Worry danced over Reynir's face, but he bit his lip, nodded and then left. Lalli laid down on the raft again, looked at the sky. His eyes were tearing up and he dried the tears.

"Don't die, Emil."

xxxxxxxxxx

The presence didn't join Lalli while he and Sigrun were out hunting. It didn't appear during the night when he went scouting either. Nor the night after that. Lalli started relaxing, spent the days practicing his Swedish while Tuuri tried to get news about when they could be picked up.

They started going to places to pick up books again. With Emil unable to help they focused on houses in the rural areas, so that there would be a lower risk to run into anything. Most of the time Mikkel and Sigrun went out to get the books, leaving Lalli to protect Tuuri, Reynir and Emil. During the nights Lalli scouted the safest routes to their next destination. It continued smoothly for about 1½ week after leaving the lake, but then Sigrun wanted Lalli to come along instead.

"Are you certain that is wise, Sigrun?"

Sigrun dismissed Mikkel's worry with a wave of her hand.

"This place is safe, I'm pretty sure you won't get attacked by a troll so even you should be able to hold the fort."

Lalli looked between them. No trolls, he had reported that. He had also reported about tracks from a pack of beasts. He knew why Sigrun would rather bring him this time. It was safer.

"I'll come", he said.

His superiors stopped arguing with each other and Sigrun moved to pat his back, but thought better of it and opened the door instead.

"Great! We're leaving after breakfast!"

Lalli ate together with Emil. He watched as the Swede struggled with it, but didn't offer any help. He had tried before, only to learn that his friend had a bit too much pride. Emil drew a sharp breath and put the bowl down.

"I wasn't hungry anyway."

Lalli didn't answer. He watched as Emil struggled to get back down again, struggled to find a more comfortable sitting position and then had to abandon that as well. Emil let out a sigh and looked at Lalli, who prepared to get up and assist him.

"Is it okay for you to follow Sigrun?"

Lalli settled down again and nodded. Emil tried to lay down again, but had to abandon it once more.

"Are you sure it's safe?"

Lalli nodded again, his gaze glued to the bowl in his hand.

"But you spent the whole night scouting, don't you need to rest?"

Lalli's eyes narrowed.

"It'll be fine."

He looked at Emil. Emil made a new attempt with the breakfast, but as he grabbed the bowl his face scrunched up and he let it go again, getting hot soup over his legs and the bed. Emil bit his lip and Lalli got up from the floor, picked the bowl up.

"There's nothing wrong with asking for help."

He said it in Finnish, part of him hoping Emil wouldn't understand it, but the Swede blushed. Lalli patted his head before calling for Mikkel and the older man shook his head when he saw what had happened, causing Emil's blush to deepen.

"We'll be leaving now", Lalli said and picked up his own bowl before turning to Emil again. "Don't worry, we're gonna be fine."

Emil waved after him and Lalli joined Sigrun, who was already ready to head off. He said good bye to Tuuri before joining his captain. He and Sigrun were about to leave when Reynir stopped them.

"Ah... uhm... Be careful. Here!"

Reynir gave both of them a paper and Lalli nodded, put it in his pocket without looking at it and started walking. He heard Sigrun saying something to Reynir before catching up to him. They walked in silence and Lalli started feeling nervous. He hadn't given it much thought in the tank, but Emil had seemed a bit more worried than normal. And then Reynir... Did they know something he didn't? Prophetic dreams wasn't unusual amongst foreign mages, Onni had told him that. Maybe he should have asked more before leaving.

Sigrun patted his back and he looked at her, noticed her pointing at something ahead of them. A building and Lalli nodded, which caused Sigrun to hurry her steps. Lalli followed her, his eyes scanning their surroundings.

"Tuuri hasn't told them."

Sigrun gave him a confused glance and Lalli blushed.

"About Emil. She hasn't told them what happened. Neither has Mikkel. Why?"

"You still worried? He's gonna be fine."

"I know", Lalli frowned. "But we tell them much, why not that?"

Sigrun shrugged.

"It's not like they can do anything. I guess they figure they're already worrying enough. Cheer up, Lalli, Emil's gonna be fine and then the two of you can, I dunno, run in the forest or whatever you wanna do."

"But..." Lalli waited while Sigrun battled the door. "Maybe they hurry if they know?"

