A/N: Since I had written 25 at 3:00 am I realized I should have added some stuff to the chapter after re-reading it. So if you read as soon as it came out (Jan 1st 2018) go back and read the section after Calder tells Eerika about Runa as it affects the emotions of the two slightly. Thanks!



THAT MORNING CALDER AND I made preparations to set out on our journey again. My leg was sore and slightly wobbly, but I assured Calder that I could walk on my own.

"Are you sure?" he surveyed me while holding my arm as I slowly stood.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. "I'm just sore. I won't have to walk much anyways with riding the horse. We need to go."

"Just take it easy ok? Don't push yourself," Calder said, and I could sense the worry in his voice. I smiled slightly and rolled my eyes.

"I can handle it. Don't worry."

Walking over to my horse with a slight but manageable limp I pulled my father's map out of the saddle bag. I didn't even know where we were or how far this cave was located from the dark forest. I didn't want it to be far so the travel would be quicker to the sword and Calder and I could get back home.

"How far are we from the dark forest?"

Calder packed the last item in his bag and walked over. "Not far," he assured, "We should be there by evening, but that is what ills me."

"Why?"

"At night is when the inhabitants of the dark forest become truly raving. At any point of the day they roam and are a danger, sure, but at night it is as if they grow absolutely mad. I don't like what we're about to do."

"We have to, Calder. It's the only way we can defeat your mother."

"There has to be other ways, something else we haven't learned of yet. You're hurt. You can't run from those creatures if something happens that requires you to do so. We're about to charge straight into the beast's mouth."

"That's just it, we haven't learned of anything else that could work. This is our only lead we have to go on. Wether it be in the dark forest or rainbow land, we can't let this go now. Not with how far we've already come and everything we're risking. I took a damn slice down my thigh for this, there's no way in hell I'm just going to go back home and it all be for nothing."

Calder's expression was filled with uncertainty, but no look or words could change my mind. He didn't last night and he wouldn't now.

"We have to try," I told him, and there was a moment of silence before Calder said anything else.

"Okay. Let's go."

Calder made the cave look like we'd never been there so no traitors would notice our stop, then mounted the horses and were off. As we traveled in silence listening for any creatures or traitors that might be nearby, I started to wonder how Calder and I would exactly obtain the sword when it was found.

"You know it hasn't left the back of my mind, wondering how my father knew about the sword," I said to Calder. "Eeira told me of the seer he visited, but the sidhe never mentioned the sword to him, at least from what anyone knew. If the sword was in existence at that time why didn't she tell him?"

"Maybe she did and your father kept the knowledge to himself," Calder replied. "Even he had his secrets, Eerika. We know that from the map hidden in his drawer. I know you want to think of him as a truthful, honorable man, but we don't know what really happened while he was on this trail. There still could be so much to the story."

"I think of him as a good man because that's how I want to remember him. I never got to know him, my own father, and the past that I was shown portrayed him as such. Good, and brave, and honorable to his family. I don't want to think anything less, or that there's even any more to this story at all but the sword. When it's all you have left. . .don't you want to keep the best memory of your parents?"

Calder paused, dodging my question and no longer looking my way. "I just don't have a good feeling about it."

As we rode on in silence I took a mental note of the beautiful surroundings we passed. Snowy owls with white eyes perched in the trees, turning their gazes to me and making noises.

There were rustles in the bushes which brought out a white deer and her babies. Their father stood broad next to them with glimmering antlers tall like a skyscraper. Their soft blue eyes all looked at me as if they weren't afraid, like they knew who I was. What I also felt they saw was the hidden pain in my own irises at the sight of them all together. In them I saw mostly my father—a standing statue of protection at the head of his wife and children. They were a reminding symbol of what I could never have.

I looked over at Calder who was focused only ahead of him, and realized I might have been a little selfish on the subject. A family was something he could never have either with his father dead and his mother wanting nothing more than Calder's head on a spike. Maybe this journey was not just helpful in destroying Sylvi, but opening my mind up a little as well.

I had never really considered the fact that even though Calder's mother was alive and our stories were much different, we both had no family to be with. Of course I had Hanir and Linnea to take care of me for seventeen years, and they were good to me and treated me as if I was their true daughter.

