A Gift for a King

There was a tiny songbird in my chest where my heart should have been. Its wings were fluttering mightily as it tried to escape, batting at my ribcage in fear as I turned to give Wun Wun what I hoped was an apologetic smile. Muttering a soft goodbye along with a promise to see him again later, I followed Loboda into the trees and back to the main body of people.

"Did he say what he wanted?" I asked carefully as Loboda led us towards where Ida was standing off to the side, Chudley's rope gripped in her small hands. The sled sat next to her, Chudley saddled up for the first time since we left the village.

What could Styr possibly want from me? Nothing good, I couldn't help thinking. Nothing good ever came from a Magnar wanting my presence, least of all Styr. The thought sent my skin prickling, a chill racing down my spine as the tiny songbird swooped deep to settle somewhere uncomfortably around my lower stomach.

Loboda only shook his head, taking the rope from Ida to pull the halter off and replace it with the bridle. I fluttered nervously nearby, much like a bird myself, anxious and uncertain. Ida glanced at me, her brown eyes cast low and her brow furrowed as she bit her lip. I tried to send her a reassuring smile but must have failed spectacularly as her face went pale and her hands started to shake.

Whatever the Magnar wanted from me couldn't have been good for her either as her fate was tied to mine. And she was perhaps worried for more than that…maybe even worried for a friend. The girl was still getting used to her new position as part of my group. I didn't treat her like she was my servant, as Loboda sometimes still did despite my long and angry speech the last time he commanded her to do something.

I wanted to be her friend, and I wanted her to look at me as one as well.

She even sometimes smiled at me, though most of her smiles were still reserved for the dragons. But that was alright, any progress was still progress…even if she still flinched when I moved too fast and held her tongue despite genuinely wanting to know her opinion.

"Stay near Loboda," I said softly as Ida shuffled to my side after a tilt of my head. "If I'm not back before we stop for camp, you are to stay with him. And don't let him boss you around, you can tell him no. If he gives you any problems, you have my permission to remind him how cross that will make me if he mistreats you. And, you can threaten to feed him to my dragons if he won't listen."

That earned me a small twitch at the corner of her lips, her eyes crinkling as she tried to hide her amusement. The dragons wouldn't really eat the older man, and they both knew that. But if Ida was able to work up enough courage to threaten him with it, then he would know to behave himself. The whelps happened to like Ida a great deal more than they liked him.

Except Loki…that little shit didn't like anybody.

I raised my hand slowly – telegraphing my movement so Ida couldn't misconstrue it in anyway – and set it gently on top of her head to ruffle her short hair. It was growing longer, now down to the bottom of her ears, and I saw more than one Thenn frown at me for refusing to cut her hair. Those who were stolen from other clans weren't allowed the privilege of long hair.

I only glared back. If Ida wanted it shorter, I had told her to tell me and I would cut it. As she hadn't said anything, she either was testing me to see what I would do, or she really did want to grow it out. Either way, fuck them. Ida wasn't theirs anymore. They could force my hand to take her, but they couldn't make me treat her like a slave.

She glanced up at me with her big doe brown eyes and I tucked a loose strand behind her ear. Her face was placid, near blank from any emotions, but her eyes were pinched at the corners and her lips were fighting not to frown as she looked at me. "Tell me you understand," I said, needing her to say the words if only for my own comfort.

"I understand," she replied, and a gust of air left me in a sigh so loud even Loboda turned to look. I only shook my head at him and then nodded once when he gestured to Chudley's side. It was time.

With anxious hands, I pulled myself into the saddle, testing that it was secured fully before I rested my weight into it and took the reins from Loboda's grip. Ida shuffled in close, her hands fluttering up to my ankle to make certain it was situated correctly in the stirrup before she rushed to check the other side. The gesture was unneeded, I knew how to sit a horse and she knew that, but I let Ida fuss anyway. If it gave her comfort, who was I to argue?

"Be careful," Loboda said as I met his gaze over Chudley's red ear. He was walking along side Chudley as he led me to part of the trail that had already been packed firmly down by mammoths and sleds. Ida's hand was still wrapped around my ankle as she took hurried steps to keep up. "Guard your tongue, and for the love of the gods, listen to that dragon of yours."

"Severus?" I asked, turning to look down at him.

