"YOU WEREN'T MENTIONED ON the map. I don't understand," I told the troll.

"He wouldn't uh mentioned me," the troll replied, "We trolls dunna get the recognition we deserve. I helped 'im get where he was goin'."

"Obviously not enough," Calder retorted, "You know how his journey ended."

"That not be my fault," he snapped, "All I gave 'im was what I knew, which I'm about ta pass onto ya if you'd let the lady listen."

"Eerika, we can't rely on a troll's words to tell us where to find the sword. We have to rely on your father's map," Calder said, aggravating the troll man further.

"I'd keep yur princey in line, If I was you. He's got a mouth. I'd left 'im ta the caps had he not been yur mate."

I felt a slight blush coat my cheeks. "Uh, w-what makes you think he's. . .that we're-"

"Dunna try ta hide yurselves frum me, Princess. I can smell yur emotions and I got two eyes ta see. Ya' may think us so, but we trolls aren't as stupid as ya filthy fey think we are. And why wouldn't the boy take a fancy ta ya' with how beautiful ya are."

His large hand came up and brushed my hair off my shoulder, causing Calder to intervene.

"Hey, that's enough," he gritted, shoving the troll's hand away and unsheathing his sword. "Look, we appreciate your daring rescue, but the princess and I must continue our journey. I don't want this to turn physical but I will do what I have to to protect her, so I suggest you leave."

"Calder, it's ok," I assured him, slightly annoyed he wouldn't let me talk for myself. I addressed the troll. "What's your name?"

"Halvard. Means 'guardian of the rock'," he replied. "We trolls guard the mountains of the north, if there were any of us left uh course."

"What do you mean?"

"I be the last one uh them, Princess. The frozen queen got rid of us a long time ago. Redcaps we can handle. But iron be even our weakness."

I felt a twinge of sadness hit my heart knowing yet another thing-another number of lives-Sylvi had destroyed. Then the twinge turned to anger and I looked back at Calder.

"How many more lives has she taken?" I asked him. "How many more will she take?"

"That's why I hope your instincts are right about this sword, Eerika," Calder said.

"I have the knowledge yur seekin', but if ya want it ya gotta trust me. If we talk out 'ere the whole forest'll be listenin', so we best be movin'," whispered Halvard as he cautiously glanced around.

"How do we know you won't trap us to devour me and keep the princess to be your maid and give you pleasure?" Calder catechized him. "I have obtained every ounce of knowledge on all of the creatures in this realm. I know your kind.

You hoard any woman you find beautiful and lure them into your home, raping them and holding them captive to do your bidding. You love the innocent smell of them, especially that of a princess, and eat the flesh of any man that comes in your path. Correct me if I'm wrong but that seems like enough evidence not to trust you."

Hearing Calder's information gave me slight pause, and I started to wonder if maybe even talking to the troll was a good idea.

"I didn't eat yur flesh now did I, boy?" sneered Halvard. "I won't lie and say that not be our nature, but things have changed since our kind been around. The frozen queen had already killed most of the others. She wanted the mountains ta use fer 'er bloody army ta cut through the forest. Please Princess, we have ta go somewhere no one's listenin' if ya' wanna' know the rest. I can help ya' both!"

I glanced at Calder to let him decide, and pausing for a moment to clench his jaw he finally nodded.

"The entrance ta the mountains are this way," Halvard pointed behind him. "Dunna worry about any of those filthy men of the queen hangin' around there. I snapped their necks and threw 'em off the mountain cliff hours ago."

Feeling a little unsettled by that image in my head, I swallowed hard. Calder swept me up in his arms again so I wouldn't use my leg, and followed the troll.

After a bit of a long hike we reached Halvard's home, which didn't quite look as I first expected. What I thought might be a little hubble made of wood and hay, was actually like an igloo and made of ice. Puffs of smoke were emitting from the chimney that signaled a fire going inside, and candles flickering light through the windows. It was like something from a children's book and nothing that represented Halvard's demeanor or appearance.

"It's nice and warm fer ya' inside, Princess. I got a mint berry stew goin' on the fire. Flesh dunna much be on my appetite anymore. All that be left out here is the stench of the frozen queen's men. They taste like foul shit," Halvard grimaced.

Just the thought of the cannibalistic nature made me gag in my mouth, but I attempted a smile.

"Thank you, Halvard. I'm sure it will be lovely."

Halvard looked Calder up and down, the grimace still evident on his face. "You stink too."

I tried not to snicker seeing the unamused look on Calder's face. We three entered the igloo and I gazed around. It looked completely different on the inside, like a wood cabin instead of an icy building. It was all one room, with the bed on the back wall and the fireplace on the left of the entrance.

There was a table and chairs that would surely swallow me up, and surprisingly a pile of shiny silver treasures in the corner. The smell of the stew wafted up my nostrils and I sighed in delicious delight.

"Come Princess, sit down. The stew smells ready," Halvard said, glancing at Calder once more. "You dunna get any."

"I shall pass either way, thanks," Calder dully dismissed, setting me down in the chair. "Is your leg ok?" he asked me. "I don't see any blood on the bandage so I don't think you pulled out a stitch."

"Yeah, I'm fine now," I simply replied. "Not much we can do about it anyways since all of our supplies is gone. I'm ok to keep walking."

Halvard set the steaming bowl of stew in front of me with a wooden spoon. I licked my lips as my stomach growled from being without a meal in so long.

"I will be checking to make sure this stew isn't poisoned though, if you don't mind," Calder told him, swiping it away from me.

I wanted to protest Calder's rudeness but at the same time I didn't know the full intentions of this creature yet. He was still my subject, but even they could turn on you if secretly siding with the queen. I didn't even know if his knowledge on my father was true.

I watched Calder smell the stew and then cringed when he dipped his pinky in and tasted it. My heart stopped a moment, praying that it wasn't tampered or Calder would be dead and this whole journey pointless.

"It's fine," he concluded, a weight lifting off my chest. "Can I say I am surprised?"

"I dunna care if ya' zip yur trap fer the rest of yur visit," Halvard said, "Ya can even wait outside if it tickles ya."

"I'm not going anywhere without her," Calder rebuffed.

I rolled my eyes, slamming the spoon down as I was about to take a bite. "Alright, enough. None of us are leaving until I get some answers about my father."

"Uh course Princess, my apologies," Halvard spoke, placing a hand on my inner thigh. I immediately felt both uncomfortable and a twinge of pain from my wound. Calder quickly saw that he was touching me and lunged forward in anger.

"Hey! Take your hand off her!"

He grabbed the hilt of his sword and slammed it down on Halvard's arm, making him jerk away.

"Calder, it's ok!" I assured him before he could think about using the sharp side.

"Take all the faery women you want," Calder growled, "but she is off limits. We shouldn't have come here. Let's go, Eerika."

"No!" I spat back at him, "I'm the princess, the future queen, I get to decide where we go and when we leave!"

I had never really said that out loud before. Since I'd entered this world I had mostly been listening to everything Calder and the others told me to do, not listening to my own head. This journey was changing me.

Calder clenched his jaw and didn't say a word, looking away. I sighed and addressed Halvard who apologized before I could speak.

"I be sorry, Princess. Yur beauty just entrances me. Since the frozen queen's take over of the north there been no beauties like you ta come about. I can't help maself."

"It's alright," I assured calmly, "There's no harm. I apologize for my knight's behavior."

I side-eyed Calder who threw me a look at addressing him so formally.

"Your stew smells amazing, Halvard, and so is your home," I told the troll. How did you make it like this, with wood on the inside and ice out?"

"It wasn't always protected by the ice, Princess," Halvard smiled sheepishly, rubbing his bald head. "It was all wood I built befur the king came. When I gave 'im the infermation he needed he thanked me by puttin' ice over my home ta protect it."

I smiled myself at the kindness my father had given and knowing something he created was still standing.

"That's wonderful," I said. "But what information did you give him?"

Halvard paused and rubbed his head again as if trying to think. "The king stumbled upon my home eighteen years ago, and offered me silver in spare of 'is life. We trolls love shiny things, 'specially gold and silver, so I took the offer. Said he was lookin' for sverdet, the sword, askin' if I knew where it be."

"And did you?"

He shook his head, "I didn't maself. But I heard tales about it and what it do. No one had found it yet but it was said ta be out there."