I wondered sometimes if that had all been a trick to keep me from knowing where I came from, but ultimately I knew they loved me whether it was as their princess or the daughter they never got to have. Sylvi had hated Calder since the day he was conceived, at least that was what I assumed from the torture he had endured all those years.

I questioned if Calder had ever known his father because he never talked about him. All I knew about Calder's family was his nightmarish mother, nothing of his lineage like everything he knew of mine. I had never really realized that before, mostly because I knew how closed off Calder was. Every time he talked about his past a haunting shadow passed over him and he grew distant.

A thought had passed through my mind several times since this journey began that I hadn't analyzed; when we were to kill Sylvi with the sword, would Calder finally let go of his pain of the past? Would the damaged part of him finally heal and open up to me entirely?

I didn't know where all of this was coming from. I supposed the peacefulness of the forest and pace of our venture had opened up my mind to truly think of something other than fear and danger. It was something I hadn't done much of since I came to this world. What—I guessed only the ephemerals would say—wasn't false. A walk does clear your head.

I could see in Calder's stiff position though that his mind was a raging ocean in a storm. I knew the look of fear and doubt behind his eyes—I had seen it in my very own reflection. I knew that he feared for my safety on this trail, and I knew of his doubts about the sword. I couldn't say I wasn't hesitant about entering the dark forest, but I was confident in finding the sword my father sought out.

Calder didn't know nor could he ever that the sword was in my vision and that it would save everyone, including myself. At least I hoped it would. If not me it was destined to protect, then Calder and my people had to be shielded from the bloodbath. I had to do what my father would have done, to try or die trying like he did in protecting his family.

As much as Calder wanted there to be another way, there wasn't one. I could never tell him that I would sacrifice myself in place of his life and my people. I knew how forcefully Calder would object because I had been doing the same thing when he vowed he would lose his life in place of mine. But if I had told him about my visions he never would have let me on this journey in the first place, and sent me home when he found me.

If our luck could hold out until we found the sword, Calder wouldn't make us turn back and I could secure his life. I just hoped we weren't running out of time against Sylvi's attack.



Once the sun had set below the sky an ominous darkness cast over the landscape. Eerie shadows crept along the snow and followed Calder and I as we began to pass jagged mountains and dead trees still standing. The air seemed colder somehow, and the sound of the wind was almost like distant cries of all the fey Sylvi had killed. A shiver passed down my spine and back up again.

"We're just a ways to the cave entrance," Calder said. "Through there we'll reach the edge of the dark forest."

"It feels like we're already there," I shivered, keeping a cautious eye around us. It felt as though a ghost might jump out at any moment. Stranger things had happened since I entered this realm.

"The entire north of the realm is barren like this," Calder pointed out, "Everything is either dead or dying and it can't be explained. It's been this way ever since I was old enough to understand. I don't know, maybe it was always so."

"It's creepy is what it is," I replied, gasping when I noticed a skeleton of some creature laying in the snow.

"I warn you there are far more corpses than that," Calder said. "The creatures here are carnivorous. If you let them catch you your flesh will be torn right off your bones. Stay directly by my side alright?"

I chuckled dryly. "Uh, with that knowledge I think I'll listen to you for once. Do you think it could be your mother who's causing all of this decay? Could she be using her iron powers to kill all of the life here?"

"It's possible. There isn't just magic in the fey, it is in the nature as well. Iron doesn't just burn us, it weakens us of our powers. It would drain the magic of the forest and cause it to die as it does us. But I don't see why she would waste her time and energy doing it."

"To make a statement," I pointed out. "She wants me to see all of this and realize what she's capable of. She's trying to scare me but it isn't going to work. Do you think it's in the air too? Will it affect us?"

"I don't think so. It never affected me the sixteen years I lived in this part of the realm, nor the traitors. She must have done this all on her own. Now you understand the full extent of how powerful she is," Calder spoke gravely.

I swallowed hard as I eyed the wilted plants, and leaves frozen solid on their branches before turning away.

When we approached the cave the horses jumped slightly with nervous whinnies. The cave was dark and the exit even more scary. I bit my lip and stroked my horse's mane, not sure if I was trying to calm him or myself.