"Aye," Loboda said with a rueful nod. "I may not be able to understand him like you, but I know he is the more levelheaded of the two of you."

I didn't have more than a moment to sneer at the thought before Loboda slapped Chudley's rear. If the little red had been any other horse, he would have taken off in the direction his head was pointed…but Chudley wasn't any other horse. Instead, Chudley snorted loudly, and started to walk slowly in the direction that Loboda had positioned him. It gave me plenty of time to turn and glare at the older man before he shook his head at me and went back to Ida's side, picking up the featherlight sled and dragging it after them. Ida watched me go, her hand still raised as if to grab at me, before Loboda called for her and she turned away.

Grounding my teeth in annoyance, I pressed my heels into Chudley's side to shift him to a reluctant trot and thought briefly of getting myself a bra…or magicking one. It shouldn't be too hard to transfigure something workable from the scraps of hide that I still had in abundance. As long as I wasn't working with sea serpent or dragon leather. I didn't exactly need a bra that could stop an arrow or a spell since I was almost completely covered in the stuff anyways. I only needed something to keep the girls from bouncing as I urged Chudley into the much smoother tölt.

Snorting in amusement, I thought briefly of asking Severus for his opinion. Oh, it would be a sight to see, the dragon blushing and spluttering. But…Severus also had this way of turning the embarrassment around on myself. Him and his bloody Slytherin words, twisting and spinning conversations until somehow it ended up with him smug and me entirely mortified.

No, it would be better to solve this particular problem on my own.

A hot gush of air hit the back of my ear as Severus snored softly and I considered letting him stay asleep through this meeting. But I, unfortunately, knew better. Whatever Styr wanted with me, I would need Severus awake and his words in my ear if I was going to survive it.

"Sev," I shifted my shoulder near his head to get him to wake, raising a hand to pull the hood back when that didn't work. "Severus, wake up, I have need of you."

"What!" Severus said with a snap, hissing the word with a hot breath as he dug his thumb claws into the loose hide at my neck, pulling himself to be seated upon my shoulder instead of laying across it. "What could you have possibly done now?"

"I didn't do anything," I said with an annoyed grumble. Not everything was my fault.

"Oh, then that wouldn't be the musky scent of giant all over you, then, would it?"

"How?" I asked but stopped myself from going further. There were other things to be focused on. Shaking my head, I winced when the thumbs on his left wing hooked into the tiny hoops decorating my braids and pulled at my scalp. "No, well yes. I met a giant, his name is Wun Wun and he's my friend. But that isn't why I woke you," I continued as Severus started to splutter what was no doubt some sort of insult. "The Magnar has summoned me."

"For what?"

"I don't know," I replied, shaking my head again and only barely wincing as Severus' thumbs pulled at the hoops. At least this time he went with the movement and not stubbornly against it. "Loboda didn't know either. Only that he has need of my presence."

Severus snorted in my ears, his tail flicking against my neck in agitation. "Guard your tongue," he said, ignoring my hissed I know as he continued. "Speak carefully. Pull your hood up, I'll pretend to be asleep. Don't let him see me."

I did as he said, flicking my large hood back up and feeling him resettle himself at the base of it. I knew he would be well hidden, the hide of the serpent nearly the same white as the dragon's. The shadows of the hood would hide everything else but his glowing eyes, but even so, I doubted it would work. Styr knew I never went anywhere without the little white dragon – my guard dog, as he called it – and he also knew that I could not only understand Severus, but that he could understand me.

It was a poorly kept secret, my ability to speak to the dragons, especially after that incident with Loki and the goat. But most Thenns hadn't actually seen me speak to them, and just assumed it was one of those stories that got more exaggerated with each telling. But Styr had seen me talking to them, Severus more oft then not. And more importantly, Styr had seen Severus speak back.

I would see how far our ruse took us, but I still held no hope for it working. Plans had a way of falling apart when it came to my Potter luck.

It took only a few minutes to reach the near front of the caravan. The Magnar was riding alongside several others, behind only the mammoths and giants that were attempting to clear the way through the trees. Our path behind them was wandering at best as the giants tried to find ways through the tightly packed forest, and lately these days I found that the caravan was shifting more east and west than it was south. Loboda's prediction of it taking another moon to leave the valley was looking more optimistic and unlikely as each day passed. At this rate, we would be lucky to be clear of the trees by the end of autumn.