"This is ludicrous," Calder mumbled to himself and received a hush from me in return.

"Where, Halvard? Do you know where it is now?" I asked, trying to bring it out of him if there was a vaulted memory. I decided to pull out the map in my cloak pocket and show him. I pointed to where my father had written. "Is it here?"

Halvard shook his head. "I dunna know, Princess. I never did. But I figured there mighta been somebody else who would. A seer."

I looked over at Calder who's attention had been grabbed now. "The one Eeira told you about," he realized, "The sidhe woman."

"It has to be," I concluded, finally feeling like we'd hit a breakthrough. "Eeira said the Clan directed my father to a seer in the snowy hills, but it was never said if there was more than one sidhe he saw."

I leaned over and placed my hands on Halvard's. "Halvard, is there only one seer in the entire realm that you know of?"

"I got only knowledge of the one I told the king about, Princess," he replied. "But I do know 'er name and where she be residin', and it wasn't the snowy hills. Those be too out in the open fer sidhes."

"The sidhes keep their dwellings in a secret place so no one can find them and threaten for favors. Something tells me the Clan lied to everyone on that. I felt it was suspicious when I was first told that story," said Calder.

"But why? What purpose would it serve to change the location in the story of where my father met the seer?"

"Perhaps your father met the sidhe on his own accord. He could have had the palace believing the journey was the Clan's idea, to protect his image of a reckless decision."

Feeling frustrated I ran my hands over my face. "That makes no sense! I don't understand any of it."

"I told you your father might have had his secrets, Eerika."

With all of this information I felt a small ounce within myself that Calder was right. Why would the Clan have lied to the staff saying my father went to the snowy hills when he didn't? Or did they tell my father of their seer and he went above their heads to find a different one? Or had he gone without telling a soul and then had the Clan cover it up for him when he came back? It was all so confusing it made my head spin.

I sighed and addressed the troll once more. "It would be greatly appreciated if you could help us, Halvard. I need the sword to kill the frozen queen and free this realm of her. Somehow my father failed to do so, but I think this map was left for me. He made it for me to find so I could finish what he started. But I can't do that unless you tell me where the sidhe lives."

Halvard paused, glancing at Calder and then back at me. "Her name be Nilsine. She lives under the fjords past these dark mountains but nobody knows 'cause of the ice that layers the water."

"How do we know you're not the one lying and trying to direct us off our path?" Calder questioned suspiciously.

"I saw her once maself by the fjord," he explained. "I went down there one night ta scrounge fer sum food, and I smelled 'er there. She was seducin' some faery boy and lured 'im under the ice with 'er. She saw me watchin' but didn't say nothin'. Just blew me a kiss and disappeared where the boy had. She be a beautiful temptress."

"So, what, my father had to be seduced by her to enter her home? That can't be true. He wouldn't have done that with the love he had for my mother," I rebuked.

"No, it wasn't like that with 'im, Princess. The king got inside the way anyone can if ya' find where the sidhe lives."

"If you go to a sidhe's suspected dwelling and claim why you are in need of her help and your heart is true, it will be revealed," Calder explained.

"Go ta the fjord Princess. She'll tell ya' where ta find the sword and anythin' else yur seekin'," Halvard promised.

"We better go now then if we want to make good time," Calder spoke up. "Sidhes are more active during the night."

I smiled at Halvard and squeezed his hands. "Thank you for all of your help, Halvard. And thank you for helping my father. Things might have turned out much differently for me if you hadn't."

"Dunna be thankin' me until the queen is dead, Princess. That'll be enough."

I stood from my chair and pecked a kiss on Halvard's cheek, trying not to smirk at Calder's not so happy face as we left.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Eerika?" Calder questioned as I hobbled along with he beside me. "This could be a trick. And even if it is true the sidhe could capture us just as she does faery men who wander near the fjord."

"I'm not giving up on this, Calder," I declared. "My father went to see her, and he came back. I want to know what she told him and if she was the one he found out about the sword from. This is just the lead we need."

Running a hand through his hair with a sigh Calder agreed. "Alright then. But unless you want to make it there without the threat of being eaten again, we've got to pick up the pace."

Taking me by surprise he then picked me up into his arms once more, and we started down the mountain in the direction of the fjord.