"Last chance to turn back," Calder spoke up next to me, and for the slightest moment I hesitated. But the vision quickly poked at the back of my mind, and I knew aborting this whole mission would result in everyone's demise.

I shook my head. "No. I'm ready."

Calder sighed, clenching his jaw. "Stay close to me. There could be anything at the end of this cave."

Nudging the horses forward, Calder went ahead of me and we both plunged into utter darkness.

I could no longer see anything but the exit, and all I heard was the clomping of the horse's hooves. My heart was racing against my rib cage, my ears intently listening for anything unusual.

"Calder?" I whispered to make sure he was still there.

"I'm right next to you, it's ok," he replied quietly, "The tunnel seems long but we're almost to the exit."

Once we got closer I could make out the snow and the trees, but something was off. At the exit I noticed something on the cave tunnel ground that was spreading onto the snow, puzzling me. As Calder and I came upon it my stomach lurched and I covered my mouth. It looked like fresh blood.

"Calder. . ."

"It's blood, I know," Calder said, jumping down off his horse and unsheathing his sword. He bent down to get a better look at the red pool as I shielded my nose to the pungent smell. I could only compare it to the odor of roadkill after being cooked on the hot Phoenix asphalt all day.

Calder then sprung up from his position as we both heard the sound of something dragging—or being dragged—across the snow. Calder gripped his sword and his horse's reigns tightly and I held my breath, waiting for something to come into view. Inch by inch part of a figure then appeared as it dragged whatever was bleeding across our path.

It was a short creature like that of a dwarf or elf, with blue skin and long pointed ears. A cap like that of a garden gnome but made of snow sat on top of its head, as red as the blood at Calder's feet. The dye I thought it had been was dripping from the creature's hat and down his face. His long bloody claws gripped onto a body part that he was pulling with help from a friend. Looking closely Calder and I saw that limb to be a mangled male leg of a faery, most likely one of Sylvi's traitors. I gagged into my mouth and swallowed the bile back down. I realized then that their caps were actually soaked in his blood.

"Eerika, listen to every word I tell you, do you understand?" Calder spoke to me calmly though he didn't move a muscle. I knew these creatures must have been lethal not only for what they had done to the traitor but Calder's actions, and a fear settled into my gut.

"W. . .What are they?" I asked him, freezing myself and hoping the horse would do the same.

"They're snowcaps, but some of the fey refer to them as redcaps," Calder quietly informed. "They cut apart the bodies of any fey they come across using scythes made of ice. They're sharp enough to remove any limp in one slice or cut your chest open to the bone. After stomping on the body and its parts until completely mangled, they soak their caps made of snow in the victim's blood. They are as fast as hell so if I tell you to take off with your horse, you do it. I don't care what objections you have, you do it."

"Okay, okay," I agreed without fighting him on it. "Do you think they notice we're here?"

Another snowcap then approached the other two and did in fact look our way, screeching like a banshee and clutching his large bloody scythe. The two dragging the limb turned their gazes to Calder and I, snarling razor sharp teeth at us. More of them gathered around and copied their pack, scaring both the horses into neighing and jumping fits.

"They do now," Calder said, raising his sword. "Go back the other way!"

"Their scythes are massive, you can't take them on with just your sword!" I told him, watching the beasts slowly draw closer.

"I have my powers, just go!"

In one swift movement the snowcaps charged, swinging their scythes at Calder's legs as he jumped and began freezing them. I was hesitant on my horse of what I should do despite Calder's orders. The last time I had run it almost got us both killed, and I couldn't let it happen again. Despite my injured leg I jumped off the horse and kicked a snowcap back, angering he and his friends.

"Eerika, what are you doing? I told you to go!" Calder called over to me as he stabbed one of the creatures.

"It's ok, I've got this!" I assured him, shooting an icicle through another that was about to charge him.

The fight quickly escalated it seemed as we took down more and more of the snowcaps and their scythes, but at the same time their numbers were growing. One even tried to bite my foot before I kicked it away and Calder skewered it.

"There's too many of them, we can't fight this way!" Calder called over the commotion, and I began to feel he was right. The horses were gone and we were out in the middle of nowhere with no help.

"What do we do? If we run they'll follow us won't they?" I wondered.