Chudley slowed to an ambling walk as he set his pace to the group in front of us. I recognized a few of the men that rode with the new Magnar, but most were unknown to me. Some were his friends, the ones that I had seen hanging around Styr in the village. I even identified one of the men from when Styr had cornered me in the bath. I also recognized Elder Ake, the Keeper of Magic.

Every time Elder Ake would cast his eyes upon me, I could feel my skin prickling. The ancient looking man set me on edge in a very not good sort of way. I hadn't liked the situation when Loboda had told me that the Magnar demanded my presence, and now I liked it far less. My nails were biting into the skin of my palms, and Chudley snorted in irritation as I gripped the reins hard enough to cause discomfort.

Whispering an apology to the portly horse, I patted his neck as he shuffled forward to walk with the group and less behind it, forcing my hands to relax. Styr turned to me with a smile, that same smile he had given to me when we were both naked and he had pulled me against his side…that same smile he had thrown after we had killed that White Walker while he spoke of me thanking him personally.

I wanted to punch his teeth in.

"Witch!" The Magnar said with a bright shout, crowing the word as he gestured for me to come closer. Grimacing, I dug my knees in and fought back the satisfied smirk as Chudley used his heavier bulk and couldn't-care-less attitude to force his way between the other riders until we were right next to the new Magnar.

Chudley was smaller than Styr's horse – he was smaller than all of their horses – and I tried not to let it get to me as Elder Ake came up to my other side. I felt dwarfed between them, boxed in, and trapped. I took comfort in the fact that Severus was still with me, and that Chudley, while fat and lazy, wasn't afraid to bite and kick should I need him too.

"Magnar," I said in greeting, forcing the word out between clenched teeth and trying to sound like I wasn't disgusted to be in his proximity. "Elder Loboda said you wished to speak to me?"

"Come now, witch," Styr said with a leering grin, leaning over the side of his horse to peer down at me. "No need to be so formal. Not when we could know each other on a much more personal level."

Be a Slytherin, be a Slytherin. I repeated the words over and over in my head, using the breathing technique and occlumency that Severus had taught me in order to not react. Styr didn't know that my magic was still recovering. Everyone but those closest to me assumed that I had fully recuperated as I was casting magic once more. Small magics, yes, but people had still seen me casting and that was what was important.

He wanted me to react, wanted me to do something, but what he wanted and why he wanted it I didn't know. It was better to be calm and levelheaded, try and use whatever I could to suss out what it was he wanted from me, and then use it against him. Severus hadn't been teaching me only magic, after all.

"How may I be of assistance, Magnar?" I asked, tearing my eyes from his to gaze out into the trees before us. I hoped to come across as uncaring, and not as scared as I was right now.

I could see Styr frown from the corner of my eye, but he straightened in his saddle and I was able to breathe easier as he finally shifted out of my personal space. The horses trudged along through the snow in silence for several long moments, and I would have found it almost peaceful if not for the company. I really had missed riding.

"Tell me of your magics, witch," Styr said, breaking me from the almost relaxation I had fallen into. I felt claws digging into the loose hide covering my neck, pinching at the skin.

Careful, those claws said. Careful.

"What do you wish to know?"

"They say you can create…" he trailed off flicking his fingers dismissively. "Walls our eyes can't see, to stop the enemy."

"Yes," I said. Nodding my head but not elaborating any further. There was no use denying it, almost everyone at the battle had seen me do so on more than one instance. Why he was asking was beyond me though. Styr's curiosity could only mean nothing good.

His blue eyes glanced back at me, no doubt waiting for more of an explanation. He would be waiting a long time. "And they say that you were quite a sight on the battlefield, creating fire, destroying the corpses, exploding them into tiny pieces, and such."

"Yes."

I saw his lip twitch at the word, but I couldn't tell if it was in amusement or annoyance.

"What else can your magics do?" He asked after a long moment, finally settling on the question he had been meandering towards.

"Many things," I said, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. The pain helped ground me as the much larger man turned his blue eyes back to me. The glare he sent my way caused that little songbird in my chest to try and take flight again. My heartbeat was roaring in my ears and I could feel Severus' displeasure at the words. Right…I was trying to be a Slytherin today, not a Gryffindor. Sometimes, it was hard to remember.

