Frozen 3

Chapter 89

Iduna

I felt like I was dying of heat. I didn't know how long the wagon had been running, but it seemed like an eternity. I would choke if I stayed under that damn blanket for a long time. So, discreetly, I grabbed the knife that I had always attached to my belt, and tore the fabric with a blow, leaving an opening wide enough to breathe. I threw it aside a little to try to see where I was. The treetops that passed before my eyes were completely unknown to me. It was no longer the birches of the enchanted forest. I felt a ball of anguish form in my throat. What was the idea of hiding in there? Nobody had seen me, they would all think I had been killed in battle and not look for me. Except maybe my mother— But had she survived? I didn't know, I didn't feel anything.

«Every time you ask yourself a question, close your eyes and the answer will eventually appear in your heart», she often told me.

I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate as much as possible on the enchanted forest and what was left of it.

"I have to know, " I murmured.

But nothing appeared to me. I could only hear the beating of my heart beating louder and louder in my chest. A thick fog had just formed in my thoughts, preventing me from having any vision of what was happening there. I opened my eyes and sighed. It was my fault, I should not have followed my curiosity and pitied a complete stranger. He was one of our enemies. If Chief Harald found out, I would be banished from the Northuldra forever.

The faint ray of light now creeping into the wagon allowed me to look around. There were wooden crates full of weapons. I didn't know of any. They were much more sophisticated than ours. There was no wood or stone, but only iron. I recognized it by its brilliance and coldness. We had no such weapons, but only small utensils, like the knife I always had on me, which had been exchanged for some of our know-how. I gently passed my fingers over a long piece of flattened metal on either side and whose handle was richly decorated with small patterns that I could not distinguish correctly in the penumbra. The tip of one of my fingers slipped inadvertently on the blade and was immediately nicked. I picked up a cry of pain and put the phalanx that began to bleed in my mouth, unable to disinfect the wound otherwise. I shuddered thinking how easy it was to pierce a body with such weapons. Suddenly, my gaze rested on the young boy I had laid near me, hoping that someone could save him. He was still unconscious and his cut in the back of the skull was not healing. He was losing a lot of blood. I pulled one of the sleeves off my tunic and wrapped it around his head, hoping it could stop the bleeding at least until we arrived I didn't know where. I didn't know why I had saved him. He was a little older than me and didn't carry a gun when he was injured. I found him lying in the grass, his skull half crushed against a rock, but still alive. He was still breathing, that was all I cared about. His gentle face seemed so harmless that I immediately understood that he had been a collateral victim of the battle between our peoples. He must have understood nothing, as I did, or at least I hoped. I felt it was my duty to save him. That's all.

As I put my hand on his feverish forehead to make sure that his condition did not worsen, I saw a faint smile on his lips and a small sigh emerged. I immediately stopped the contact between us, suddenly embarrassed. The wagon rolled on a stone and the jolt it threw me on the young man. My fingers hit a small metal plate sewn on his garment. I managed to read what was engraved on it: Agnarr. Strange name, I thought. I managed to stand up and move away from him as much as possible. I then noticed that part of the blanket had lifted up when the wheel had struck the stone, leaving an opening wide enough for me to pull myself out of it without drawing attention. I passed my head outside and quietly looked around me. There were two men at the front of the wagon who turned their backs on me. A whole group of people were riding in front of us and discussing: