I’d traveled for a couple of hours at least. And I still hadn’t seen or heard either Gunnar or Frans. I intended to keep going all night if necessary. I wouldn’t stop until I found them.
The earl’s challenge to kill the jotunn was ill-fated. If anyone could survive the traps and dangerous forest, how would they find the madman in the midst of the dark growth?
Even now at this very moment, the jotunn could be following me and waiting to attack me. I halted and shuddered, drawing my cloak more securely around my shoulders. I lifted my candle, examining every shadow and wishing I was anyplace else but here.
How had Nanna reacted when she’d learned Kirstin was in the nursery instead of me? I’d warned Kirstin not to tell Nanna what I’d done. But Kirstin wouldn’t be able to hold in the secret for long, and I regretted the pain my going would cause Nanna. After so many years of making it her life’s mission to protect me, I’d slipped beyond her grasp. And now there was nothing she could do to come to my aid.
The truth was that I’d been slipping from her grasp well before today. Of course, I admired her for spending her life making sure I was secure and well fed in the nursery. She’d done all she could to help the rest of my family too, not only giving them food when she could, but finding other ways to supply them with provisions.
But it had never been enough . . . at least not for me. The pulsing need to do more pounded louder within me. Not just for my family, but for all those who lived in oppression.
As my candlelight touched upon the remains of a human hanging by one leg from a rusted chain in a tree overhead, I gasped and pressed my free hand over my mouth.
What was I doing here?
Even on this well-cut path, I was taking too many risks going any farther. I needed to stop now before something happened and Gunnar and Frans ended up needing to rescue me.
However, if I returned to Kirstin without news of Frans, she’d head into the forest herself. I’d have to tie her up and make sure she didn’t go. Gunnar’s warning about tying me to the bedpost came rushing back into my mind. Now I understood how he’d felt and why he’d threatened to do so.
Twisting my head away from the skeleton, I breathed out my frustration and let my shoulders sag. I had to go back.
Chapter
18
Gunnar
Blood rushed to my head as I hung upside down, and my sword began to slip from its sheath. With quick reflexes, I grabbed it so that I was holding my knife in one hand and sword in the other. I needed to have everything at my disposal as I worked at freeing myself.
From up high, I had a clear view of Frans. A foot from the surface, his shoulders were wedged tightly in the hole. His broad girth had likely saved his life by keeping him from plunging farther down onto the sharply pointed limbs. His head lolled to one side. He’d passed out again, just as I’d thought. There was nothing he could do to come to my aid anyway.
The chain around my calf was already tearing through my legging and burning against my skin. It wouldn’t be long before it dug into my flesh and cut off circulation. And it wouldn’t be long before I’d grow dizzy, nauseous, and perhaps lose consciousness.
If I had any hope of saving myself and Frans, I had to act right away.
Could I cut my way free? I glanced at the chain, then discarded that idea. I wouldn’t be able to hack through the snare around my leg without harming myself. Even if I could somehow grasp the chain dangling from the limb, I wouldn’t be able to saw the iron links.
What if I could climb my way out? I was at least a dozen feet away from the trunk and at least a dozen feet from the limb above. I couldn’t reach either easily. No doubt the jotunn had planned it that way.
Even so, getting to the trunk seemed to be my best option. If I could propel myself close enough to the tree, I’d be able to use my sword or knife to stab into the bark and climb up to the limb. In doing so, I would pull the chain even more painfully against my leg. But I had to try it.
I swayed my body, gaining some movement. With the motion, the snare pinched tighter. Pain shot down my leg. Gritting my teeth, I forced my torso to swing back and forth like a pendulum, getting ever wider.
“Gunnar?” Frans’s weak voice came from below.
“I stepped into the snare.” Probably the one Frans had been avoiding when he’d fallen in the hidden hole.
Frans groaned.
“I’ll get free.” At least, I hoped I would before I fell unconscious.
I stretched out my sword as far as my arm could reach, and as I swung toward the tree, it grazed the trunk. A few more swings, and I’d be able to stab it.
Though my leg burned where the chain wrapped around my flesh, I wriggled to gain even more movement.
“If you free yourself,” Frans said breathlessly, “I want you to marry Mikaela and take her away from Romsdal.”
He was giving me his dying wishes. I’d heard such wishes uttered before on the battlefield. And I wasn’t ready to accept them. “Stay with me, Frans. Don’t give up yet.”
As my body tilted back toward the tree, my sword scraped closer but not enough that I could plunge it in.
“She loves you.” Frans’s voice didn’t contain any bitterness or despair. Only resignation.
Even if Mikaela had responded positively to my ardor and declaration of love, she hadn’t said the words in return. Her feelings, the situation, our future—it was all precarious and could be destroyed with just one wrong move. But I took comfort from Frans’s assertion and prayed it was true.
“As much as I tried to deny it,” he continued, “I’ve always known she cared about you more than me.”
“You’re a good man, Frans—”
“I saw the relief in her face when I had to forfeit the money that I was saving for the bride price. But I held on to her anyway.”
“You’ve only done what you think is best for her. And I respect that.”
“She’ll never be truly happy unless she’s with you.”
I wished I were in another place having this discussion instead of swaying upside down in an ever-darkening forest. I couldn’t savor his declarations, could only tuck them away and hope I’d have the opportunity to test them for myself at some point.
As the burning in my leg turned into torturous fire, I bit back a groan and forced myself to swing wider. Nearing the tree, I aimed and thrust the sword. I couldn’t risk wedging it too deeply so that I wouldn’t be able to pull it free.
The tip made contact, and this time, it stuck.
The chain above jerked hard against my calf, and an agonized cry slipped out.
“What happened?” Frans called.
I swallowed the bile that pushed into my throat and took a deep breath. “I’m starting my climb up the tree.”
With the weight of my entire body pulling on my trapped leg, I needed to take the pressure off. I stabbed my knife into the tree above the sword. Then I rested my upper body strength upon the hilts of the sword and knife, giving my leg a brief respite. After a moment, I gauged the distance up the trunk until I reached the limb. “I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
When silence met me, I could only hope he hadn’t given up the will to live yet.
My arms strained to keep hold of the sword and knife. But with as much speed as I could muster, I began the process of unhooking one weapon at a time and climbing my way up the trunk. Because the knife was shorter, wedging it took an extra effort that pulled on my leg. But with each climb higher, the pressure of the chain loosened until at last, I reached the limb.