Gral Sint did not like this forest. Not the slightest bit.
And not just because she was used to more open plains where you could feel the cold wind, which blew over from the dark sea like any decent human should be able to.
But the trees here grew so thick, with many branches reaching into each other that even as most of them were bare for the season it still felt like a tomb of black and brown, thin bones closing over Gral's head, and she had to concentrate, forcing herself to breath calmly, only the thought of how much it would hurt her pride to lose it in front of the other members of the hunting party and the reassuring presence of Orn kept her from calling for her trusty mount and rushing back home, leaving this crazy and unnecessary measuring of power to her father.
What exactly was he trying to prove here? What could they possibly gain?
When they had won the proving, which was more than certain in Gral's eyes, what then?
It was very unlikely, even for the soft-hearted Northuldra, to just roll over and leave there land.
War? Fighting against the overwhelming strength of the Northuldra?
The Etelar where brave but even the bravest of fighters fell when enough lesser ones throw themselves against them.
They would only stand a chance if they were able to gain the other tribes as allies but that seemed close to impossible.
'The Nord? To busy licking Yelena's feed.' Gral thought as she locked at Lato's back.
The leader of the Nord had walked a little ahead, her owl sitting on her shoulder, checking the trail this Honemyaren Nattura had left behind the small Lansa-Runt at her side, both kneeling close to the ground.
The Itaan? Too small, too careful, too cautious to risk so many of their warriors in a battle they only could win with high losses, if at all.
Only the Lansa could be railed up easily, at least their leader Vill would be all for a battle but there was still her next-in-line, and Hankana was no fool like her older sister, as Gral had found out on the days of their journey to the forest and she would probably tame her sister's wild ambitions before she could do anything brash.
No, there was no reason to be her at all and the wish to be home, or at least that Harmaa would have come along at least….
She missed her brother more than she would ever tell him, but at least he has not to walk around in this strange forest and –
A twig close by snapped and Gral spun around, her eyes scanning her surroundings, the small hairs on her neck standing up the clear feeling of being watched came over her and she nearly jumped ten feet in the air as one of the two identical-looking Itaan warriors bumped into her.
Snarling an angered 'Careful' at them she spun around again, trying to make out a movement in the almost blinding white around her.
The prey was close! Gral could feel it.
The other seemed to have heard it too, Lato changing a look with her next-in-line before both let their birds fly high, hoping the animals would spot their prey.
"Orn." Gral said, her voice even, giving him a sign to go left, while she went right, carefully measuring each step as she went deeper under the hated roof of her heads, signaling the Nord and the Lansa of the group to stay back in case the prey made a run for it.
The two Itaan warriors followed her example, one staying close to Orn, while the other reminded a little behind Gral's back.
For the life of her, Gral could not distinguish between the two women, but both were big and strong enough so the young Etelar warrior felt safer with one watching her back as they moved away from the group, further into unfamiliar territory.
Carefully Gral checked the ground for tracks, anything that tells her if it had been the next-in-line of the Northuldra or just an animal fleeing their approach, but was but there were none…..the snow looked completely untouched, except for one thing – a branch, snapped in half lay there, almost looking like….. it had been placed there on purpose …like they were supposed to see it.
A movement behind her, a gasp from her companion and as Gral turned around she was completely alone - slightly blurred snow the only indicator that someone had been with her only moments ago.
Gral searched long for the Itaan woman, but there was no trace of her, nothing that pointed her in direction and the Etelar decided not to risk meeting the Northuldran alone in her turf.
So she heads back to the main group, where she found Orn had already returned with his Itaan-twin. The hefty woman seemed very distraught as she heard of her sister's fate, already making her way to where Gral had said she had vanished but Lato held her back.
"Wait. Remember the rules. No weapons, no killing. Don't worry your sister is fine. But that shows us that we should not underestimate her. She knows the forest like the back of her hand and she will use that against us…... Maybe we should stop following the track. Better we stay close together and camp on an easily defendable spot to fend her of. It will be harder for her to pick us of one by one in this way. We just wait her out. When the time is over she losses, no matter if we catch her or not."
It had been a good idea, even though Gral would have preferred the open confrontation instead of this cat and mouse game Nattura was playing.
Yet Gral had to learn that Honeymaren, was not fooling around, even if her name was the dumbest she ever had heard.
They had not even managed to find a good spot to take their stand as they lost the birds, the reliable animals not answering the calls of Lato and Usko anymore.
Next was the Lansa-Runt.
Gral only saw what happened because she had been looking in his direction by mere coincidence.
The boy had been kneeling down and it looked like he had found something, already opening his mouth to speak, then it was like the ground itself opened, a hand grabbed the kid by the collar of his tunic and gone he was.
A closer look revealed a trap door, so well hidden beneath the snow that is practically invisible and underneath was like a hiding spot of sorts, but man made, with a narrow escape tunnel, that lead.
