Page 89 of The Ruins of the Heartless Fae

Kolfinna’s face grew hot at the accusation, but she lost her opportunity to defend herself because Truda was already arguing with Mímir and Magni again, all of their voices growing louder and more frustrated. Eyfura stood up to join Truda, her arguments blending in with Truda’s.

“I’m better now!” Kolfinna suddenly shouted into the fray. She looked between everyone with pleading eyes. The noose around her neck seemed to tighten with their guarded expressions. “I learned a lot about runes while we were separated. I’m confident I can keep everyone alive unlike last time! Blár and I managed to get out of our dimension, and I got you guys out too, didn’t I? Things are different now!”

Truda shrill laugh pierced whatever confidence Kolfinna had mustered. “What makes you think you can make this mission a success? Fenris thought you would help us succeed in this place, but look how far you’ve come! We started with twenty-four people on this mission, and we’re down tosix! Are we supposed to just die and wait for you to become experienced enough to know what to do? You don’t know shit!”

“I—” Kolfinna’s mouth felt as dry as the desert with two suns. Maybe if Truda’s words didn’t hold a semblance of truth, she would be able to retort. Kolfinna felt like she was on the ship with the draugrs again, but this time, the ship was sinking and there was no way out.

Truda continued her assault, “I’m not going to wait around for you to ‘figure’ things out! My life is not a guinea pig for you to—”

“Truda, you’re embarrassing yourself.” Blár continued to watch from his place against the glass window. A cloud must’ve covered the sun because the sunlight waned and the room darkened, almost as if even the skies were scared of him. “We’re soldiers. We don’t desert our mission.”

Truda averted her gaze from him and grabbed her injured shoulder with an angry look. “I-I know! But I don’t want to die here.”

“We won’t die.” Blár spoke as if he was making a promise, and even Kolfinna believed him.

Truda raised her head, and the light returned in the room, causing her brown eyes to look more like the color of trees than the blackness they had become in the shadowed room. “How can you say that with so much certainty?”

“Because I believe in my abilities.” Blár’s gaze dragged over to Kolfinna, and this time, she held it, her stomach warming despite the frigid color of his eyes. “And because I believe in Kolfinna.”

Uncaged butterflies fluttered in the pit of her belly and she could feel the blush staining her cheeks.

Blár turned to look at the rest of the group and his voice held a note of authority that Mímir lacked. “When we’re out here in this place—in these ruins—you all can rely on me to make sure you make it out alive. When we’re in another dimension, put your trust in Kolfinna. She knows what she’s doing, and she’s trying her best to make sure we make it out.”

Kolfinna no longer felt like she was on a sinking ship, and she used that confidence to speak up, her voice growing stronger, “Blár is right. I can get us out of here, but you need to trust me. Also, there’s a lot that we learned while we were separated. When Blár and I were warped into another dimension …” She then went into detail about what had transpired during their stay in the dimension.

“So there are dead bodies somewhere here?” Magni pinched the bridge of his nose as if he was being greatly inconvenienced. “Or are they preserved?”

“They should be preserved … I think,” Kolfinna explained. All I know is that their bodies are being used to fuel this place. The woman I met, Revna, said that—” She shifted on her feet and stared down at the matted carpet. To be honest, how could they believe anything Revna had said after she betrayed Kolfinna?

“So if we kill them—” Magni started.

“Why would you do such a thing?” Kolfinna’s head shot up and she pinned him with a heavy look. “We can learn a lot from them. Don’t you think that’s valuable?”

He didn’t look convinced and shrugged. “Powerful fae with unclear motives? I don’t know about that.”

“That’s enough, Magni,” Mímir said. “Let’s find these fae. We can indeed find out a lot from them, like how this place works and what’s valuable and what’s not. Maybe there are secret passageways here that only they know about.” He smoothed down the front of his uniform—blood, dirt, and other unidentifiable liquids stained the white material. “Or who knows. It would be invaluable to us to learn about this place and all it has to offer.”

Eyfura swiped away the remnants of her tears and sniffed. “So we’re going to continue?”

“Yes,” Mímir said. “We’ll continue.”

As the tension in the room eased, Kolfinna released a shaky breath and her shoulders relaxed just the tiniest bit before the heavy hold of responsibility stiffened her spine.They would move forward, and it would be up to her to protect them all.

“Kolfinna.” Mímir smiled through his strained, and clearly pained, expression. “Are you able to heal us like that lady did to you?”

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid that’s too complex for me,” Kolfinna answered.

“That’s still amazing that runes are able to heal you,” he said excitedly. “Your limp is completely gone! Maybe you can learn to heal too?”

“Maybe someday.”

“Yes, someday.” He turned to the rest of the party, all of whom sported injuries. “All right, let’s bandage ourselves up and get going.”

“Magni, you’re bleeding.” Eyfura motioned to his shoulder. Concern colored her tone. “Did they bite you?”

Magni brought a hand to his shoulder, as if he had forgotten he was injured. Red stained his fingers when he pulled them back. “One of them, yes,” he muttered. “Just seconds before we got back here.”

“I’ll help you bandage,” Eyfura said.

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