"Hm?" The door fell over with a thump, but didn't seem to disturb anything. "Oh, the boat. It's the Icelanders, they don't care. Maybe if it had been farm-boy."

They walked together into the house, investigated it side by side. Sigrun didn't worry, Lalli could tell. At least not about what they were doing. Lalli relaxed a little again. He had let Emil's and Reynir's worry effect him, which was highly unprofessional. He had scouted this place just a few hours ago and it was perfectly safe.

They found a bookcase in one of the rooms and started filling the bags they had brought along. Sigrun didn't say much while they worked and at first Lalli thought the odd behavior of the captain simply was a sign that she had started respecting the workconditions Lalli prefered, but after a while he started noticing how she stopped and tensed up. Only for a second at most, but when Lalli had finally noticed it he couldn't stop noticing it. He watched as she turned her head ever so slightly, watched as her shoulders tensed up, and then relaxed again. He saw her gaze wantering to the ceiling, to the floor, to the door.

Lalli nodded towards her, then left the room. He searched the bottom floor, followed the stairs to the second floor, but most of it had been buried under the roof and he went back down. When he reached the end of the stairs his eyes fell on a bureau next to the stairs. It made a screeching noise as he moved it. Hidden behind it was a small door and Lalli hesitated, put an ear against the door.

Silence. Lalli shivered, turned his back to the door.

His foot slipped on something, he almost fell over, but something broke through the door, grabbed around his chest and pulled him into the basement. Lalli called for Sigrun, and then he was under water. Dirty liquid made its way into his mouth and he coughed, tried to get to the surface but was held down by the living hawser. Air, he needed air. He opened his mouth again, unable to resist the impulse. Water rushed in, found the way to his lungs. Then he was released. He broke the surface, took a deep breath, coughed and started swimming towards the stairs, chanting quietly in Finnish. The thing grabbed him again, pulled him back down, and his head hit the step. Lalli blacked out, but awoke again only a couple seconds later, finding himself surrounded by water.

Lalli reached for his knife, thrusted it into whatever was holding him. It pulled away, Lalli lost the grip of his puukko, but broke the surface and was once again pulled under. He could see something big on the floor, but darkness was closing in on him.

He felt something warm pass him, could feel something warm pulling at his collar. He could make out the vague shape of a weird moose swimming towards the sjødraug, felt paws at his back when they tried to get him free. The sjødraug released him and he was pulled to the surface, dragged to the stairs. He almost saw a dog getting ready to jump into the water, but it disappeared before it was able to. Lalli breathed heavily, coughed, and listened to the sounds of trashing coming from the water. He couldn't get the air to fill his lungs, couldn't move to get away from the water, and he closed his eyes, waited for the sjødraug to pull him down again.

"Hang on!"

Strong arms picked him up, carried him up the stairs. Lalli opened his eyes, closed them, but the voice spoke again.

"Stay awake."

He just wanted to sleep. His head was pounding, his chest burning and his leg was throbbing. He forced his eyes open.

Wait.

The weird moose.

Lalli settled up, ignored the pain surging through his body. His hands grabbed Sigrun, pulled at her to get her attention.

"Emil."

His voice was hoarse and it hurt to use it. Sigrun looked confused.

"Fylgja, tank..."

Lalli almost felt as confused as Sigrun looked. He took a shaky breath, sounds from the battle downstairs filled the silence.

"Emil's fylgja", Lalli pointed down the stairs. "Fighting."

"You're joking, right? Fylgjas can't do that."

Lalli fell to his back again, the sounds of the battle dying. The pony came through the door and Lalli's eyes teared up when he saw it. It fell down next to him, its muzzle resting against Lalli's arm and he felt energy returning, his eyes tearing up even more. Sigrun stared at him, confused, but he didn't care, buried his fingers in the spirit's mane.

"I told you... not to send it..."

"Okay, I don't know what's going on, but we're getting out. Now."

Sigrun pulled Lalli to his feet, he almost fell over again, but she pulled him to her back, held on to him. Lalli closed his eyes when the fylgja disappeared.

"Hann er að deyja. He's dying", Lalli whispered.

Sigrun stopped by the room with the books, picked up the filled bags and left the building. Lalli leaned his head against her shoulder and let the darkness take him.