As Orn came crawling back out he could only report that the main tunnel split into three at one point and even if he had been able to determent which one of the three Nattura had taken, it would have to lead them right into another ambush, for sure.
Gral felt anger rise in her, the fact that one, unarmed woman played them all for fools leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.
This was getting ridiculous! How was that even possible…..
Another cracking sound close by and not only Gral turned around, the whole group scanning the woods around them suspiciously.
'No, they are not suspicious…they are afraid!' Gral realized and she hated that next to the contempt for the weakness of the others, something stone-cold set in her stomach, her throat suddenly very dry as she understood that all the dark fairytales she heard as a kid, where being drowned by in invisible force that pulled you under even in the quietest of lakes, scorched to the bone by flames that appeared out of nowhere, suffocated on solid land with the wind teasingly brushing through your hair but never reaching your lungs, a bell-like laugh ringing in your ears while you gasped like a fish out of water or the earth simply vanished under your feed, burring you alive - were true! All true!
And this dark forest, home of many nightmares and terrors had been Honeymaren Nattura's nursery.
Suddenly she could find it in her to make fun of the woman's name again.
The next three hours were one of the worst in Gral's life!
It was humiliating how easily Nattura was able to overwhelm them of even as they knew she was coming.
They had completely underestimated how well the Northuldra knew their territory, and Nattura merciless used her superior knowledge of all the small tunnels and caves to separate them and the knowledge that she could appear at any time made the whole group jumpy, overreacting at the smallest sound.
They lost Orn and Usko as Nattura let a big, nearly black reindeer crashing into the group, pushing the unfortunate men close to a very high tree and like this had been her cue, Nattura was among the two and before anyone could do much more than blink, both men had a loose sling around there middle, while Nattura threw the sligend ends precisely, with an almost casual flick of her wrist, around the reindeers neck and the strong animal did not even falter a little in its run as it pulled the Etelear and the Nord upwards, the lose sling ends tightening, the robe sinning with effort and gone there were, vanished somewhere between the high branches, with Nattura close behind, climbing so fast and skillful like Gral had never seen any human do in her entire life.
Gral stood there with the remaining three of the hunting group, all more than astounded at what had just happened and as the robes fell to the ground, clearly cut by a knife, Hankana, obviously barely able to hold in her anger, grinded her teeth as she spoke: "You got to be kidding me!"
Gral could not agree with her more.
And then the ground started to shake and for a moment the Etelar warrior thought she was going to get a real-life demonstration of the terrible strength the Earth Spirits possessed but then the black reindeer came rushing back, the two slings still around its neck, a dozen more of its kind hot in its heal and Gral wasted no time, climbing the next tree, granted not as elegant as Nattura had done a few moments ago, but it worked well enough, Hankana's 'OH, come on!' barely audible over the thundering hooves.
It was chaos – Gral could not see or hear anything of the others, could not tell if they had made it to the trees or not only for a moment she could make out Lato Grauugle sitting almost casually on a lower branch of a tree close by and as their eyes met for a moment the older woman seemed almost amused at the situation. Yet she reached inside her belt and threw something very small to Gral, who deftly caught it with one hand.
It was the small figurine, the token the ice witch had given Grauugle only a few hours before.
Gral looked again but the leader of Nord already had vanished and the young Etelar warrior did not need to be a seer to know that staying in the tree was a bad idea.
So, she aimed and jumped down on the back of the black reindeer, clinging to the robes that still were around its neck, making her turn and rushing off, deeper into the woods.
The reindeer was a good beast – friendly and sturdy, accepting her on her back without a fuss but little slow thanks to the trees and bushes hey had to avoid constantly.
Gral was not sure what she could do now that she was alone, but she was going to at least try to make it as hard as possible to catch her.
But Nattura granted her no break, as she heard someone follow her, but as she turned around there was no one running behind her, yet she could clearly hear steps close by …..
'By the…' then she heard the sharp intake of breath, right above her and even though she quickly looked up, she had only a split second to see Nattura jumping down from above, before she collided with her, dragging her of the reindeer, knocking all the air out of her as she collided with the ground.
But Gral was a warrior, a true fighter and it took only a second and she was on her feet again, facing her opponent.
That was something more her speed, no hiding, no sneaking but a face to face battle – honest and simple.
They circled each other, carefully, slowly, measuring each other.
Gral had to admit that he had been underestimated this woman but she would not to the same mistake again.
But then their eyes met, both stopped dead in their tracks, something passing between them something only a few of the people Gral knew would have understood.
Her brother? For sure!
Her mother? Most certainly!
Her father? Not so much!
The thought mad the Etelar warrior nearly laugh as she threw the little figurine to the other woman, and the fact that Nattura seemed to understand, only heightened the thrill Gral was feeling now.
Their fight would not be here, deep in the forest over a stupid figurine, with no witnesses.
No, they would clash in the Ring, the only judge Gral honored and she would pummel the other in the ground, right in front of all her leader, her family, her whole tribe and her so beloved ice witch.