I got the impression Styr had expected me to just start speaking of it, breaking down the fundamentals of magic that took years to learn, simply because he had asked. I also got the impression that he was rarely denied.

I wondered what his mother had been like. If she had been the one who had never told Styr no his entire life, or if she had been simply unable to control her bullheaded son. Or maybe, Styr didn't have a mother at all. Maybe he was an orphan boy who found he could get others to obey simply because he was bigger than all the rest. Or…perhaps he wasn't born at all. Perhaps he was just dropped off by a stork one day, a curse of the gods placed upon this earth with a single purpose of making my life miserable.

I liked that last option best.

"What do you want to know, Magnar?" I finally asked, barely restraining from spitting the title. Chudley's ears tilted back at my tone and his tail flicked to the side, smacking Styr's horse on the rump as he was still close enough to box me in. "Be specific," I said when it looked like my words were going to start a fight. "If I were to tell you all I know about magic and what it can and cannot do, I am afraid we will be here well until winter has settled in the valley and death claims us all. And then my bones can tell your bones the rest of it. There are simply not enough hours in the day, and not nearly enough days in the year to sit here and explain magic to you."

Elder Ake was suddenly sitting up much straighter in his saddle, and he looked down at me intrigued. For a Keeper of Magic, the man knew only a little on the subject. Most of what he did know, pertained to the Seer and wargs. The rest were all stories to him. To have someone who could cast magic – real magic – must have been a dream come true.

He looked like he wanted to take me into a tent and record every little bit of what I said. He also looked like he wanted to cut me open and see if there was something inside me that he was missing…see if he could take it and use it for himself.

I really didn't like Elder Ake.

"Is it really so complicated for you?" The Elder said, both curious and also trying to sound derisive. As if the concept of my magic was something of a children's' fable.

"He doesn't want the Magnar to know he knows nothing," Severus said with a whisper in my ear and I fought not to shiver at the heat of his breath. "He wants to know everything there is about magic, but he also wants the Magnar to think he already does. Careful," he cautioned. "I don't like the way he smells."

I made an inquisitive noise at the base of my throat, quiet so as not to be overheard. Moments later my nose was flooded with scents, my ears with sound, and my eyes with colors.

I could smell the crisp air and the earthy pine of the forest. I could see far between the trees to the mammoths and giants ahead, their musk was nearly overwhelming and brought tears to my eyes. I could smell Chudley's horsey scent, the leather of the bridle between my fingers, and the smell of thousands of unwashed bodies. I could hear the people far behind us marching along in a massive train, the barking of dogs, and the wings of birds as they took flight.

I could smell deer in the distance, and I could hear the howl of wolves closing in. I felt the fabric of the black robe pressing against my scales, the serpent hide pliable beneath my thumbs. Long dark hair fell over my back legs, tickling my tail but not enough to move. I could smell the girl I was perched on, the clean scent of her refreshing compared to those that surrounded us. The scent of horses, dragons, and other people clung to her, but barely. That awful musk of giant already fading away.

My eyes shifted to the treetops and the sky above, something sliding from beneath my lids, and everything was suddenly washed in grey. The giants radiated colors in earthy tones, shared with their mammoths. Bright yellow trails of lights weaved from bush to bush, my nostrils flaring to take in the scent of rabbit. In the sky there were more trails. Bright colors and lights flowing and twining in one direction and then another. The whelps, I thought to myself, as I followed the newest and brightest parts of the trailing colors to the west where I had smelled the deer. They must be hunting.

I could smell Styr's curiosity, annoyance, and something more subtle, hidden beneath layers of stale fur and the scent of old food. It was heady, heavy like a physical thing, pressing down between us. Arousal…I was smelling his arousal!

The thought disgusted me, but I had already known of Styr's odd attraction. At least his was buried beneath his annoyance.

Elder Ake smelled old, sick, and frail. He too carried that same heavy disgusting smell of arousal, but his was much thicker. His eyes met mine through the hood and suddenly I knew exactly what he wanted.

The older man wanted the girl who sat tense beneath me, wanted to pick her apart, strip her bare. Elder Ake wanted to steal her, cut her hair, wipe her face clean from the marks, chain her to his hearth, and breed her. He wanted children that could do as she could, children that would be Thenns…children that would be his.