"Can you use your leg, is it hurting?"

"No, it's fine," I said, and at that assurance Calder grabbed my hand.

"Then we're about to find out."

He pulled me out of the cave as the snowcaps charged behind us, screeching and chomping their teeth. Searing pain shot up my leg with each running step but I bit my tongue to keep Calder going.

"Are they cannibals too?" I asked him nervously as we ducked under a bent tree in our path.

"It's never been heard of, but let's not stick around to see," Calder replied, pulling me faster through the forest.

As we jumped over a fallen log my leg buckled and I cried out in pain, feeling a stitch rip open from my wound. Calder stopped and grabbed onto me before I fell into the snow.

"Are you ok? What's wrong?"

"I think I just ripped my wound back open," I hissed, clutching my leg. "Gah, it hurts!"

An echo of the snowcaps rang not far behind us, and I watched the conflict swirl in Calder's face.

"Come on," he urged, putting his arm under my legs and picking me up bridal style. "Hold on tight."

I wrapped my arms around Calder's neck as he ran across the snow once more, the snowcaps right on our tail. But as he turned along a side path we were abruptly stopped by a mountain side, trapped.

"Dammit!" he cursed, darting his gaze around only to find no other way around.

"What do we do?" I asked him, clutching his shirt and feeling sick.

"Don't be afraid, it's alright," Calder assured, "I'll get us out of this."

"How? There's no other way, they have us cornered!"

The snowcaps then swarmed through the path and surrounded us, almost cackling with their pointy grins. The one in front who might have been the leader of the pack stomped forward, making undistinguished conversation with the others. They nodded to his words and cackled again, slowly moving forward and raising their scythes to strike.

"Calder," my voice shook, holding him closer and he doing the same.

Calder clenched his jaw, refusing to look away from the creatures. He set me down and pushed my body behind him to shield me.

"Stay behind me. I'm going to create an ice wall around these bastards," he said, readying his stance.

Just then there was an echo of a roar that shook around us. The birds in the trees fled and some of the snowcaps cowered low.

"Great, like we need more on our plate at the moment," Calder gritted, but I was confused at what was happening.

"What is it? Another creature?"

A large figure suddenly sprung out of nowhere and roared once more. Its large hands began grabbing the cowered snowcaps and crushing them, the others charging. Their scythes did no damage to the beast's hard blue skin or the jagged chunks of ice protruding from its back, legs and arms. Its large gangly feet stomped on the snowcaps below it, and when the others still alive jumped onto its back he flung them off and against the trees. Calder held me tightly to his back as it all played out, still with no way of escaping past this new foe.

The last snowcap was whisked up into the creature's hands as he screeched in fear, silenced when his head was removed from his body. I gasped at the sight and buried my face into Calder's cloak.

The beast turned to us and made a gruff, wiping his dripping hands on his toga like outfit made of fur.

"I bloody hate redcaps," he spat.

"Thank you for your service," Calder told him, "We no longer need your assistance now. You may go."

"I think ya gunna need my assistance if ya wanna find what ya lookin' fer," he spoke illiterately, yet grabbed my attention. I moved myself around Calder and with a limp stepped in view of the creature. Calder whispered my name in protest but I brushed it off.

The beast smiled a yellow overbite grin down at me, his large nose just at the level of my head. "'Ello Princess."

I figured how he already knew who I was and didn't bother asking. "No one said we were looking for anything. What makes you think so?"

"I can smell it on ya'," he replied, "Yer blood wreaks uh Arnesen."

"That doesn't answer my question," I told him. Calder came up to my side and spoke low in my ear.

"He's a troll, Eerika, he likes to speak in riddles and play tricks. Don't listen to or believe a word he says."

"Comin' from the son prince uh the bloody frozen queen. The putrid stink uh 'er blood runs through yur veins, boy," the troll sneered at Calder.

"I'm not a prince. My mother is only royalty by her own decree," Calder defended. "And as I said, we no longer need your help."

"If ya' wanna' find the sword the king set out ta get, ya' betta' be comin' wi' me."

My eyes widened. "What? How do you know about the sword and my father's quest?"

The troll smiled once more. "'Cause I was one uh the first stops on 'is journey."