Gral's victory would be glorious!
Elsa was nervous!
And she was not the only one. No matter where she looked, Elsa saw worried faces or forced smiles. Even the warriors of the other tribes looked somewhat gloom…even when they were worried for their own, Elsa had no doubt.
The only thing that had happened was that Ryder reported discreetly to Yelena that some reindeer were missing, but as the leader had heard the it were all Maren's, she had told him not to worry, a slightly amused gleam in her eyes, a light shimmer before they were overcast with dark thoughts again.
This felt like her coronation all over again, only worse, yet she tried to keep it together.
A sudden snowstorm would help no one, certainly not Maren or the others waiting with her for the return of the warrior.
They sat outside despite the cold, close to one of the many fires and not for the first time she was thankful for Gelwa's kindness. The small girl seemed to feel the distress Skjolda was in and sweetly distracted her from the worries over her daughter by teaching the woman chess and even though it was clear as day what the young girl was trying to do, Skjolda seemed smitten, listening attentively and followed Gelwa's instructions the best she could. Ryder and Issun had taken to Fiskar, and the tall fisher seemed to enjoy it a lot to let Issun roast a bit, giving him a "hard time". Elsa felt sorry for the kind man, but it seemed to distract Fiskar well for now...she made a mental note to scold him later though.
'She has much more talent for the game than her daughter.' Elsa thought, barely able to hold in her laughter as she reached out for Gale and Nokk, checking for the hundredth time if everything was alright. Nokk send her something that only could be translated as mental rolling of her eyes and Gale was…laughing?
But one look to the missing white queen on the board, replaced with a simple pebble was enough and Elsa's chest felt constricted again, her heart heavy, and she was more than thankful for Anna's reassuring presence by her side and as a very familiar hand reached over Gelwa's head, replaced the pebble with the queen…..what?
"Maren?" Elsa sad out loud, almost shouting and the whole camp seemed to jump around them, all looking a little dumbfounded, obviously, no one had expected to see Maren back so soon!
But there she stood, obviously just walking casually into camp, like it was any other day, smiling broadly, looking like she barely had broken a sweat and it was barely late noon.
Elsa was no expert but the way the other Northuldra were all over Maren and the respectful glances she earned from most warriors of the other tribes, made Elsa very sure that this must be some kind of record.
Yet she could not find in her to care much, as great relief flowed through her and it eased her heart at how eagerly Maren hugged her back, as she threw herself at her, kissing her again, not caring that anybody could see them.
Ryder interrupted and Elsa broke the kiss as he spoke out loud what the fifth spirit was thinking.
"Spirits, Maren! That was fast, even for you!"
"What can I say, Ry. I am good at what I do." Maren said, allowing her very emotional father to hug her, Skjolda seemed to have a better grip on her emotions now, but her hug looked almost painful and Elsa was sure that she could hear a few ribs crack.
"That is an understatement if I ever heard one!"
The hunting party came staggering back in, all looking a little ruffled but unharmed none the less.
Lato had spoken. She was smiling as she removed the least bits of what had once been a fishing net from the wing of her owl, who seemed very unhappy, sending Maren an unforgiving look before turning around, her back facing them now.
"I assume that she had kept to the rules then?" came the ever pleasant voice of Taitava, his ever-present smile still gracing his lips, but his eyes were cold and fixated on his daughter Gral.
But the woman seemed to have only eyes for Maren, something fearless gleaming in her grey eyes and as Elsa turned slightly she saw the same glint burning in these brown orbs Elsa had come to love so.
"She has won fair and square! The first trial is over." Lato said, all about her screaming graciousness in defeat, as she bowed slightly to Yelena and Maren.
"Well then I am sure after a little break-"
"No, no break. I want to start the second trial tomorrow at dawn." Maren spoke, her eyes never leaving Gral's, and the Etelar warrior smirked ever so slightly.
That seemed to even surprise the ever smooth Taitava, who hesitated for a moment before his smile returned.
"Are you sure?" he asked, looking at Yelena and Maren.
The Northuldra leader did not even glance at Maren, acting like this did not surprise her at all.
"Yes, I shall let some of my people start with the preparation. We will be ready by dawn."
"Very well. Excuse us now." Taitava said, giving his warriors a sign to follow him.
The guests slowly retreated to the goahti's that had been built for them, all but one.
Gral still stood there, meeting Maren's gaze and Elsa felt like she watched a battle of sorts.
"Gral! Come now." Taitava called his daughter. He did not raise his voice, he did not yell but Elsa could feel the burning anger under all this false composure.
Yet Gral only smiled at them, not a happy smile, but eager for….for what?
Elsa could not say, only that it unsettled her.
But what unsettled her most was that, as Gral turned around, following her father, Elsa could see Maren's eyes following the other warrior, the same eagerness burning in these brown eyes, she had come to love so much.