I reared back, hissing lowly in fury and disgust at the elderly man. Fire burned in my chest and I wanted nothing more than to release my wrath down upon the pitiful man and turn him into ash. How dare he! She wasn't his, she would never be his! She was mine!

I blinked, and suddenly I was a girl again, the dragon fading from me as the burning inferno in my chest dissipated and I was left reeling. What the fuck was that? What the fuck was that?!

Claws dug into my neck, pricking at my skin as Severus panted harshly into my ear. He was as bewildered as I, and I could feel his chaotic emotions surging against me as we both tried to compose ourselves. Thank Merlin my hood was still up, as the two men beside me hadn't seemed to notice the odd mind meld Severus and I had just shared.

Seriously, what the fuck?

"Witch," Styr said, his voice booming to my now oversensitive ears and I could feel Severus' hide twitching as if he had overexerted himself playing our bastardized version of quidditch. "Elder Ake asked you a question. You will answer."

What was the question? I had forgotten in the flood of whatever that was, my mind still struggling to separate fully from Severus'. I could still feel him, closer than I ever had before. The dragon's nose bumped my ear and Severus repeated the question the disgusting elder had asked, his tone soft and stern, a promise sent down our now wide-open link to discuss this later.

"Forgive me, Magnar, Elder," I said carefully, flicking my eyes to each as I said their title. "I was trying to think on how best to answer as neither of you grew up surrounded by magic as I had."

Styr only quirked one of his pale eyebrows at me. I wondered if he had been blonde before he started shaving his head. What would a young blonde Styr look like? Probably still like an asshole, just a much smaller one.

Elder Ake though…he looked furious at my words. Oh, he tried to hide it, face seemingly placid and eyes interested, but my mind was still connected. I saw as a dragon saw, with all the heightened senses. I could see his lips twitching down, his eyes pinching at the corners, nostrils flaring. I could smell his displeasure over the heady scent of his arousal, and I fought not to cringe away as our eyes met.

His were burning darkly with hate and want. Elder Ake wanted me; a man old enough to be my father's father. But he didn't want me as a wife, he wanted me as a whore, as a bed slave. He wanted me for what I could do. Ake wanted to put his children in me to breed him powerful Thenns who could do magic as I could.

It didn't matter to him that I was still considered a child by my own people at least – Thenns were under the impression that if you were old enough to have your period, than you were a girl no longer and old enough to take to bed – which was disgusting no matter which way you looked at it. This was one part of the Thenn culture that I absolutely detested.

"To answer you simply, then yes," I continued as the old man to my right seethed. "Magic is very complicated, there are rules, too many to go over," I said quickly as I could see both Ake and Styr perk up interest. There was absolutely no way I was giving them any knowledge that could be used against me. "What do you want to know, specifically."

Elder Ake looked both intrigued and very put out. His larger bay gelding shifted sideways, forcing Chudley to step close enough to the Magnar that my knee was pressed into his horse's side as Ake settled in closer. Chudley snorted in annoyance, snapping his teeth at both the gelding and Styr's darker brown stallion, but neither horse gave room and I was now much more boxed in than before.

Severus' low rumble vibrating down my upper back was the only thing that kept me from sending a stinging hex at both men.

"Can you raise the dead?" Styr asked before Ake could get a word in edge wise. The elder glanced up at the Magnar, sending him a quick chilling glare that sent shivers down my spine, but Styr hardly seemed to notice.

"No," I said carefully, trying not to be too quick to answer. Technically magic could raise the dead, not that I knew how too, but admitting such would only fuel whatever curiosity was burning within the two men. I was afraid that they would use that to somehow put the blame of the White Walkers down upon me, though I wasn't certain as to how exactly.

"Can you bring someone back to life?" Styr continued. He was leaning slightly over me again, my head level with his elbow as both Chudley and I were a great deal smaller than the Magnar and his horse. "They say you brought that bare-faced boy, the one you befriended, back to life after one of the Others killed him."

"No," I said quickly, shaking my head. "I can heal a great many wounds. The boy was not dead, just heavily injured." I was careful not to say his name. The last thing I needed was Styr poking into Canute's life too. He had just been elevated to the status of full adult, and to do so would only bring harm down upon him from his own leader. I doubt Styr could even recognize Canute now that his face was marked.

