A Whisper to the North

Chapter XI ✠ The Unraveling

It was as if Una had heard the thoughts of Frey somehow. She was a gifted druid, no less, but sometimes she had to ignore these intrusive psychic thoughts. It was only a passing thought in her head. Una knew he was staring down at her in awe of her helping him. That is all she was able to process.

"My queen..." Frey began.

"If we are going to be acquaintances, I think you should not call me by that title," Una said as she helped guide Roosa around a large boulder down the steep path.

"You may call me Una from now on." She looked back at Frey.

A gentle grin was on his face. He nodded and laughed.

"Alright then, Una." He smiled with his teeth this time.

His teeth were prettier than Darren's teeth, Una thought to herself. Perhaps the Danes were not all savages like Una was led to believe growing up. She assumed the Danes wore horse pelts and smelt of urine and blood. She thought their hair was white and their eyes blood red from the human bodies they drank from. Frey looked quite normal, and in a way almost just like Yvar, only Yvar was a few hairs taller than Frey and much brawnier. It would make sense since they both came from the northeast, where the Danes have settled.

"What are you planning on doing with me, now that I have no means, no friends or family here?" Frey asked.

Una turned back and led Roosa between two tall pines, their bark scraping against the sides of Frey's legs.

"You are going to accompany me on a journey north, to your homeland. This will be reparations from you intruding and your friends causing one of my best men to perish."

"Moments ago, you said I was an innocent man. Now you go back on your word and accuse me of deliberately causing the ill fate of your lover." He laughed.

"He was not my lover." Una hissed as she jerked Roosa around a fallen log.

"It would seem so, considering that he was dashingly handsome. Not even a male such as I could look away from his charms. It was a shame he decided to haphazardly abandon his old life in the prime of his existence. Of course, that could be the blood of the Dane coursing through his veins." He laughed.

Una took a deep breath and remembered that this was only temporary. As soon as she reached his home, she would make amends with his father, and peace will be restored to the kingdoms.

"Well, I would kindly ask that you please allow me to accompany you on your journey back to...wherever you are from," Una said with a hint of sarcasm.

Roosa began to hesitate at the sight of a bouncing low branch from the wind.

"Come on, you stubborn old thing!" Una declared as she grabbed both sides of the bit with her hands and pulled forward.

"Jorvik," Frey said.

Una looked up at him as Roosa would not budge an inch. Frey smiled and bent forward.

"I would love for you to accompany me, but who says that I'm going back?" He laughed.

"I'll have you thrown out. It's my kingdom." Una said with the same wide grin he had.

"Hmm..." Frey said, leaning back into the saddle.

He suddenly grabbed the reins and pulled them away. He cracked them against the air, and suddenly Roosa bolted forward. Una was barely able to escape being trampled by the large horse. She fell back and nearly fell from off the side of the mountain. She watched as Frey reared the horse from moving further, and he was able to calm Roosa down in an instant with his words and touch.