"What sort of wounds can you heal?" Ake asked quickly, cutting in before the Magnar could ask another. "Only physical wounds? Or does it extend to poisons? How does healing work?"

I flicked my eyes back at the elderly man but didn't look at him for too long. Too much of Severus was still tied to me and every time my eyes met his I could feel the phantom sensation of heat crawling up my throat and the urge to dig my teeth into his neck and tear. It left my mouth watering and stomach rolling in a conflicting way that I couldn't tell was hunger or nausea.

"I can heal many wounds of many kinds. Including poisons and other such harmful toxins a person might ingest," the words were parroted to the two men, repeated carefully as Severus fed them to me. His calm demeanor easing some of my anxiety.

The sun was beginning to set in the distance and soon our train would come to a halt and camps would be set up. I wanted to return to my own before I was forced to attend the Magnar in his. Riding alongside his horse was one thing, being alone with him and Ake in his tent was another.

"And your dragons?" Styr's head tilted slightly as he trailed his eyes down the black robe before settling upon my shoulders. He was no doubt looking for Severus, already knowing that there was no possibility that I had left the little white dragon behind. "You control them through magic?"

"What is the point of this questioning?" I asked cautiously as ice filled my veins. I did not like where this odd interrogation was beginning to turn. Severus' fluttering heartbeat was pounding against the soft exposed skin between my hair and the serpent hide covering my neck as he pressed his body in close.

Styr seemed amused at my question, the low sound of his chuckle filling the air and setting my teeth on edge. "We will be with the other clans soon," he said with an upward tilt of his lips. "They are not like us Thenns. Weaker, smaller, easier to kill."

Okay…what the hell was going on? I could feel my brow scrunch as I tried to piece together what he was telling me. And why the hell did he seem so damned amused?

"We are many in number and skill," Elder Ake continued after Styr had trailed off, but my eyes remained on the Magnar. I was done looking at Ake for the day. "That will grant us a place of honor at Mance's side. We bring him a great many warriors to help fight this war. He will need them for the crows once we reach the wall."

Why the hell would a man need warriors to fight birds? None of this was making any sense.

"As we are such a large clan though, we will use up many of the available resources. So, we are required to bring something else to aid our King Beyond the Wall. A gift, if you will," Ake said the title like it was something that both amused and infuriated him.

"Gift?" Severus hissed lowly in my ear and I glanced up to where the pheromone trails in the sky had been. I couldn't see them anymore, but still my eyes tracked the remembered path to where the dragons had flown. He couldn't mean…they couldn't possibly mean the dragons?

"What do you mean by gift?" I said the question through gritted teeth. That little songbird was flailing in my chest, crashing into one side and then the other in a panic.

"It must be a gift worthy of such a clan," Ake continued as if he hadn't heard my question. "It will not only show our strength, but also impress upon the other clans that we are to be feared for presenting the King with such an offering."

"What do you mean by gift?!"

"Your dragons, are they difficult to control?" Ake asked with a dismissive flick of his hand. "Can others command them?"

"You will not gift my dragons to anyone!" I said, declaring the words loud enough that even the group far behind us could hear. Chudley's ears were pinned back, either from my tone, how tightly I was holding the reins, or how close the other horses were pressed to him, I didn't know. But any second now, he was going to bite one of them and I was going to rain fire down upon the Magnar and Elder if they thought for one second that I would just let them give my dragons away.

Styr threw his head back and laughed. His whole body shook with the motion, as his horse side stepped away and then close again. "Oh, little witch…" he wiped his smiling mouth with the back of his hand. "We are not gifting your dragons to Mance! They are much too valuable for the likes of that once kneeler."

I blinked up at him in confusion as the rush of fury left me feeling bereft and adrift in uncertain waters. What the ever-loving fuck was going on? If he wasn't trying to give my dragons to this king…then what was he giving him?

"No, those dragons will be needed by the Thenns in this war. And once they are bigger, no one, not man, not other, not crow will be able to stand against them. They will be much needed," Ake said with a sharp nod. There was an odd glint in his clouded eyes as he stared off into the distance. I wondered if he were trying to imagine my dragons grown or picturing the damage that they could cause.

"Then what, exactly, are you giving him?"

I regretted giving voice to the question as soon as I asked it. Styr tilted his head and peered down at me with both of his pale blue eyes. One side of his mouth was tilted up in a smirk as his eyes crinkled in what could only be amusement at my expense. "As Elder Ake has said. We will have need of your dragons," he said slowly as if talking to a child. His tone was deep, thrumming in the air between us to cause shivers of trepidation up and down my spine. "The Thenns will keep your dragons. They will be useful."

"Keep…" I trailed off uncertain. Not even I could tell if I was asking what he meant with that one word or just repeating what he said out of bewilderment.

"Yes," Elder Ake nodded. "But you, on the other hand, will be of great use to the king."

"What?" I couldn't help but ask, looking back and forth between the two men in utter bafflement. "What do you mean 'of use'?"

"Oh, little witch," Styr said with a chuckle, reaching over to pat my hooded head like one would a puppy that had done something vaguely amusing. "We are gifting you to the king."

Gifting…gifting me…to the king? Was this what being poleaxed felt like?

"You can't just give a person to someone else!" I said with a shout, yanking my head away from Styr's heavy hand. I barely even noticed that the hood fell with it, exposing the little dragon that I had been trying to hide. Styr only glanced at the puffed-up dragon who was growling lowly in my ear before his eyes alighted on mine once more.

"And what of that girl," Ake asked, and I turned my glare to him so quickly that I felt my neck spasm at the movement. "The one that tried to poison you. She was gifted to you, as I recall."

"That was entirely different," I said with a hiss, sounding much like my counterpart who was whipping his head back and forth to keep both men in his sights. "Ida was stolen from another clan. She lives to serve now," I didn't really believe what I was saying about the poor girl, but a point had to be made. "I was never taken, never stolen from anywhere! I came to the Thenns on my own volition. My hair has not been cut; my face is not bare. I serve no one! I am a free woman; I cannot be gifted to anyone!"

I had heard that term brandied about amongst the other camps. Free woman, free man, free folk. I couldn't just be given away…could I?

"You belong to the Thenns," the Magnar said, his amusement sliding from him as if it was never there. Now he just looked annoyed. "You serve me!"

"I serve no one, I belong to no one!"

Styr reached forward so quickly I had no time to do anything else but flinch as he grabbed my face. His hand dwarfed me, my chin cradled in the space between his thumb and index finger as he tilted my face up to meet his. His fingers bit harshly into my jaw and neck and Severus shrieked at him in outrage. The only thing that stopped him from biting the hand that gripped me so tightly was the calm I was trying to press into him through our very open link.

I doubted I could get away with killing two Magnars.

"These say otherwise, witch," Styr said as he brought his other hand up to trail them along the marks on my face. When he pulled away, his fingers were clean. The black marks were etched into my skin with magic now, like a tattoo. Permanent unless I willed them away. No longer did I have to sit by the fire early in the morning while Loboda carefully traced them into my skin.

I wish I hadn't done that. If he had been able to wipe away the facial markings the Seer had gifted me, then it would have proved that I really wasn't of the Thenns. It would prove that I wasn't his to do with as he pleased. Instead, he brought his thumb up from my throat, pressed it into where I knew the hook tattoo lay under my eye, and dragged it along my skin. His face turned smug as I knew that the black tattoo had not smeared at all.

"These are only temporary," I said with a sneer, lacing the words with as much hatred and anger as I could muster. I was able to only restrain myself from spitting on him through sheer Gryffindor stubborn will. "I belong to no one!"

"You belong to me," he said with another smirk, tightening his hand briefly as his eyes flicked to the small angry dragon still hissing threats on my shoulder. "You will teach your dragons to follow our commands. And you will do as I say," he was leaning closer now, his breath brushing my ear opposite of where Severus sat. "Or I will tell everyone exactly why the gods needed to choose a new Magnar, and who was responsible for it."

My face was suddenly very cold as Styr leaned away from me, his hand releasing my face and throat as he returned to slouching on his much larger horse. How could he know? How could he possibly know? Had he seen? He was close when I had tripped the first Magnar. Had he seen?!

That little songbird in my chest fell from its perch and died somewhere deep in the pit of my stomach.